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As someone wanting to begin the journey into wet shaving what is the general concensus on the best DE to start with.I've read to stay away from Parkers because of quality issues but would like to have a nice razor and brush for as little as i can get away with.
A vintage 3 piece gillette tech is about as cheap as you can get for a DE razor. They are pretty mild shavers so they are good for beginners, but can also grow up with you and provide great BBS shaves.
Let me take a look at home I might have one I could send your way for you to try.
The vintage gillette 3 piece is a great, cheap beginner razor. If you look around, you should be able to pick up a decent one at an antique store for $5-$10. Personally, I like simple 3 piece razors much more than the TTO and adjustable ones. The heads on your standard 3 piece have a lower profile, making them easier to get into tight to reach places.
Now that that is out of the way though, you should just save yourself the money and go straight for the Edwin Jagger 89. I've been DE shaving for over a year, and that thing killed my Acquisition Disorder like nothing else and it shaves like a dream.
Just about any Gillette DE on eBay will be serviceable after boiling for a few minutes and little effort to polish (or not). I avoid Gillette DE blades found in the stores. Try looking for blades at Walgreen's, CVS, Albertsons, Wal-Mart, etc.
Find a nice super speed at the antique store.
A Gillette Superspeed or an adjustable (Gillette Slim or Fatboy) from an antique store.
I got one of these and I love it..!
Merkur Heavy Duty Double Edge Safety Razor (34c): Amazon.co.uk: Health & Beauty
And I use Wilkinson Sword blades. Good for the days when I oversleep and dont have time to bring out one of my starights!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stubear
+1, very good option, especially if you don't want to hunt for old razors.
My one and only is a Superspeed, and the only blades I've used are Derby's. I've been able to get good, one pass shaves without any problem, even with just water, and I have rather sensitive skin. Everything I've read/heard indicates that the SS's are very mild shavers, and I think that makes them a good starter.
CoolMaltBeverage,
If you would like a 'new' razor, the Merkur '1904' (Model 42 closed comb, Model 41 open comb) is very similar to the Gillette Tech 3-peice, and is relatively in-expensive. I use one when I am away on business.
Best regards
Russ
Well I just recieved my Ebay purchase today in the mail and haven't even cleaned them up yet,but I got a gold gillette 3 piece, a gillette fat boy,and a gem SE,all 4 14 bucks.Just can't wait to try them out .
Very nice! The fatboy itself is worth about double that in decent condition and cleaned up.
The Merkur HD 34c is a great little razor.
Good luck with your Gillette.
Can someone explain the point of the comb to me? I'm looking at getting a Jagger 89 DE soon, but have no idea how to use it, or the purpose of the comb and the whole open vs closed comb thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by PhatMan
Here is an open comb razor. These are generally known to be quite aggressive and probably not the tool off choice for a beginner. A "closed comb" is just that. also known as the bar.
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3...c01206d.th.jpg
Cheers, Fozz
Sorry, should have been clearer - I know the difference between open and closed comb, I just don't get the point of either of them. Maybe I'm not getting this DE thing yet. I'll have to do more research on the net as to how to use it properly.
Open comb was the original safety razor design, even before there were Gillette-style DEs. The idea is that the teeth, in combination with the razor's cap, protected the skin from being cut by the blade. The blade still "stuck out" past a tangent between the cap and the guard teeth but that exposure was limited for safety. Whiskers longer than the exposed distance could reach the blade by passing between the teeth.Quote:
Originally Posted by mosley59
That was the standard design for decades. I wasn't there years ago when open combs were generally replaced by safety bars but have heard some plausible explanations:
- When an open comb DE was dropped, the outer teeth would bend. One improvement they made was to beef up the outer teeth and you will see some razors with fatter teeth at the corners but this didn't eliminate the problem completely. Safety bars don't have teeth to bend.
- Open comb DE razors were generally made from cast metal. This worked well but was expensive. Safety bars can be made with stamped sheet metal and are therefore cheaper to manufacture.
- Although the above two issues made safety bars desirable there was a problem -- men tended to go for extended periods without shaving and safety bars just flattened out the long whiskers making the shave less effective. Once men started shaving more often this became less of a problem so the above considerations started to win out.
Note that GEM had an apparently unique solution with its head design which used both teeth and a bar. The teeth were the safety feature (as above) and the bar was there to keep the teeth in line. The design lifted the bar up off of the face making it less of an interference when shaving longer whiskers. The design also allowed for a stamped sheet metal manufacturing process. Perhaps this was one of the 1900/1901 patents.
Another advantage of open comb (and the GEM equivalent) is that the lather is not scraped off the beard just a millimeter or so before the blade gets to it. Apparently this was not enough of a consideration to prevent Gillette from going to safety bars.
About aggressiveness: The term is not well defined, but however you define it, the difference between teeth and a safety bar has no effect on it. Both the toothed design and the safety bar design provide the same type of protection -- keeping the blade from digging into the skin. Both techniques are equally effective at providing safety because they work in an identical fashion -- allowing limited blade exposure.
There are examples of both very aggressive and very mild razors in both open comb and safety bar configurations.
So when you say safety bar you are referring to closed combs? Thanks heaps for that explanation, it's cleared things up a lot for me.
I guess the early GEMs could be described as "closed comb", but the term doesn't have much meaning in the DE world. Either there is a comb or there is not.Quote:
Originally Posted by mosley59
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I thought it might be better than starting a new one to ask the same basic question.
I wondered if anyone could weigh in on the Merkur 1904/1906 Bar vs. Merkur 1904/1906 Open vs. Merkur 34C.
I've never shaved with a DE razor. These are razors that I've seen recommended on this thread, but I just want to know if someone could give me a good comparison.
Thanks,
John
ebay yourself up a gillette supser speed they can be had very cheap
I ended up buying the EJ 89 that was recommended earlier in the thread, and can't say enough good things about it. Cheap, solid, good balance, excellent weight, smooth shaving, it has it all. To be honest, I don't know if I'll ever bother trying another DE now that I've used this one (touch wood - can't afford another AD). I'd definitely recommend it for a starter DE.