Attention 1936 Aristocrat Deluxe owners

I was curious to hear from anyone that owns the 1936 Aristocrat Deluxe (Made in USA, gold plated, open comb). There's no denying it's one of the most beautiful razors out there, but how does it shave? Is it mild or aggressive? Does it require a shallow/normal/steep angle? Those, and any other thoughts on how this work of art shaves are appreciated!

For reference: http://mr-razor.com/Rasierer/One-Piece open comb/1936 (G4 on blade) Aristocrat DeLuxe.JPG

Good question, im interested in the answers...subscribed.

I have either the '34 or '36 Aristocrat ..... depending on who answers the 'which one do I have' question . For clarity, mine is the one with the less rounded head.

I was sitting about on a day off and, seeing as you mentioned it, thought I'd drag mine out and shave with it to get a refresher on how it shaves. So ..... I threw in a Feather that I'd had one shave out of from one of my R41s and had at it.

Anyway ...... Quickly ...... Proraso Sensitive Pre Shave, Erasmic Shaving Creme, Feather blade, Simpson Colonel brush and one '30s Aristocrat .....

This razor is a very effective yet mild and forgiving razor. I shave usually with R41s, meaning I pay a lot of attention to what I'm doing, but I usually only shave every other day. I only had a days worth of whiskers, so the Aristocrat was perfect for it. The head makes for a fairly shallow angle, but it's tiny compared to an R41, so getting up under my nose was a doddle. The razor itself is quite audible ......you know when there's whiskers coming off.

Overall, the razor is evenly balanced ...... perhaps a little weightier towards the head. It's a little lighter that I like, but still a lovely comfortable shaver. The rounder headed variant is meant to be a little more agressive, but I couldn't comment on that as I've never had one.

They seem to be quite desirable at the moment ....... Some silly prices being thrown after them on the auction site. Of course...... You can't go wrong with one, so grab one of you can ........ Even if, like me, you don't use it often ....... they're still gorgeous

I had the hardest time getting use to mine. I had to use a steep angle in order to get a good shave. My 30's Crat bite me worse than any other DE razor I had.

I had both, since I don't collect I sold them. Too mild for me.

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imatabor said:

I had the hardest time getting use to mine. I had to use a steep angle in order to get a good shave. My 30's Crat bite me worse than any other DE razor I had.

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This.

Just to clarify, the whole "DeLuxe" part of the name never really applied to the razor. Gillette had two different Christmas sets that used the Aristocrat in the late '30s: the Gillette Aristocrat Package (No. 5) and the Gillette Aristocrat DeLuxe Package (No. 6). The razors were identical -- it was the package that was "DeLuxe" or not. The basic set came with one tube of brushless shaving cream and 30 blades, and the deluxe set came with two tubes of cream and 70 blades. (See the ad below.)

There's no reason to think that the head change that happened during these earliest few years of the Aristocrat's run (we're not exactly sure when, as far as I know) had anything to do with the casing of the set, but rather just seems to have been a modification to the design over time.

Because of this confusion, you may hear people call leather-cased Aristocrats "1934 Aristocrats" and metal-cased ones "1936 Aristocrats" or "1936 DeLuxe Aristocrats," etc., regardless of their head type. You might also hear people use those same names to refer to the first two variations of the OC Aristocrat (low-profile head vs. more domed head). Neither approach is strictly correct.

That said, getting back to your original question, I would mostly agree with the other feedback here. I find it to be moderately aggressive used with a shallow blade angle, but I don't particularly care for the shave with a steeper angle -- feels too scrapey to me. Of that same family, I find that I tend to prefer the Senator more, though I really would have a hard time explaining exactly why that should be.

Thanks for the feedback folks. I asked, because like some of you I found my first shave with this one a bit difficult. It bit me a couple times before I found that I needed to adjust to a more shallow angle in order to get a decent shave. Even then, I didn't really get a super close or comfortable result...but the darn thing is just so beautiful, I feel like a champ when I use it!

MacDaddy said:

Just to clarify, the whole "DeLuxe" part of the name never really applied to the razor. Gillette had two different Christmas sets that used the Aristocrat in the late '30s: the Gillette Aristocrat Package (No. 5) and the Gillette Aristocrat DeLuxe Package (No. 6). The razors were identical -- it was the package that was "DeLuxe" or not. The basic set came with one tube of brushless shaving cream and 30 blades, and the deluxe set came with two tubes of cream and 70 blades. (See the ad below.)

There's no reason to think that the head change that happened during these earliest few years of the Aristocrat's run (we're not exactly sure when, as far as I know) had anything to do with the casing of the set, but rather just seems to have been a modification to the design over time.

Because of this confusion, you may hear people call leather-cased Aristocrats "1934 Aristocrats" and metal-cased ones "1936 Aristocrats" or "1936 DeLuxe Aristocrats," etc., regardless of their head type. You might also hear people use those same names to refer to the first two variations of the OC Aristocrat (low-profile head vs. more domed head). Neither approach is strictly correct.

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Thanks Porter for clarifying this!

Grandpa's razor is in good use as the mildest of my Aristocrats:

Just to show that tastes differ, I find my 34 Aristocrat one of the easiest of my vintage razors to use, and probably the least likely to bite me.

You're probably talking about the earlier version of the head there, CS. Just for clarity's sake below is a photo from Alan (Mormon Bridge) showing the first two Aristocrat heads side by side. I'm assuming that craniac is asking about the second style, on the right.

We've seen a few examples of a third variation that had the same assembly as the Senator, but those appear to be much less common and were probably only a brief transitional form going into the Aristocrat and Regent Techs.

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Here's mine. I just got it this week. First shave with it showed it to be on the aggressive side. More so than a NEW or an Old Type. I'm going to need more practice with her, but she's a beauty, no? I call her Saint-Gaudens.

Put me in the "too mild" camp. Sold it. It was beautiful though.

MacDaddy said:

You're probably talking about the earlier version of the head there, CS. Just for clarity's sake below is a photo from Alan (Mormon Bridge) showing the first two Aristocrat heads side by side. I'm assuming that craniac is asking about the second style, on the right.

We've seen a few examples of a third variation that had the same assembly as the Senator, but those appear to be much less common and were probably only a brief transitional form going into the Aristocrat and Regent Techs.

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So, what did we decide, I'm lost. '34 on the left '36 on the right? Or vice versa?