Schick v. Gillette Ford v. Chevy when I was growing up this was a thing in my family. My dad took me to buy first razor and I remember picking up a Gillette I really liked the look. My dad said that is garbage put it down he picked up a Schick hand it to me and said now that is a razor created by a military man. He was buying so that is what I used. I figured dad knows best. I used a Schick from 1983 to 1985 when I joIned the Marine Corps, well they issued me a Gillette and been using it every since. My dad was a Marine I converted him by telling him there is the right way the wrong way and the Marine Corps way. LOL My dad was a Chevy man and so I am I agreed 100% with him. How was it in your house was there this debate?
My dad has owned Chevys, Fords, Hondas, Plymouths, Mazdas, VWs, etc. He used to shave with a Krona and Wilkie blades, but now he prefers single blade throw away imitation Bic razors. I do get the "My way, or the wrong way" attitude from him. As a child in his house I could agree with him or shut up. Now that we are both older occasionally he accepts that I come up with good ideas.
Cadillac was the car of choice for my dad, I've always been a Japanese or Korean car guy, well except when I had a Chevy Vega, VW Bug (best car ever made IMO) and I had a Dodge Dakota PU.
We never had this debate in my family because by the time I started shaving regularly in my early twenties (mid-nineties) cartridges were the thing, and so I went with those. I briefly experimented with a shavette straight razor, but it was some cheap thing I got from Sally's Beauty Supply and the blades had a habit of rusting into the housing so thoroughly that changing them out became impossible. My flirtation with straight-razor-shaving came to an end when I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 2001 (didn't make it through boot camp for health reasons) and my shavette was confiscated due to the regs at the time forbidding them. We recruits were encouraged to rush through shaving, which really can't be done with a straight or a safety, so cartridges were preferred. I eventually got hold of the Gillette Mach 3 cartridges, and later transitioned to the Fusion series with five blades in front and a single blade in back. But their high cost had me going days between shaves to save on replacements, and use them until the lubrication strips were completely white and the gaps clogged. So, one day in August last year at Target, I saw the Van Der Hagen safety in the shaving section and on a lark decided to buy it along with the boar brush and apothecary mug luxury set, and about a month or two later got the long-handled razor from Walgreen's. I figured for the comparative cost of replacement blades, I couldn't go wrong. For Christmas, I plopped down $27 on Amazon for my Merkur 34c and I've been using that ever since. I think I might have used a Schick cartridge at some point, but obviously I must not have been impressed because I've tended to stick with Gillette pretty consistently. It's not for nothing that it is still the giant of men's grooming tools, after all.
Your Dad wasn't a retired Navy BMC was he? My dad spent 30years in the Navy. Your dad sounds like mine was. The only thing I remember is he (my Dad) shaved with a straight razor. And no I do not have his. It seemed to disappear like everything else that was has. Thanks to the Wicked Witch of the North.( his wife) I still have the razor that I got in my first issue of uniforms and personal care items.
There were several such traits. GPop like Hamilton watches. Dad liked Lord Elgin. GPop like Sheaffer pens. Dad used Parkers. Both generations used Stieff silverware but knew people that used Kirk. GPop was Chrysler; Dad eclectic, Chevy, Studebaker, Hudson, Nash.
Thirty years Army Reserves. In civilian work - a research chemist who went to night school and got his MBA. Later he went back to school and started a new career as an RN specializing in Psychiatric Care. He's now retired from all that, though he just signed up to volunteer at the newly opened V.A. clinic.
My dad had a beard... Once a week, he'd take the clippers to his neck, but that's as close to shaving as he ever got.
