Greetings to all, the experienced and neophyte, the confident and the scared to death of shaving. My early days of shaving began with a Remington electric and a Schick Super II. The Remington taught me that electrics can cause irritation and the Super II taught me technique was vital. After running the gamut of Atra, Tracer and Sensor, shaves had been a necessity and steadily more costly. Fixed head disposables were next but single blade versions were becoming harder to find. One day I was looking in a box of old WWII era stuff and came across a rather interesting but crazy looking contraption. A Rolls Imperial No. 2 in the box. Figured someone must have used these things without losing their life so I gave it a whirl. Best shave I had had in decades. I spent close to 5 years using the Rolls but the clickity-clack prepping of the blade finally wore me out. Time for a DE, settled on a Merkur 23C the longer handle basically to contrast the short handle of the Rolls. Removing the noise aspect of the Rolls was all that was needed to transform what used to be drudgery to an almost zen time where I could forget about the world.
Welcome! I had a similar experience with electrics, which sent me to carts and eventually to DEs, which give me happy times. Congratulations on the Rolls! I'd love to try one some day but don't want to make the plunge of a purchase.
Welcome, Sans Sanity... (that'll help here). We're a friendly bunch though. thanks for sharing your experience with us. That's cool about the Rolls Royce. I've seen them online, but never in person. I'm strictly a DE shaver for now. I may venture into SR one day, but only if I find a really nice razor in the wild that I might want to try out. I have had some luck at flea markets and "the Bay" getting my start here in vintage razors. Before I got my first vintage, I used a Parker TTO. Now I'm learning the virtues of soaps and a nice brush and have put the "goo" shave cream away for good.
You are the first guy I've heard of who actually shaved regularly with a Rolls. Pretty cool. I have one, but it is not in shave ready shape. I have too many other shave worthy razors. You are in good company here. Enjoy your stay.
Welcome to the Den. We know you'll fit right in. So grab yourself a comfy chair, and give our threads a spin! Burma Shave
From one newbie to another I'm glad you're here as well! I love using this razor, I'm looking to improve my technique to minimize the bumps and irritation, although that is minimal compared to what I used to deal with using a multiblade razor with a lotion strip. I am 150% with you on the fact that shaving can be a zen like experience and I thank you for giving me a great way to describe it to my friends (who think I'm nuts for using a DE and soap!).
to TSD "Sanity Removed" Did you need to have the Rolls blade professionally honed before you began using it or did you just sharpen and strop with the supplied hone and it then begin using it?
Thanks all for the warm welcome. Some more thoughts and to answer some questions on the Rolls. It was in really nice condition when I took it out of the box. There wasn't a whole lot on the internet at the time and compared to other razors there still isn't. The stone was in nice shape and the strop needed a little lubricating. I basically followed the enclosed instructions and went to town. My expectations were not high. My dozen years with Uncle Sam provided me with plenty of not so pleasant shaves so a little tugging wasn't too bad. The proper angle is pretty close to a GEM single edge. As this was supposed to be a money saver I used a can of Barbasol that I had on hand. The end result of a very close shave and no irritation was a nice surprise. Although I put Vaseline on the threads and where it connects for sharpening it developed blackening where the handle attaches to the blade. It seemed silly at the time to disassemble it and store it after every use but that is really what it needs. I've never come across any documentation that tells exactly what the angle of the blade edge was when produced at the factory. I suppose if you had enough spare blades you could have a professional give it a shot. Because it is designed to be an all in one package you may end up with a better shaving razor for a time but I'm not sure you would be able to keep it at that level with the provided stone. Things I don't like about it - the blade guard tends to flip to the other side when you don't want it to and you have to flip it back, not a deal breaker but annoying. I haven't removed the blade guard, some like to call the Rolls a straight on a stick and it does deserve a fair amount of respect. The sharpening process is tedious, as the blade flips over you need to have it gently meet the stone. Kind of like accelerate, brake, accelerate then repeat for the other side. Stropping isn't difficult but is noisy and not the pleasant straight razor stropping noise. I try to use it about once a month but I don't fool myself into believing that it is going to feel like a current DE or SE blade.
