Single Edge Noob

Picked up my first SE razor this past weekend at a local flea market. Packaged deal for 10 bucks !!! I know nothing about these ? Not a good SE razor for beginner ? What are good blades for it ? Here are before picks




After pics

That razor is beautiful. That Gem is impressive.

I shave with a DE razor, so my advice is not so hot, but that Marlin blade is probably real old.

Looks great. Nice job cleaning this Gem Micromatic Open Comb. You may want to read the Wiki on these razors. They are considered agressive, but I have one and find it provides a very close and comfortable shave.

You have some blade choices - they seem to be broken down into carbon steel or stainless steel. American Safety Razor (ASR) and Gem seem to be most acailable, but Treet and Dorco can be found.

A single edge blade for shaving is 0.009" vs paint scrapping 0.012" thickness blades. Getting PTFE coated stainless blades will not rust like their carbon steel counterparts. From reading - not my experience - stainless blades provide more shaves in the end, but right out of the package they are not as smooth as carbon steel. Carbon steel are best out of package then continental getting incrementally less effective until tossed.

Keep the flat part of head close to your skin when shaving. You will be able to hear the whiskers getting cut - to me, the louder the better and I know it is the right angle.

Don't be intimidated by the razor. Use good later, good face prep and light touch. Lots of very knowledgeable people here with way more experience than me, so do a little searching through the threads.

Don't be surprised if you are able to achieve one of the closest shaves you have ever experienced soon after starting to use it.

It is a slippery slope I have 7 SE's and a injector (I type) on the way.

Ted Pella and Connaught Shaving have blades. As well as Amazon and local supermarkets and drugstores.

Beautiful razor. I love mine (It isn't as pretty as yours)

I just bought a bunch of Ted Pella PTFE coated stainless blades. If you are in the U.S. I can send you a few to get going. Just let me know if you are interested.

It looks great, just remember to keep it almost flat on your skin.

Very nice.

Welcome to the wonderful world of SE shaving! It is an all-together different experience than DE shaving. Both are great but the SE's are in a class of their own.

I'm not the most or best experienced to give pointers but here goes

I have the following by way of comparison: EverReady 1912, EveryReady 1924, Open Comb Micromatic (like yours but silver) Gem Jr, Gem 1912, Gem Feather, and 3 Gem Damaskeenes (one is the round head and have another one coming).

Of the different ones listed, for my face, probably for the way I shave, and especially going against-the -grain shaving the Damaskeenes are the best. In what way? they are absolutely the smoothest shavers for me. They are instinctive to use. I do think the round head ones are slightly "better" but both are wonderful. If I had to have only one SE it would be the Gem Damaskeene.

For blades, I think, the best are the Ted Pella Gem Coated Stainless Steel.

And, Happy Thanksgiving!

http://connaughtshaving.com/gemss.html
https://www.tedpella.com/dissect_html/blades.htm Look under Stainless Steel

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Thank You for all the Great information !!! Ordered some blades today !!