I have collected vintage razors [mostly Gillettes] for many years but have only recently started shaving with them.I enjoy cleaning them, trading them and displaying them. My hobby started when my dad gave me my grandfather's old thick handled Tech when I was a late teenager. My favorites are the Tech, of course, as well as two of my dad's razors - a flare tip Super Speed and a Fatboy. Razor collections don't take up much space.
I use a vintage Gillette because it was my grandpa's and I was always interested in it as a little boy. Then I saw the cost benefits of using a DE and I don't need to spend money on a new one because my grandpa's is good enough.
1. They shave as well, often better, than the modern ones 2. It's a part of history-there are untold stories behind each of my 80 vintage razors. In most cases we can only imagine these stories
Some of us more than others! See Example Below! http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/two-brothers-part-6.26595/
Great stuff!!! Hate to ruin the ending, but that Sheraton is in my den-I'd recognize him anywhere? Always gives a better shave when I play swing, and bites me when I play Dylan!! Seriously, great sense of history, can't wait to read the rest.
They are easier than what I was using before and the blades are less expensive. They are fun to search for, clean up and put to use. I really like that they are something I can use rather than just display like a picture. If I couldn't use them I wouldn't collect them. The 1921 Single Ring and 1912 GEM are my most proud razors. It's amazing to shave w/ such an old piece of equipment that's gone through almost a century and I'm always amazed that we are so lucky that are able to obtain these razors nearly 100 years later. They are made w/ quality and should not be abandoned. That's why I don't clean up the original patinas off my razors. It took them 100 years to get that way and and cleaning them up bright and shiny silver just looks very wrong/fake to my eyes. I respect the razor and it serves me well.
I like using my vintage razor because it works very well, and because examples in fine condition are often available for a reasonable price. A lot of the new razors are getting expensive, as in Gillette Fusion cartridge expensive.
I shave with vintage razors because I feel that "the best a man can get" was perfected in the '40's and made through the '60's. I find myself staring at my collection of razors, every one of which was made before I was born, and functioning as well as they did the day they rolled off the assembly line. Even better, to tell the truth, due to advances in blade steel composition and an extra 40 years of soap and cream development. All modern razors (cheap plastic) and most modern DE razors (chromed pot metal) don't have the same sense of perfect design that the vintage razors have. There are two exceptions in my book- The Merkur Futar and the Feather Stainless Steel DE are beautiful, elegant razors. Would I trade my Gillette red tip or my fatboy for one, probably not. If someone made a "new" fatboy, using the old patents, would I buy it? If the quality was good; in a heartbeat.
Off us forumites and all the other wetshavers out there. I was thinking of the Merkur 34C, which cost me $35 a few years ago, when I wrote that. Hopefully those involved won't raise prices by too much and kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Vintage razors, of which there is a vast quantity, help keep things sane. Artisan sellers, by providing high quality products at reasonable prices, do the same thing.
I have a feeling forumites are more susceptible, as we are here reading and buying whatever is being talked about. As we like to call ourselves at times, "enablers". But I know what you mean.
I use them because I like them. I like the nostalgia aspect of those razors. I like their looks, I like how well they shave. They ooze timeless elegance and, compared to most modern day razors, they feel like a quality product (in the DE world, especially Gillette TTOs do, in my opinion). The Merkurs and the Muehles and the EJs and so on are good razors, no question about it (I own 1 of them and have owned a lot previously) but in general, I prefer much more my Red Tips, Fatboy and the Rocket. A noteable exception being the Feather stainless which I put on par with my Red Tip.
To me its nostalgic in one sense because they are the razors I saw and played with growing up. I also am proud that our fine country and countries of the work produced such good products on a consistent basis.
