Learning to love the injector

[farace]

Through the generosity of another B&B member, I received a few razors in the mail, one of which is a J-1 Eversharp-Schick, the one with the round ribbed ivory handle and gold head. Not the prettiest razor in the world, but there are worse. Certainly not as nice looking as any of my DEs. Anyway, I decided to give it a try. Included in the package was a Schick injector with one blade left in it. I didn't know how old it might be, but I chanced it.

I wanted to hate this razor, mostly based on recent Schick offerings, I think, which seem more like they want to be Air Jordans or motocross racers than something one might want to shave with. Design and hype trump substance. I wanted it to be a failed experiment and to get back to my DEs.

I'm getting some wonderful shaves out of this! Part of it might be that it affords me a better view of what I'm doing, part might be being more familiar with the angle after so many years of cartridge shaving, but in the end it's doing a great job, better than I've achieved so far with my DEs (which might be due to still being on the learning curve). I'm still not happy with the tricky spot on my neck that nothing seems to shave smooth, but the injector is doing a better job there. All with less irritation, too (I'm almost not afraid to use aftershave, but I'll stick with Thayer's and Proraso pre/post for now). I'll see how the CVS blades do tomorrow (and I don't want to dredge up whether or not they're the same as Pella's; that's been worked enough on prior threads). I'm not giving up on my DEs, but this razor is a keeper for sure.

(BTW, is this Eversharp the same Eversharp that made pens (including the very cool Skyliner)? What is it with pen and razor companies? Gillette owns Parker, Waterman, and Papermate; Bic makes razors . . .)

[Legato]

Welcome to the Injector Brotherhood!

I own five injectors, and an equal number of DE razors. NOTHING I've tried gives me a better shave than the injectors (and by better I mean closer, with less irritation and more ease of use).

I'm currently using Teflon-coated blades from Electron Microspocy Services, but have had equally good results with the injector blades from my local CVS. -- Joe

[guenron]

Howdy Bob & Joe!
Interesting story. At any rate I purchased an adjustable (Type "M") and a Japanese domestic market (Type "O") clone from Nationwide Campus during the period of great hope for the injector resurrection.

For me the "M" was to be a nostalgic journey and the "O" something I always wanted to try. Many years ago I had migrated to Schicks and Eversharp Shicks from a Gillette DE. I then got onto the cartridge train, but that's another story.

I found I was getting sub par shaves using some Personna (ASR) Injector blades I had purchased locally. The "O" was one step from the dust bin when I took out a box of Personna II injector blades I had purchased on eBay about a year ago. What a world of difference. Man oh man, talk about ease of use and getting "A" shaves! If it was not for the fact that these blades are from a long forgotten cache of 30+ year old NIBOS (that is rapidly disappearing), I would be selling my DEs and returning to injectors.

As the Feather is to the DE, the Personna II Injector is to the injector razor.

[ouch]

I thought I was the only one who liked the type "O" NWC injector. I've been using Schick blades, but I'll have to try to find some of the Personna II's (or the Pellas).