Cartridge shaving Part 2 - Gillette Proglide

I followed my normal pre-shave, shave, and after-shave routine while using this razor. I performed my shave as normal as I could, to compare the razor as fairly as possible. Pre-shave routine consisted of a shower, washing face with a mild face wash, and showering in the shower, not at the sink. I used my badger hair brush with a few of my favoriate creams and soaps (C.O. Bigelow, D.R. Harris, Tabac, & Cyril R. Salter). The shave was my standard lather + with the grain pass, second lather + second with the grain pass. After-shave routine consisted of cold water splash, alum, cold water splash 2, Thayer's Witch Hazel, Nivea after shave Balm.

The Gillette Fusion Proglide

Packaging - Again, the first thing I noticed right off the bat, is that all of the packaging can be recycled. There's not anything that I can't easily throw into my recycle bins and take to the curb. As you can see, the entire packaging is printed cardboard paper, with a plastic shell around the razor. When the packaging is torn apart and disassembled, it's all able to be recycled. No problem. Good job Gillette!

First Impression - So my first impress of the razor is that is reminds me of a transformer. It is really cool looking. It definitely looks like high tech engineering. The razor did have a cool look and a heavy weight to it. Not made of plastic, but metal.

Handle - Lots of cool looking rubber wavy fins on the handle made this thing easy to grip and nearly impossible to drop. It's heft and easy to grip handle felt abnormal compared to an all metal handle, but easty to grip nonetheless.

Fins - *I'm stealing my quote from my Schick Hydro here*- This is where the advanced engineering and technology of today’s razors, I believe, fails. I’m not sure who first came up with the concept of little rubber fins on a razor, but in my opinion, that wasn’t the smartest move. The whole purpose of a comfortable shave is to avoid irritation and ingrown hairs. So why put rubber fins on the first part of the razor that goes over your skin first? The rubber will first swipe away the protective lather, and then “pull” and “straighten” the hair before it cuts. This causes the hair then to slightly go back into the skin. The result. A closer shave right? Genius! ...er, not so much. This means that the hair has to grow back through a closed pore and skin. The result? Ingrown hairs! Bad move here. Not only that, but in my opinon, the rubber fins removing and sweeping away the cusion of slick lather that protects your face from the blades isn't isn't the best idea. Why do this? That’s like lathering your face, wiping it off, then shaving. Doesn’t make sense to me.

Pro glide blades - It's their thinnest and most efficent blades ever! I'll agree to this claim. The blades were extremely sharp and gave me a very close shave. I didn't feel the normal "pulling" of hair as I normally do with disposables. This gave a very close comfortable shave.

Lube strip - The lube strip wasn't anything to brag about. This area probably could be improved, but it's nothing a little pre-shave oil and a good lather can't correct.

Precision trimmer - The precision trimmer was a pretty useful tool here for lining up the sideburns.

pivoting head - This is a pretty good idea here. It's old technology by cartridge razors standards. However, it allows the blade to pivot back and allow the razor to conform to the contours of your face. It's especially handy by the adams apple and those hard to reach places on the neck. I have to admit, it got the hair on my neck better than I'm accustomed to. However, I am still learning how to get those places with my DE razor comfortably.

The Price - In comparison to the competition, it is by far, one of the most expensive razor and replacement cartridges on the market. Replacement blades run about $3-5 a piece! This will never live up to the cost of DE blades! WAY overpriced

Overall -

While the fact that the non-eco-friendliness of the cartridge blade and the outrageously overpriced cost of the replacement razors may off put some of those in the traditional wet shaving community, the Gillette Proglide gave me a very close and wonderful shave! I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. It was very user friendly and easy to use. Pretty much dummy proof. I was very impressed by the closeness of the shave with the new thinner and sharper blades. It also got those hard to reach places on my neck which was a great feeling.

If you'd like to used the Gillette Proglide, you can find it ...well...pretty much everywhere!

Happy Shaving!

Cartridge shaving Part 1 - Schick Hydro 5

I followed my normal pre-shave, shave, and after-shave routine while using this razor. I performed my shave as normal as I could, to compare the razor as fairly as possible. Pre-shave routine consisted of a shower, washing face with a mild face wash, and shaving in the shower, not at the sink. I used my badger hair brush with a few of my favorite creams and soaps (C.O. Bigelow, D.R. Harris, Tabac, & Cyril R. Salter). The shave was my standard lather + with the grain pass, second lather + second with the grain pass. After-shave routine consisted of cold water splash, alum, cold water splash 2, Thayer's Witch Hazel, Nivea after shave Balm.

The Schick Hydro 5

Packaging - The first thing I noticed right off the bat, is that all of the packaging can be recycled. There's not anything that I can't easily throw into my recycle bins and take to the curb. Yes, it's plastic, but it really is hard to find anything packaged in anything that isn't plastic now-a-days. It's cheap and convenient. The inserts in the packaging are all paper and cardboard, and can be easily recycled, too. Good job Schick!

