What was your first safety razor, and do you still use it?

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by PLANofMAN, Jul 23, 2018.

  1. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    My first safety razor was a 1967 Gillette Super Speed. I still dig it out every once in a while and use it.

    I've found better shavers, but it was the one I used for the first five years I wet shaved. I think I picked it up off of eBay for under $10, and I eventually picked up a nice period case for it and a year appropriate pack of blades. It's one razor that will never leave my collection.

    So, what was your first safety razor, and if you still have it, do you still use it?

    Edit: my second and third razors were an eBay lot I picked up. Two Fatboys and a slim. The second Fatboy went to a friend of mine, who also was my best man at my wedding years later. He still uses the Fatboy, and shows no interest in aquiring any other razors. He's a member of the "silent majority." Those who enjoy wet shaving, but don't turn it into a hobby or join wet shaving forums. (You know, the people who started wet shaving to save money and and actually do save money).
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2018
  2. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    I think it was a Shovelhead I came across in the case at Goodwill. Had just begun hearing hype on TV (back when we still had TV) about old-timey safety razors, so I bought it. Went to the drugstore, got some blades and promptly butchered my face.

    Almost wrote it all off as a scam and quit but found online help (Weasel and Shiv), was encouraged to try DE. First one I recall finding was an Aristocrat with Gillette Super Stainless blade...an utterly blissful shave that I still remember.

    Probably sold off the SE long, long ago. No idea what I did with it.
     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2018
  3. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    My first was a Merkur Progress. I spent I think at least 2 years shaving with it exclusively until I picked up a Gillette Tech. I went back and forth in the beginning until shaving with the Tech exclusively for awhile then a Gillette slim adjustable and from there I got the collectors bug. I can probably count on 2 hands the amount of times I've used the Merkur since I got my first Tech. I don't have the original since it broke and I had to replace it which was the reason partially for also picking up the Tech that and I wanted to try a non adjustable and the condition of it was pretty much mint and the price really cheap.
     
  4. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    The Wet Shave Bug bit me on the Dark Side. I started with SRs & shavettes. First nice vintage DE I spotted in the wild was an ebay priced Fat Boy. I passed it up, but within a couple days found a $5 E-4 Fat Boy at a little antique shop. Still using it to this day. It's my benchmark standard razor by which all others are judged. It took me a while to train up. Now I get my best shaves using it with a Feather blade on setting number nine.
     
  5. FaceScraper

    FaceScraper Well-Known Member

    My first razor was a Van Der Hagen, purchased at Wally World. When I decided to try out traditional wet shaving, it was uncertain how it would go, or if it would "stick". I decided to get the VDH since I could get it local, and thought the price was decent. Little did I realize, I could've picked a Gillette off the Bay cheaper. No biggie...less than a $20 bill for the razor, and also picked up the VDH kit with the brush, soap and mug. It all served its purpose - it got me in the game. I ended up giving the razor to a friend who wanted to try out traditional wet shaving. He bought several other razors since, but I believe he still uses the VDH from time to time.
     
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  6. Frijolero

    Frijolero Well-Known Member

    The first one that I tried was a de89, with the barleycorn handle. Then a few Indian-made variations on that theme. It was probably a couple of years before I caught the vintage bug. I don't remember the last time that I used it. I do still have it, and I will pull it back out sooner or later. But nowadays I find myself liking the smaller handles like the single ring or ball-end tech.
     
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  7. battle.munky

    battle.munky Has the menthol.munky on his back!

    My first DE is a Slim Adjustable and I'll break it out every once in a while. I prefer other razors to it but it shaves just fine.
     
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  8. Slipperyjoe

    Slipperyjoe Rusty Metal Tetanus

    My first safety razor was a 1970's Gillette TTO. It was the first razor I ever used and usually went with Barbasol lemon-lime. I don't have that exact razor any more but do have a couple of duplicates that I don't use because they're not in such good shape any more...
     
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  9. jimjo1031

    jimjo1031 never bloomed myself

    Mine was a Gillette Slim along with 100 Personna Lab Blues and still being used.
     
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  10. jluc

    jluc smelling pretty

    When I first started shaving it was with a three piece DE. I have no idea where it came from or where it ended up. I got an electric razor for Christmas or a birthday and started using that. When that crapped out I couldn't find my DE so I picked up a cart. Shaved with those for nearly thirty years. I'm getting older and decided it was time to start taking better care of myself. Eating better, vitamins, and skin care. I read DE razors were better for your skin so I did a little research and bought a Blackbird OC. I wanted to be one and done. A SS razor that would last. I ordered my second DE, an EJde89 within minutes of my first shave with the Blackbird. I think I was still bleeding.

    I rarely use the EJ but the Blackbird is in my regular rotation.
    Have a great day.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
     
  11. poppi

    poppi Well-Known Member

    A '57 Super Speed that worked very well as a beginning razor. I PIF'd to another who still uses it.
     
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  12. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member

    My first safety razor was a pif from a member of another shaving forum. It was a Razorock Mentor or Mission head on an EJ DE89 chromed handle. That razor is now my dedicated travel razor when I don't carry on my bags. It's mild enough that I don't have to worry too much about irritation or nicking or cutting myself when traveling for work yet it's efficient enough to get the job done nicely. And if something happens to it I won't worry too much, unlike if it was one of my vintage razors.
     
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  13. Linuxguile

    Linuxguile dating an unusual aristocrat

    Mine was a Merkur 34c, I still have it but I have so many razors that it doesn't see much use.
     
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  14. DesertTime

    DesertTime Well-Known Member

    When I started shaving regularly, my father gave me one of his older razors, a Gillette Fatboy. It was still in the box (my father always stored his razors in their original boxes). I still have a Fatboy, but unfortunately not the original one.

    I remember he had it set low and told me not to mess with the setting. Ha. Let there be blood.
     
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  15. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member

    I also have a Merkur 34c. It's a good razor but like you mine doesn't see much action as I am only really using about 10 of my 30 razors on a regular basis.
     
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  16. Engblom

    Engblom Well-Known Member

    I had two beginnings. The first beginning was a failure. I was given a Wilkinson Plastic DE. At that time I hated shaving so much that I was most of the time scruffy. As I clogged this razor at the first trial, I got disappointed. I removed the safety bar on one side for first pass, but used this razor only a couple of times. Then it ended up in the garbage.

    It went many years before I tried any DE again. At the end of 2012, I bought an R41. This was the first razor I bought myself and what I count as the real beginning of my shaving journey, because from this point on I have been a DE shaver. I was getting some irritation from R41, and I sold it after more than a half year of use as my only razor. Later I regretted it and bought again an R41 and it was for a long time my favorite razor.

    Now iKon X3 has replaced R41 as my favorite razor, but occasionally I still use R41.
     
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  17. Badgerstate

    Badgerstate Well-Known Member

    Merkur 23C. No, I dont still use it because Merkur's blade alignment issues annoy me. Ive tried a bunch of different razors and now, Ive settled on a Weishi Long Handle as my favorite.
     
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  18. Sara-s

    Sara-s This Pun for Hire

    My very first safety razor was some silly pink thing I used in my teens. My first DE razor, bought about 6 years ago was a Parker 29L. It served me well, but as I have come to prefer adjustables, I PIF’d it away recently.
     
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  19. DesertTime

    DesertTime Well-Known Member

    Was that the Lady Gillette? I got one of those for my daughter-in-law because my son complained about her co-opting his razor. It was basically a pink SS. Now I'm worried it was silly LOL.
     
  20. Sara-s

    Sara-s This Pun for Hire

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