CzechCzar
Use the Fat, Luke!
Just to survey the lay of the land... In everybody's opinion, what is the best vintage Gillette razor commonly available (in other words, mass produced at some point). I have heard great things about the red tip...
Best vintage gillette razor?
- Thread starter CzechCzar
- Start date
My pick would have to be the 1947-1953 Gillette SS. (40's style)
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Impossible to answer.
I believe it was one of your Presidents, Nigel someone or other, who addressed Congress thus;
"Now the World don't move, to the beat of just one drum. What might be right for you, may not be right for some"
I believe it was one of your Presidents, Nigel someone or other, who addressed Congress thus;
"Now the World don't move, to the beat of just one drum. What might be right for you, may not be right for some"
This is very much so a YMMV issue.
I have would have to sum up the consensus like this from reading many threads and reviews:
If you don't have much to spend... late 40's SS, Red Tip SS (getting more $$), Fat Boy, Long Comb New.
With more to spend... Open comb Aristocrats, British Aristocrats, British Rockets and the like.
I tend to like a less aggressive razor as my beard it neither too dense or too thick. My go to razor is a late 40's Superspeed. I haven't tried the more expensive options yet, but someday...
I have would have to sum up the consensus like this from reading many threads and reviews:
If you don't have much to spend... late 40's SS, Red Tip SS (getting more $$), Fat Boy, Long Comb New.
With more to spend... Open comb Aristocrats, British Aristocrats, British Rockets and the like.
I tend to like a less aggressive razor as my beard it neither too dense or too thick. My go to razor is a late 40's Superspeed. I haven't tried the more expensive options yet, but someday...
fatboy all the way!!!!!!!!!!!
And I always thought it was Arnold from Different Strokes !!!
( Oh and yes YMMV, I love my Brits, but my Fatboy and Slim to me are just meh to me shavewise !!! )
Open comb... I would have voted NEW of either comb but have decided my Tuckaway with the New Improved head edges the NEW by a... wait for it.. whisker.
I recently got a gillette 40's style that I am enjoying.
40's Superspeed - Best Non-Adjust TTO to learn with
Fatboy/Slim - Tie for adjustable - Prefernces lie in Handle Length/Weight
Red/Blue tips - Learned Man shavers
No opinion on open combs yet, but one is coming up in the rotation soon!
Fatboy/Slim - Tie for adjustable - Prefernces lie in Handle Length/Weight
Red/Blue tips - Learned Man shavers
No opinion on open combs yet, but one is coming up in the rotation soon!
All of'm are someones favorite.... 
I used to think SS TTOs (40s & Red Tip) but now prefer long teeth open comb New Improved & New. I think the quality may be better or more likely they are better suited to my facial contours. I have yet to have a really "bad" from a Gillette razor; some just seem to give me better shaves than others.
Red Tip or New
I like variety and get good shaves - GREAT shaves! - from many different razors.
I used a black tip superspeed this morning; a New Standard (new improved) yesterday; a Senator earlier in the week....
I believe you can learn to get a terrific shave with any razor (as long as you use a decent blade) with patience & experience (good god, people use STRAIGHT RAZORS! ...and GEMs!).
My own favorites are TTO open combs - 34 Aristocrat, Senator/Sheraton, #15.... But gee, they're all good!
I used a black tip superspeed this morning; a New Standard (new improved) yesterday; a Senator earlier in the week....
I believe you can learn to get a terrific shave with any razor (as long as you use a decent blade) with patience & experience (good god, people use STRAIGHT RAZORS! ...and GEMs!).
My own favorites are TTO open combs - 34 Aristocrat, Senator/Sheraton, #15.... But gee, they're all good!
That's mine, for sure!
One, there's damn few people who have TRIED all the Gillettes.
Two, each razor shaves differently with a different brand blade in it.
Now, there may be less difference from blade to blade, than there is from razor to razor, but it's still possible that you will like a Gillette Tech with a Dorco in it less than a '40s Super Speed with a Dorco, but you might prefer the Tech to the 40SS with Feather blades. I don't know, I'm a newbie, but I know enough to know that different blades suit different razors.
So if you multiply the number of Gillette razors out there by the number of blade brands readily available, let's see, that's.... 14 gazillion possibilities. OK, ok, but there's at least 30 different Gillette models and variants that are passably easy to find, and at least 15 different types of blades, so that makes at least 450 potential combinations. Eliminate half the blades immediately (if you have a bad shave with, say a Dorco, you likely won't choose it again no matter what razor you switch to), you're still well over 200 possibilities. Since you have to shave at least a week with a given razor/blade combination to get a good baseline, you're going to be at it for four years before you can settle on your favorite.
And that's before you've tried the GEMs.
[There is a third complication, that two different exemplars of the same razor shave differently. Given that all of the good razors are half a century old or more, and many have taken more than a few hard knocks in the process, there is no guarantee that any two Fatboys will shave identically. But that complication is impossible to control for, so it's hardly worth discussing further.]
I can tell you of the nonadjustable Gillettes I've tried, the 40's SS is my favorite, and of the adjustables, I prefer the Slim to the Fatboy. Of the blades I've tried, so far my favorite is the Iridium. But I haven't tried the famous, feared Feather yet.
Two, each razor shaves differently with a different brand blade in it.
Now, there may be less difference from blade to blade, than there is from razor to razor, but it's still possible that you will like a Gillette Tech with a Dorco in it less than a '40s Super Speed with a Dorco, but you might prefer the Tech to the 40SS with Feather blades. I don't know, I'm a newbie, but I know enough to know that different blades suit different razors.
So if you multiply the number of Gillette razors out there by the number of blade brands readily available, let's see, that's.... 14 gazillion possibilities. OK, ok, but there's at least 30 different Gillette models and variants that are passably easy to find, and at least 15 different types of blades, so that makes at least 450 potential combinations. Eliminate half the blades immediately (if you have a bad shave with, say a Dorco, you likely won't choose it again no matter what razor you switch to), you're still well over 200 possibilities. Since you have to shave at least a week with a given razor/blade combination to get a good baseline, you're going to be at it for four years before you can settle on your favorite.
And that's before you've tried the GEMs.
[There is a third complication, that two different exemplars of the same razor shave differently. Given that all of the good razors are half a century old or more, and many have taken more than a few hard knocks in the process, there is no guarantee that any two Fatboys will shave identically. But that complication is impossible to control for, so it's hardly worth discussing further.]
I can tell you of the nonadjustable Gillettes I've tried, the 40's SS is my favorite, and of the adjustables, I prefer the Slim to the Fatboy. Of the blades I've tried, so far my favorite is the Iridium. But I haven't tried the famous, feared Feather yet.
IMHO the NEW
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