I have heard an Old Type gives a shave similar to a SE.
Wp
Wp
Does anything compare to SE shaving?
- Thread starter smrex13
- Start date
I've used both. Sold off the nice Old Types, and they are great collectibles. The beaters packed away, perhaps for freebies somewhere along the line.
IMHBEO the GEM gives as close a shave as can be had with anything, including a straight razor. However, for manly cool, nothing beats putting a straight razor against your face.
More deadly for the GEM, King Gillette has been the King of marketing ever since they hit on the notion of giving WWI GI's free razors (but you have to buy the blades from... three guesses now...). Fabulous marketing insight.
Add to that the fact that the TTO DE's tend to look really crisp (not much beats a gleaming clean Fatboy) and are easier and safer to load, and the fact that it often seems easier to cut yourself with a SE than a DE, and the humble GEM fades into undeserved obscurity.
The 1912 is superb all around; the MMOC gives shaves as close as a slant; both are cheap and their blades cheaper. And that Art Deco style is sweet.
Hey, I've almost convinced myself to sell off my Gillettes. Almost.
More deadly for the GEM, King Gillette has been the King of marketing ever since they hit on the notion of giving WWI GI's free razors (but you have to buy the blades from... three guesses now...). Fabulous marketing insight.
Add to that the fact that the TTO DE's tend to look really crisp (not much beats a gleaming clean Fatboy) and are easier and safer to load, and the fact that it often seems easier to cut yourself with a SE than a DE, and the humble GEM fades into undeserved obscurity.
The 1912 is superb all around; the MMOC gives shaves as close as a slant; both are cheap and their blades cheaper. And that Art Deco style is sweet.
Hey, I've almost convinced myself to sell off my Gillettes. Almost.
Another thing to note is that as far as I know SE razors are mostly a US-only phenomenon while DE razors were and are used worldwide.
You have it backwards, if at all. The cartridges came later, much later. Therefore, cartridges mimic single edges.
Nostalgia Factor? How about the billboards at some old time ballparks touting GEM razors and blades? How about shaving with a nearly 100 year old razor? A razor that may have been there before radio and tv were commonplace!
And they give a great, great shave.
After shaving with a GEM Featherweight for the second time today, I can say that no, nothing does. I'm selling off everything I own but one straight and strop sometime in the next week. I'm also probably going to purchase a TON of Ted Pella's with half the money I get from selling off my den.
My only complaint about my Gem SEs is that it's harder to get under my nose than with a DE or an Injector. Injectors are almost too easy to use and get BBS shaves with.
+1 I agree I find I can't maneuver around my neck as well either with a se as with an injector(or DE for that matter) I have a very sensitive neck though.
Injectors are almost too easy to use and get BBS shaves with.
Injectors are definitely the GameSharks of the shaving world.
It's pretty simple. The blade is on the front of the instrument, and it's held there by a handle.
What's different about a DE is that the blade edges are on the "side" of the tool, as it were. This makes it seem completely different, although in reality the DE just has two "front edges."
Confused?
This thread has inspired me to put a bid in on a 1912... I blame you all for reigniting my SERAD... SHAME ON YOU!!!!
The Damaskeene version gives great shaves too, and the Open Comb Micromatic shaves me very, very well.
Futur or slant shaves like SE Razors.. Someone says Red tip also but i have not same result as futur or slant yet.
You need the Gem Stainless PTFE (i.e. Teflon) coated ones and I've never found them locally (the industrial hardware store blades are terrible in comparison).
You can order them from the "vendor that cannot be named" (Conn***** shaving) in the UK who sell as few as a ten-pack or as many as 400 so you could order ten to see if you like them before committing to a larger number. These are exactly the same blades as sold by Ted Pella but without the punishing postage rates that TP charge (actually I found that UK vendor had best postal rates to NZ of any vendor I've ever used). Also the UK£ has taken a bit of a dive recently so the exchange rate is very favourable.
