Last night I tried something different. I put a blade made in Israel, a Super Platinum blade. I lathered up, as normal, and shaved my lips and chin and right side of my face with the Gillette TTO (Twist To Open) razor I bought at an antique store for $5.00. I even went down under my chin past my Adam's Apple with the DE, and I also went against the grain on the first pass when I shaved down with the DE instead of going up with the lay of the whiskers on the right neck. Left side I used the Solingen new razor, the GOTTA 120 Super Fine straight. I was shocked!! It was like I wasn't shaving at all on the right side with the Gillette DE razor. I felt the skin after making a couple of passes and couldn't believe how smooth the skin felt. Only took about 2 minutes to do the right side, maybe even less than that. The straight on the left side was very felt, kind of dragging a bit but did cut a fairly nice job when done with the second pass. It was a comfort level of 3 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most comfortable. The DE Gillette on the right was a 10 for comfort. It simply beat the straight hands down for comfort, speed and closeness of cut. No razor burn, no issues at all, and still feeling it now as I type and cannot believe it! I started out with a DE back when I first started shaving and got away from it eventually. That was back in 1968 ish, over 40 years ago. I have mostly wet shaved in all those 40 years but soon went to disposable about in 1977 or so. So, it was not like I'm a newbie with shaving with them. It all came back. Either my razors are not as sharp as they should be, or those Israeli blades are wicked sharp, or the way that the razor bends the blade is just right to get a superior job done. The Gillette is a all chrome model with a silo or TTO top and date code of D 1.
The razor that won the hearts and whiskers of more than one generation... Thats a D-year razor ('58) BTW, that John Wayne was raving about in that classic Super Speed commercial...
I'll bet if you got your straight professionally honed you'd find it to be sharper than any blade you used in the DE. But the alternative is also true.
I got a new DOVO one time and had a professional honer touch it up. Lynn did an alright job, but I got better shaves later on after I honed it. One of my better blades, the Gold Bug, by Witte -Germany, will pop hairs left and right and really do a nice job of shaving for comfort. But, it's not as comfortabe as the DE. My Wacker 5/8 is also very well honed, and CrOx lapped and stropped, but even it doesn't feel the smooth shave of the DE. I quizzed about this one time over at SRP and they pretty much were in agreement that a straight will not get as sharp as the commercial razor blades you buy. There is just something about the way they make thin blades and the coating etc to make them shave close and comfortable. I did notice something today. The left side that was staight shaved had started to come in a bit and even though it was not smooth it was not sharp. The right side with the DE I could feel the shapness of the hair and a mild discomfort on my fase as I run my fingers against the grain, and no discomfort with the left side against the grain feel.
I think you are in real time finding out why men switched in the early part of the 1900s from straight to safety razors. Time was of the essence and the DE allowed for a good clean shave in a shorter amount of time. Daily shaving became a norm for American men over time. You, however, have the advantage of much better blade technology than those in the early 1900s.
A straight razor blade feels like it's tugging,no matter how sharp it is. Modern d/e blades are much sharper,without a doubt.
That's what I was kind of told elsewhere, but thought, well.... maybe... I shaved last night with my 58 Gillette with the Persona blade and got an exceptional smooth and very very close shave. However I felt something afterward that I don't feel with the straight. Almost an irritation, almost like razor burn, but it doesn't show. I put on some skin moistureizer and that seemed to help a bit. I think it gets them so close but cuts at a angle that the straight just does not do. When I get done with my straight I "look" clean shaven, but you can generally put your hand along there and feel that it's still there. And, even the next day I still have that "just shaved" look, but, without the slight irritation. Could be I might try out one of the adjustables on their way here to see what and adjusted setting would do, and also might try just another blade or two. There are quite a few to my surprise.
i just put in a new red this evening and the shave was very nice using musgo shave cream and the gillette red tip. i've been toying with the idea of buying myself a straight to try but for the cost and the hassle i might just keep on with the de collection i've acquired over the years
I started shaving with a straight razor back in mid Feb of this year. I was a wet shaver (throw-a-way) before that and "had" used such things as the adjustable Gillette and Schick Injector way back in the late '60 and early to mid '70's before trying an electric razor for a number of years. I have always sharpened things, knives, etc, mostly knives, and I like to get them hair cutting sharp. It was more a personal challenge to me to get a straight razor and sharpen it to the point that I could completely shave my face with it. And, until just a few nights ago, I had not used anything other than a straight for shaving. I bought an antique razor that needed some help, a Gold Bug made in Germany by A. Witte - Solingen, and at first dulled down the edge to use it as a practice razor. Then, after while, I set the bevel on my 1X30 belt sander, and went up though the course of hones from 4K 8K and then on my chinese hone at around 12K +/- some stropping and it is one of the smoothest, closest shavers I have and still beats the Wacker I paid 170.00 for. It is also something to take something that was so dull that you could not cut anything, face, finger, cloth, etc and take it to a point of sharpeness to be shaving sharp. Now last night I experimented with 2 new razors. A Gillette Slim Super I shaved with on the right side, and a brand new LORD 3-piece that I used for the left side (with the enclosed LORD blade). Neither my wife nor I can tell much difference in the closeness of shave. Later in the evening, however, I can fee that I shaved on my neck. Something I have not felt when using just a straight razor. I used a new Persona Platinum in the Gillette. I got both of these in the mail yesterday (6-29-11) along with a 23K gold Gillette and wanted to get some experimenting in. I will say one thing.... setting the Gillette at a high number to begin with was very educational. You had to go slow and easy, just like a staight, or I think I could have had weepers or nicks with that setting, so, after the right side of the lip/chin I backed it back down to 2 or 3 on the setting. Much nicer first pass then. After I moved it up a few notches for the 2nd pass on the right side. I think the DE blades cut the whiskers so quickly the tips are at an extreme angle, and come to a point like a hypodermic needle, where the straight has a tendency to "find" that spot on the hair where it can manage to get in between the outer "scales" (there's a word for that) and then cut, leaving more blunt whiskers, and less pointy. Just my thought on that.
