January 17, 2025
Jillette January
Razor - 1976 (W4) Gillette Superspeed (Black Handle)
Blade -
View attachment 300260
Soap - Stirling Hot Apple Cider
Brush - Semogue 1305 Boar
Finish - Clubman Virgin Island Bay Rum
Jumping to the end of my Gillette line, it's the 1976 Black Handle Superspeed. A recent acquisition, this razor is in great shape and fills out my line of Superspeeds. The black plastic handle shaves off some weight, as this razor weighs the same as the Blue Tip at 46 grams. The blade gap is slightly larger than the Flare Tip Superspeeds, at .025 inches vs. .023. It's almost like they combined the Superspeeds into one in characteristics.
My blade choice was the Gillette Super Thin made in Thailand. You may remember the Vietnamese Super Thin I used and found a bit lacking. My faded memory tells me the Thai blade is a better blade. Maybe that's just a longing hope.
Soap is Stirling Hot Apple Cider. It's a sample puck that's still hanging around. Used my Semogue 1305 to work up a very fine and spicy smelling lather. Two passes and my thoughts are as follows:
1. The Super Thin from Thailand is definitely better than the Vietnamese version. My memory didn't fail me.
2. The Super Thin blade is definitely noisy. Great sound during the shave. It's also smooth and effective.
3. The slight difference in blade gap, weight, etc., from the Flare Tip really doesn't matter. A Superspeed is a Superspeed.
4. I want to shave with and compare all of my Superspeeds with the same blade to see if I can figure out a preference. It may be an exercise in futility, but it will amuse me.
For now, that's that on the vintage Gillette tour. My short handled Super Adjustable will not arrive until Tuesday. It appears I can't read state abbreviations. I thought the state it was coming from was MO. Turns out it is MD. Missouri definitely ain't Maryland!
Have a great start to your weekend!
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