Why TTO?

asadasam said:

Less finger-to-blade contact when changing (since you don't have to screw anything back down) and you can clean (by loosening the head and running under water) without taking the blade out.

StripeyType said:

+!. that having been said, I love my Futur. If the head were hinged instead of popped off completely, it would be perfect.

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++1 on that... Yep... that design can be down right.. how do I put this without getting "flamed"



I guess a picture is worth a thousand words. The blood did clean off but the finsh will never be the same again... On the positive side... I did get one heck of a deal on it ("GET THIS THING AWAY FROM ME... YOU CAN HAVE IT").... It has not bit me...... yet

jacko said:

I'm new to DE shaving and have only been using a 34c for a month or so. I really like the clean, minimalist lines and design of this type of razor.

I don't get why are people into TTO razors. It seems easy enough to switch blades on my 34c, there are fewer moving parts to wear out or corrode and to me the TTO heads just look bulky, clunky and dated (not in a good way).

Am I missing something?

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I think some people think they are less likely to cut themselves with the blade with the butterfly opening.

Most of today's shavers use disposables or electric razors and many have never handled a razor blade. Believe it or not, some people are afraid of handling a blade. I particularly enjoy using a straight razor which is even more scary to them.

People are afraid of things they've never done.

Dunno. I like technical, moving parts kinda things. But I do own razors that are not TTO and I enjoy using them, too.

turtle said:

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I don't know whether my laughter is from schadenfreude or fear.

jacko said:

Why TTO?

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Why not?

jacko said:

Am I missing something?

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The only way to find out for certain is to try one for yourself. I don't find TTO's to be what you describe however, my favorite DE isn't a TTO (and that has nothing to do with it being a TTO).

You're not missing anything, and its all a matter of personal preference. Some like the TTO for the ease of changing blades, but if you're happy with what you've got then I'd say you're all set.

zagood said:

I don't know whether my laughter is from schadenfreude or fear.

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LOL - strange coincidence... I just heard Avenue Q for the first time this weekend... Before that I'd never heard of schadenfreude...

rylos said:

ime the se ttos are made better, work better, & thus have less qc issues as their de brethren.

Can i get more acronyms in this post? Oh yeah, ymmv!

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rotflmao !

TTO's kind of lost that "no handling the blade" thing when current manufacturers started individually wrapping the blades.

dundak said:

TTO's kind of lost that "no handling the blade" thing when current manufacturers started individually wrapping the blades.

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+1, No one rarely brings up that good point. The glue spots on certain blades make the matter even harder.

De gustibus and all that. I love my 3 piece, but the TTOs are just so simple to re-fill!

jacko said:

Am I missing something?

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Makes you wonder, huh?

How bout... I send you black handle Superspeed, if you don't like it... send it back.

With TTO you can't lose a part down the drain. You can't strip threads. Safer to change blades.
With 3-piece you have a lower head profile. No door closing issues. simpler mechanism.

Either one can be a great razor. It's just a preference, and lots of shavers just don't care one way or the other.

I can't speak for others, but I know that I chose a TTO because that is what my grandfather used. A proper shave is very much a ritual for me, a ritual in both sensual grooming and in honoring and connecting with my ancestors. Choosing tools similar to what they used is part of how I remember, honor, and connect with them.

Extract from an essay on Walter Benjamin, noted literary critic, and his thoughts on historical objects:

"The auratic authority around an object ... is... not generated by something inside the object as if it were magic, but rather through an 'ornamental halo' accrued through the object’s testimony to a period of history. The fact that the object was there in a certain corner of historical time is what affords it ... more authority than an identical object which did not experience that history...".

It's why I like things like DEs and so on, including TTOs. They may or may not be to one's liking, but when they are cleaned and functional, and work, and do what they're supposed to, there is something uniquely satisfying about using and holding them.

The same, I think, would apply to new objects that continue to be made in the exact, same tradition (such as the Simpson brush). This is not the same thing as nostalgia... completely; it's the past brought forward into the present and the awareness that historical forces will in all likelihood close over and cloak the object once more. We are but holders of objects in the temporal sense, not their true possessors...yet the experience of their use is unusually, sublimely authentic.

How does that sound?

Schadenfreude: laughing coldly at your therapist who has just cracked their knee on the coffee table.

It's got a Transformers thing going on.

asadasam said:

you can clean (by loosening the head and running under water) without taking the blade out.

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You can do that with a 3piece like the Muhle/EJ '89 as well.
Just open it halfway, rinse, done.

I like how simple and quick it is to change the blade on my Fatboy. On a non-TTO, like the Tech, it feels like an exercise of finger acrobatics, only with a super sharp blade about slip out of my fingers' grip...

TTO's were born at a time when carbon blades were removed from the razor after each shave to keep them dry and again re-inserted before each shave. TTO made this easier and safer, or at least made it appeal so.

I have used TTO and Non TTO and am not partial to one or the other. That being said I find TTOs to be more efficient at blade installation/removal when I'm in a hurry. I save about 3 seconds of shaving time.