In praise of the Tech...

**joshearl** · 10-22-2006, 10:39 AM

I've been DE shaving for about a month now, and until today I was using a 1954 Gillette SuperSpeed. It does a pretty good job for me with Walmart Personnas, but I've found that it's relatively easy to get too aggressive with it and scrape my face raw.

Today I tried a hollow-handle Gillette Tech, and man, why do people diss that razor? It seems like the perfect razor for a beginner, because either you have the blade angle right and it shaves or you get it wrong and it doesn't do any damage. It's amazingly gentle and it shaves just as close as my SuperSpeed.

The difference seems to be that the safety bar is closer to the blade and the dome of the razor head is flatter. The blade angle seems to be less steep than it was with my SuperSpeed.

The Tech also handled my chin area better. With the SuperSpeed I had to take really short strokes, even on my first with the grain pass, or I would get a lot of skipping. I think the less aggressive angle meant I was able to reduce the stubble more gradually on my chin.

I wasn't able to get 100 percent BBS this morning, but I got closer than ever.

I think these should be recommended to newbies more often. And since it's probably the most plentiful razor Gillette made, maybe we won't see the insanely high prices that FatBoys command.

Looking forward to tomorrow's shave,
Josh

**jduffy** · 10-22-2006, 12:40 PM

You're preaching to the choir brothah!

Just be glad that you got one and that you're able to learn from using it. It helped my technique immensely.

In your progression you're going to move to a Fat Boy or Slim. Here's some advice from me, go for the Slim. It's one fine adjustable.

**olkev** · 10-22-2006, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by jduffy

You're preaching to the choir brothah!

Just be glad that you got one and that you're able to learn from using it. It helped my technique immensely.

In your progression you're going to move to a Fat Boy or Slim. Here's some advice from me, go for the Slim. It's one fine adjustable.

I'm with Jim on all counts except one . . . If it's working and working well, why change? If I were going to do anything, I would experiment with finding the very best blade for you and your Tech.

BTW I've got 3 Techs, AND an adjustable and a couple of Aristocrats. The Tech is the go-to razor for me. YMMV

**vox_rox** · 10-25-2006, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by olkev

I'm with Jim on all counts except one . . . If it's working and working well, why change? If I were going to do anything, I would experiment with finding the very best blade for you and your Tech.

Amen! For me, IP or Derby work the best, but it's different for everyone, as we all know. But, stay with the razor that works, get the blade that works the best for that razor, and it's a beautiful thing.

Originally Posted by olkev

BTW I've got 3 Techs, AND an adjustable and a couple of Aristocrats. The Tech is the go-to razor for me. YMMV

I have two black handle super adjustable (one long, one short), an HD, a '48-50 SS and a Tech, and when I absolutely have to get a great comfortable shave for an interview or something, it's the Tech, no question. The SuperSpeed is a close 2nd though.

Personally I have an older fat handled Tech model, but from what I've seen the heads didn't change much over the years, so I'd use any Tech I could get my hands on.

I don't know why they don't get any respect. I got mine for $3.99 on eBay in a kind of run-down travel kit. I don't care about the little box, the razor cleaned up perfectly and works like a charm. Beats the heck out of the $80 that people are paying for Aristocrats. I guess, if you collect, you collect. What I want is razors that shave well, and my HD, my SS, and my Tech always seem to work well.

Especially my Tech.

Peace,

Pierre

**vespergo** · 10-26-2006, 03:15 PM

it looks like people either love them or hate them, i haven't been able to handle any of the gillette offerings, but i love the merkur stuff. the slant and the LH. it seems that the blade exposure is just right for my technique and i can get a great shave with very little effort. my first month of DE shaving i was using a black handled adjustable... a year after i tried the Futur to no avail. i did like it better than the futur, but when i got ahold of a merkur LH it seemed to come together instantly. then with ip blades it improved to the point where that is my workhorse setup and failsafe.. though sometimes i like to screw around with different blades and whatnot. so i shaved with that setup for like 7 months straight then traded my black gillette adj. for a superspeed, hated that one too and traded for some cream.

**TraderJoe** · 10-26-2006, 05:09 PM

The gillette Tech is a fantastic razor and is well deserving of any praise it may receive.

**ouch** · 10-27-2006, 05:42 AM

Whenever I use my humble Tech, I think that the design of razors has been, for a long time, a solved problem.

**joshearl** · 10-27-2006, 06:15 AM

Originally Posted by ouch

Whenever I use my humble Tech, I think that the design of razors has been, for a long time, a solved problem.

Ouch,

I agree. If I can wander off topic just a bit here, the history of the razor for me is fascinating as a case study.

It's very American to think that newer is always better, but sometimes it really isn't. I'm all for innovation, but sometimes we're too eager to toss the old ways out the window in favor of newer--but inferior--ways of doing things. (This is coming from a 26-year-old.)

Let's spend our energy on things that really need fixing.

Off my soapbox.

Josh