First Impression - After taking the razor out of the packaging, the first thing you notice is the weight of the razor. When I stopped using cartridge blades back in December, I was using a Mach 3 or Mach 3 disposable. Both of these are very lightweight and are cheaply made. The Schick Hydro 5 feels surprisingly hefty in your hand. The razor is alot heavier than I was expecting. Not so much where your arm gets tired of using it, but enough to feel as though it's not made of cheap plastic materials.

Handle - The website and packaging information says it's got a premium high gloss metal handle. I also noticed that it also has a lot of rubber on the handle for a better grip.The handle is supposedly "ergonomic"... While I'm not sure about that last one, you can definitely tell it's a quality handle. It's hefty and has a nice grip and feel to it. Not flimsy, cheap, or light.

Fins - This is where the advanced engineering and technology of today’s razors, I believe, fails. I’m not sure who first came up with the concept of little rubber fins on a razor, but in my opinion, that wasn’t the smartest move. The whole purpose of a comfortable shave is to avoid irritation and ingrown hairs. So why put rubber fins on the first part of the razor that goes over your skin first? The rubber will first swipe away the protective lather, and then “pull” and “straighten” the hair before it cuts. This causes the hair then to slightly go back into the skin. The result...a closer shave right? Genius! ...er, not so much. This means that the hair has to grow back through a closed pore and skin. The result? Ingrown hairs! Bad move here. Not only that, but in my opinion, the rubber fins remove and sweep away the cushion of slick lather that protects your face from the blades isn't the best idea. Why do this? That’s like lathering your face, wiping it off, then shaving. Doesn’t make sense to me.

Lube strip - This is where this razor really shined! We’ve all seen the commercials. Water activated gel compartment for a smooth glide. This was by far the best thing about the razor. Not only did my lather create a layer of protection and comfort for the razor, but once the gel from the smooth strip hit my face, a slick, gooey substance was immediately created. I’m sure this stuff has got to be artificial, but It was definitely slicker than any cream, oil, or lube I could smear on my face. Amazing! After swiping with the razor and picking the razor up off my face to make another pass, you could see the lube and shaving cream mixed and literally “string” to the razor as I made another pass. It was pretty gross really. Kinda like snot, but it was the slickest stuff I’ve ever felt. It reminded me of that non-caloric silicone based kitchen lubricant that is 500x's more slippery than ordinary kitchen oil (Thanks Clark Grizwald).

Ultra guide blades - The Schick Hydro features unique skin guards on each of the blades. Doubling the point of impact the blade has with the skin, helping to reduce irritation. This is something that was hard for me to feel and pick up on because I’m not accustomed to how a normal cartridge blade feels on my skin. However, reverting back to my days of using the Mach 3, I can tell that my face was not irritated by the feel of these blades. I could hardly feel that the blades were even present. I believe this is what this technology was aiming for. I didn’t feel or get any irritation here, and that was good.

Pull back precision trimmer - This little feature was pretty cool. You flip back that goo strip on the top of the razor on a pivot and only the blades are visible on the head of the razor for precise trimming. While it sounds like a good idea and worked pretty well right under my nose, in that hard to get place, I’m not so sure this is necessary. Could be eliminated for less moving parts and easier to manufacture which could possibly be less cost.

Pivoting head - This is a pretty good idea here. It's old technology by cartridge razors standards. However, it allows the blade to pivot back and allow the razor to conform to the contours of your face. It's especially handy by the Adam's Apple and those hard to reach places on the neck. I have to admit, it got the hair on my neck better than I'm accustomed to. However, I am still learning how to get those places with my DE razor comfortably.

The Price - In comparison to the competition (Gillette Proglide), it's easier on the wallet. Replacement blades run about $2-3 a piece. This will still never beat the cost of DE blades, but a decent deal on good replacement cartridge blades.

Overall - While the fact that the non-eco-friendliness of the cartridge blade and the price of the razors may off put some of those in the traditional wet shaving community, the Schick Hydro 5 gave me a wonderful shave! I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. Although it missed a few spots here and there during the week, It honestly was very user friendly and easy to use. Pretty much dummy proof. I was very impressed by the hydro gel strip and the softness of the blades on my face. It also got those hard to reach places on my neck which was a great feeling.

Stay tuned for part 2 and 3 coming soon!

Happy Shaving!

Vintage Gillette Superspeed

Being new to the traditional style of wet shaving, I have been an avid reader of many blogs, posts, forums, websites, and watched lots and lots of videos on youtube... Ok, I admit, I have been a little, well, ...obsessed about it. haha

I have recently been trying to persuade my friend Adam, to give wetshaving a try and leave The Dark Side to become a wet shaver. He ended up purchasing a boar brush last weekend and I was happy to donate some of my creams for him to use and try out. Obviously, he had much better shaves and was interested in finding out more about wet shaving. I pointed him to some of my favorite websites and blogs, most notably mantic59's youtube channel. He has a very extensive collection of videos. They are great sources of information about wetshaving and are quite entertaining as well (just in case you are interested yourself, you can find his youtube channel here).

