Only time I saw one prior to B&B was as a kid, at a garage sale.
So to me they were "antique razor like things"....that is until I got one
So to me they were "antique razor like things"....that is until I got one
Why don't people remember a double edge razor?
- Thread starter Larry C in Texas
- Start date
I remember my grandad (My mum's dad) using a DE( which was simply called a a razor)
He worked down the pit, (he was a coal miner) drank bitter and polished his shoes before "goin dine club" to meet his brother in law for a pint. He also fought in North Africa during the war.
My Dad used a Philishave mostly but when he had a proper shave, the first razor I remember him using was the Gillette Techmatic.
Foam was Erasmic or Gillette and after shave was Brut, Old Spice or Cedar Wood
When I was about 18, I remember my auntie buying me a schick razor
It's been a long painful trawl through disposables and GIIs with Gillette foamy, Sensors with Noxzema in a can, Erasmic and KoS gel and various others until finally discovering the promised land with a brush and cream
He worked down the pit, (he was a coal miner) drank bitter and polished his shoes before "goin dine club" to meet his brother in law for a pint. He also fought in North Africa during the war.
My Dad used a Philishave mostly but when he had a proper shave, the first razor I remember him using was the Gillette Techmatic.
Foam was Erasmic or Gillette and after shave was Brut, Old Spice or Cedar Wood
When I was about 18, I remember my auntie buying me a schick razor
It's been a long painful trawl through disposables and GIIs with Gillette foamy, Sensors with Noxzema in a can, Erasmic and KoS gel and various others until finally discovering the promised land with a brush and cream
Until about 5 months ago, I would not have understood what the term "DE" or "Double edged razor" meant. Let's not forget that these devices began a steep downward turn in sales about 30 years ago. Think about it: other than people on this board, how many guys under the age of 65 do you know who use a DE?
I switched this past summer and I'll never go back.
I switched this past summer and I'll never go back.
I remember them. I used to watch my dad shave using his badger brush, soap in a mug and a Gillette somethingorother razor. I remember the blades were called "Gillette Blue Blades" and were advertised on the Friday night fights televised back then. Of course, when I was in grade school, we played with dinosaurs at recess. However, now that you mention it, I think I understand why people have that glazed look when I tell them how I shave. I guess it's just the times -- thanks to digital clocks, people no longer understand what "move clockwise" means, either.
My father shaved with them in the 50's and 60's (and earlier, too, I'm sure). But as soon as the Trac II came out, he switched to it. I believe that my first shaving was with a Trac II. I am 55 years old. I don't recall ever shaving before college (age 17).
However, I have long been familiar with the terms "double edge" and "safety razor".
Tim
However, I have long been familiar with the terms "double edge" and "safety razor".
Tim
i talked with a guy the other week in his 50's and he said he always has shaved with cartridge razors... wow! are people really that out of it that they don't remember these. of course my grandpa and dad remember them.
i've tried to get my dad to convert back over to them, but he just can't listen to the no pressure rule and has had just bad experiences with them, even when i'm there to walk him through it.. he's just too used to using a cartridge razor.
both my grandpa's use electric and i don't think there's any chance in the world that i could get them to convert do a DE.
i've tried to get my dad to convert back over to them, but he just can't listen to the no pressure rule and has had just bad experiences with them, even when i'm there to walk him through it.. he's just too used to using a cartridge razor.
both my grandpa's use electric and i don't think there's any chance in the world that i could get them to convert do a DE.
I never saw a DE in real life until I bought one myself. Although, I have a vague memory of using a plastic toy DE razor as a very young kid.
Conceivably a fellow in his early fifties who was a late bloomer could have never shaved with anything else. A guy 52 years old would have been 16 when the TracII was introduced. If you count the Techmatic, then go back a few more years. (Although, that thing just sounds like a horrible idea. Ever use one?)
-Mo
-Mo
Leisureguy said:Carry one in your shirt pocket, and then you can display it and say, "Remember these?"
Yeah... it works even better for those TSA employees who screen at the airport...
-joedy
Pretty rare to find someone in the know.
I usually say something like, "Where you had to drop in the razor blade." That gets a lot of head nodding going.
I usually say something like, "Where you had to drop in the razor blade." That gets a lot of head nodding going.
When Dad taught me how to shave, it was with double edge Gillettes and Schicks, along with Schick Injectors. Cartridges were right around the corner but not on the market yet.
Perhap's most of the folks who originally used them have developed Alzheimer's.
Or, as Ronald Reagan used to say, as his pick up line:
"Do I come here often?"
Or, as Ronald Reagan used to say, as his pick up line:
"Do I come here often?"
I have always known them as "safety razors" and find the term "double edge" confuses most into thinking twin blade or cartridge razors. The best way I find is to say "old style razor that has proper blades" or the type that replaced cut throat razors!
I started shaving in the early 60's with a Gillette DE and I believe Wilkinson Blades (as I recall, they were the first stainless blades available. Ironically, the only store to carry them in the small town that I grew up in was the jewelry store). This what my dad shaved with. Prior to that, it was Gillette Blue Blades that were good for 1 shave only. Very sharp but a carbon steel blade I suspect.
Somewhere along the way, Gillette started rolling out all kinds of new blades and handles. Does anyone remember the blade that was on a roll and when the present blade was dull, you turned the crank once and had a new fresh edge?
Next came the single edge injectors and then the start of all of the multi's and pivots.
Going back to the brush (though even in the 60's it was Foamy in a can) and DE's is not only a superior way to go, but a nice reminiscience of times gone by.
Somewhere along the way, Gillette started rolling out all kinds of new blades and handles. Does anyone remember the blade that was on a roll and when the present blade was dull, you turned the crank once and had a new fresh edge?
Next came the single edge injectors and then the start of all of the multi's and pivots.
Going back to the brush (though even in the 60's it was Foamy in a can) and DE's is not only a superior way to go, but a nice reminiscience of times gone by.
When I first started shaving in the late 60's I used my father's DE Gillette and shaving soap in a wooden bowl. I can remember getting some nicks, and putting used blades in the slot at the back of the medicine cabinet, but not much else, like how long the process took. Certainly not as long as B&B members describe their morning rituals. I remember us both using witch hazel and how weird it smelled. I remember using Schick injector razors and thinking how much easier they were than the DE's. So wet shaving is like a return to my childhood - except for the lavender soap.
> Does anyone remember the blade that was on a roll and when the present
> blade was dull, you turned the crank once and had a new fresh edge?
That was the Techmatic. I remember shaving with one of those and being unimpressed by the quality.
> blade was dull, you turned the crank once and had a new fresh edge?
That was the Techmatic. I remember shaving with one of those and being unimpressed by the quality.
I'd never seen one until I bought my HD. No, scratch that, I'd seen my grandfather's old Schick Krona sitting in a drawer in the bathroom, but I'd never seen it used. If you'd asked me what a DE was, I would have given you a blank look. Speaking of all this, I'm going to go use it now!
They were just "razors" (as opposed to "cut-throat razors"), but they seemed to go out of fashion so quickly when the cartridges came in no-one bothered to think up a new name for them.
I do remember when the first twin blade razors came out: there was a technology programme called "Tomorrow's World" on the BBC in those days and they tried to demonstrate the so-called "hysteresis effect" by strapping a microscope to the blade. Madly unconvincing but everyone bought it.
I do remember when the first twin blade razors came out: there was a technology programme called "Tomorrow's World" on the BBC in those days and they tried to demonstrate the so-called "hysteresis effect" by strapping a microscope to the blade. Madly unconvincing but everyone bought it.
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