no, not me actually doing it heres a couple pages from an EARLY gem catalouge thats going into my project. shaving with ordinary razors is not "easy" for anybody. it takes months, yes, years of practice, and few, during this period escape many and serious cuts. even with experience, despite care, cuts may be inflicted. use the "NEW GEM" safety razor, shave every morning with absolute ease, comfort and security. none who have tried them truthfully gainsay this. be your beard rough or mild, without the slightest difficulty, with no experience, you can give yourself a close, clean shave. our razor comes ready for immediate use. after taking it from the box, begin operations by holding the blade against the face at the angle usual with ordinary razors. instead or moving directly downward, move "slantingly," slightly toward the mouth-corner or the ear: thus the hair will not bend, and will more easily be cut. the "NEW GEM" shaves as close as you may desire. when finished, press the button, open the razor bodily and then hold the entire razor under running water or shake gently in a bowl, then press down the spring in the rear, take the blade from the frame, and thoroughly dry both. be sure when returning blade to the frame that the "(iron cross symbol)" side is up, it will then be ready for your next shave. observe these conditions, you'll soon be adept. our blades are of the finest english imported steel, and the most skilled experts on earth impart their edge. they save you time and tedious delays incident to barber shops, and one month's self-shaving pays for a "GEM". we enclose a guarantee ticket with every razor, entitling the user to have the blades resharpened. once used. you'll never give up the "NEW GEM" safety razor.
Nice, sounds like a great shave. I'll take one of each please! Thanks for posting the trailer, I can't wait to see the completed work.
Of course the New Gem was a "wedge" blade safety razor and it is to be assumed that the "ordinary" razor they were comparing it to was the common, (at that time), straight razor. By comparison, a good bit of this hype was probably pretty acurate. Regards, Tom
I've been meaning to try a single edge razor for years now. I even have a gem, but i've never picked up blades. I really should give it a go.
That is awesome. All of this time I have called it the "Gillette Slide" turns out they stole it. :happy102 Thanks Dave, that was fun to read.
I can't wait to see the rest of this, Dave! Makes me recall my first Gem shave, which was also my first non-cartridge shave. It went very well, and I was left thinking that it would be hard to improve on such a simple, foolproof, and effective design. Think I'll lather up and shave with a Ever-Ready 1912 loaded with a Pal Super tonight...
If only there were more SE blades to choose from, we might well have a very lively SE vs. DE debate going on in this forum... As it is now, I truly enjoy using both SE and DE razors. Each has its own particular attributes, but I can get a great shave with either. And that's the point, isn't it?
Not sure that a wider choice of blades matters... the ones that are available work well for myself, and others that I know. I can get good shaves from DE SE and Straight..but by and far the SE is easiest and most comfortable for me. Kind of like the Model T... you could have aby color you wanted.. as long as you wanted Black. SE blades are about that way. Not a lot of choice perhaps. Then again maybe we have to many choices these days. Fuzzy
Sparky, pick up some Ted Pellas. I was PIFed an old eversharp and I just love the thing. Its just as good as my best DE shave hands down.
S.E razors were out of the blocks first and deliver a superior shave imho. Gillette had much better marketing and produced the 1900s equivalent of a cartridge razor.Thus winning the battle.Strange that!:sick007
BAD way to put it. Now I feel bad using a DE. But if you look at it that way... Then the SE was the Mach 3 of its day, and I can be truly back to basics when my straight gets here.
I tend to think that the DE is the less wasteful out of the DE/SE debate. Takes more metal to make each SE blade and you are wasting that whole other side. The frugal amongst us would have no choice but to take the DE from these two. But the truly frugal among us use straight.
I like the feel of an SE blade it is very solid feeling like a str8t but you can manuver it in hard areas like a DE. The fact that there are only a couple types of SE blades is both a good and bad thing. On one hand you get to focus on the razors instead of having to buy a sampler pack of blades and go through each one till you find one that works like w/ a DE. On the other hand.......you don't get to buy a sampler pack and go through a different shave each day