During my recent knowledge of wet shaving, I've noticed that a lot of guys are particularly interested in finding and collecting vintage razors. One of the most popular razors was Gillette's superspeed model razors made in the 40's and 50's. They were enormously popular back in the day (like today's Mach 3 razors) and made of quality materials and metal.

Anyways, yesterday Adam, Jenn, and I went on an outing to find some vintage DE razors. Adam was really interested in getting a DE razor and thought it would be cool to find a vintage razor to use from an antique store or flea market. I agreed and was eager to go.

Anyways, as you can imagine, we ended up finding a very good stash of DE razors, straight razors, brushes, and all sorts of goodies. Most of them were in pretty decent condition. Yes, they were crudded with gunk, worn, faded, tarnished, but had very little rust or major damage to them. Once I saw them, I immediately knew how all those guys on the forums and blogs felt about finding old school DE razors! We were thrilled to have a very extensive collection to look through and purchase. However, I didn't think I needed ALL of them, even though I wanted to buy them all! haha So I ended up getting a vintage Gillette razor and old straight razor. I wasn't sure about the Gillette other than I seeing the Gillette symbol on the razor, so I figured we would research it when we got home. I don't use straight razors because I don't know how and am kind of afraid to use them! haha. But none the less, I got one anyways, to "decorate" with. Maybe one day I'll send it off to be professional cleaned, polished, and sharpened.

After getting home with our purchases, we checked out all the information we needed to clean them up. We soaked them in a water/vinegar solution first. Then we used some scrubbing bubbles and a toothbrush to clean up the gunk and corrosion on them. After rinsing with hot water, we let them soak in hydrogen peroxide to kill any germs or diseases. We rinsed and used some toothpaste to polish it up a bit. I wish I had some quality metal cleaners and polish to really make it shine, but I used what I had.

We used the Badger and Blade forum to date our razors and figure out the brand, name, model, year, etc. Come to find out, we both purchased the same razor. A 1948-50 Gillette Superspeed DE razor. I find it pretty amazing that for $5, I obtained a razor that is 60 years old and works great! I'm really excited to use it and compare it to my Merkur HD.

Below are the pictures. Enjoy!

Box of goodies we found

My purchases:

Straight Razor $8

1948-50 Gillette Superspeed $5

Soaking in scrubbing bubbles

Watching the gunk drain away

Twist to open (TTO) still works great!

After a bit of cleaning and polishing

look at that shine!

Still in great working condition!

I'm very happy with my purchase

Stay tuned for more reviews!

Happy Shaving!

Merkur 34C Heavy Duty

One of the most obvious tools of traditional Wet Shaving is the Double Edge razor or "DE" for short. Also called a safety razor. These photos are of my personal razor, the Merkur 34C Heavy Duty. While researching my first razor, this model came up over and over again in all forums and website I could find for beginner razors. However, the thing is, not only beginners use this razor! It's such a well constructed razor that beginners and experienced shavers use this razor all the time. Those that start off with this razor and tend to purchase others seem to always come back to this one. Good ole' faithful.

The initial investment into a DE razor can be significant with the up front cost. Some Razors can cost from $30 to several hundred. The Merkur 34C Heavy duty ran me about $39. This might be an expensive up front cost, but when you consider that the replacement blades are dirt cheap, it pays for itself pretty quickly. (I'll be reviewing blades later on the blog.)

Granted, I haven't been shaving for more than 15 years or so, but during my time, I've probably tried dozens of disposable razors. And let me tell ya, there is nothing that compares to the traditional safety razor. The shaves are much better, much closer, and give you far less irritation than the disposable cartridge razors.

The Merkur is made of stainless steel. And as the name indicates, it's "Heavy Duty". The weight of the razor is significantly heavier than you would think. Although the razor is perfectly balanced so that when you use it, you let the weight of the razor do the cutting for you.

As you can see, the razor is constructed so that you have a base handle with a top head that unscrews from the base. The twist knob at the base of the handle will unscrew the top. Once unscrewed, you are able to align your choice of razor blade with the head.

Then simply screw back together. Very simple to operate. Simply hold the razor on the handle as you would a throwing dart with your first two fingers and thumb. Then, simply let the razor slide down your face with short slow strokes, never going over the same spot twice. You should never put too much pressure on the blade when shaving. That's asking for trouble! There's not a degree required to use it. I mean, come on...it's not rocket science here!

As you can see, it's a beautiful razor with a great look and feel to it. How it shaves you ask? WONDERFUL!!! Granted this is the only DE razor I've tried, but I'd say it's the best! haha I love this razor!

If you are interested in learning how to use a DE razor, I would suggest visiting a few of my personal favorite websites. *NOTE*-These are in no way endorsements to these people or their products. These are simply some of my personal favorite websites I choose to visit on a regular basis.

http://www.shaving101.com/

http://badgerandblade.com/

http://mantic59.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/mantic59

...stay tuned for more reviews!