Received this "scary" little thing this past weekend and had my first shave with it this morning. A little bit about Gillette "Psycho" The Gillette Psycho is what is also commonly referred to as an 'institutional razor'. It was commonly used at prisons and mental institutions through the 50's and 60's as it was especially designed for that purpose. At its core the Gillette Psycho is a fat handle Tech - but with one important difference: the head can be locked using a removable tube-key. The purpose behind this design was to allow the razors to be handed out to the inmates/patients - with the blade loaded into them - but with no possible way for the blade to be taken out of the razor until it was returned to the guard who could unlock the razor. The razor has a trapped nut inside the handle that must be operated with this special key. These razors were made in England, The US and Brazil during the 50's and 60's. Mine happens to be a Y4 (1953) razor made in Brazil. Gillette wasn't the only company producing "Psycho" razors during those years. Grafco was another manufacturer that had a very similar product but with a rather different looking locking mechanism; In the beginning the razors were sold as kits consisting of 10 razors and 1 key (that later changed so that each razor was sold with its own key) - which today makes the key in many cases more valuable and more rare than the razor itself. Ok, some photos of the Psycho that I bought: Here with the key inserted: The key taken out: Only when the razor is unlocked can the head plate be taken off so that the blade can be accessed. Shaved with it this morning and a great shave was had
I picked up these last year. Three NOS with the original box and key. Sounds like you've had better luck shaving with yours, though.
Wow great looking set of Psychos! Are they British, American or Brazilian? Actually yes, it gave a great shave this morning - but wouldn't the shave be like that of any Tech?
Speaking of Manson... Did you see that the young strumpet was only interested in marrying him so she could take his body and put it on display after he died? Yikes...
Supposedly not all Tech's are created equally - and maybe there was some additional intent along those lines when it was designed. This is from a post/claim on another forum that I'm unable to substantiate personally; British heavy baseplate Tech: Most aggressive, Triangular holed baseplate version (typically made in Canada, stamped 1932): Medium aggressive, Psycho Tech: Mild aggressive.
I just noticed that there's little block/guards on the corners of the head. I wonder if that was there to keep you from prying them up and exposing the blade.
Interesting and that could be the case. I did notice this morning that when loading the blade I found those notches very useful as there is nothing else to hold the blade still/in place as you secure the blade.
Very interesting and, quite honestly, a bit disturbing. Here is an interesting YouTube video with more information about these razors.
Ebay has some "Prison" razors...are these the same thing? I just don't recall the key with the ebay ones. Very nice by the way.