Thread: Need a lot of help

I just got 2 de's from my dad who found them in a storage building. First order of business is to find out what they are. I haven't seen any markings on either of them. Where should I look?

Second, I cleaned them up, shaved with one and got the worst razor burn ever and bled a lot. I thought de's were supposed to be more comfortable than a modern cartridge razor? Any ideas or advice?

Also, both razors are adjustable. What does that really do?

Dig through this site. Achim has one of the most complete collection of Safety razors I know of. Also if you post some pictures of your razor, someone here can probably identify them rather quickly.

For your jarring shaving experience with the Safety razor.
They take a little more technique to use than just plowing your face down with a cart razor. The blades are much sharper, have more exposure, and less forgiving, so you need to learn to use a lot less pressure (almost none) than one would use with a cart razor.
Also with a safety razor, the idea is to gradually shave down the beard with multiple passes getting closer and closer with each pass.
Usually in 3 passes; with the grain, across the grain, then finally against the grain.
It may take your face a few shaves to get used to the sharpness of the blade, so for starters just go with the grain and maybe the across the grain pass, rinsing and relathering between each pass.

What blades are you using, and what are you using for soap/cream?

I've been shaving with a straight for almost a year now so I'm familiar with having a light touch. They are just some blades picked up from the local dollar store. Dollar General brand. I'm using C.O. Bigalow cream.

Originally Posted by bulldog

I just got 2 de's from my dad who found them in a storage building. First order of business is to find out what they are. I haven't seen any markings on either of them. Where should I look?

Second, I cleaned them up, shaved with one and got the worst razor burn ever and bled a lot. I thought de's were supposed to be more comfortable than a modern cartridge razor? Any ideas or advice?

Also, both razors are adjustable. What does that really do?

Pictures would help the most but you can also find out if they have a "Date Code" this is usually under the head (where the handle meets the part that holds the blade)of the razor. It usually consists of a #Number and a letter like "9, V" these can be on opposite side of the razor's head and very small so look closely.

De's like straights have different attributes some are mild some aggressive. Also DE have another factor the blade. You can have the best DE out there but a crappy blade is a crappy blade and will give a crappy shave :P What brand of blade did you use? I suggest going to place like westcoastshaving and ordering a sampler pack. This will let you try all the different types of blades till you find the one right for you.

feathers,7 o'clock, derby, israelie red packs (personna) are all considered to be very good blades I myself like gillette super thins.

Adjustable equals (=) blade exposure, if you turn your razor sideways while adjusting the knob you will notice that the middle piece in the razor will rise and fall accordingly. As said above a DE can be either aggressive or mild the adjustable was invented to solve people from having to buy different razors sort of a all in one package.

In short the razor is commonly labeled 1-9 with one being mild and 9 being extremly aggressive. I recommend setting your razor no higher than 3 till you get comfortable using it.

Hope this helped

Note-when changing setting on a adjustable razor you should unlock (counterclockwise) the knob that opens and closes the butterfly doors the chang the setting before locking (clockwise) the razor again. Forgetting to unlock the razor before changing the adjustment can damage the razor

http://www.youtube.com/user/mantic59...14/0VClPqPMro4

The good people over at B&B (who specialise in DE razors) have put together a really nice resource: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=42262.

Back in the early 1950s Gillette made three different color coded models for light, medium, and heavy beards. In the latter part of the fifties they introduced the 'adjustable' razors to consolidate the three models into one.

Once you get a decent blade for it try shaving with the setting on 3. Do a few strokes and see how it works for you. The higher the setting is adjusted the more aggressive the razor becomes and the more careful you have to be to avoid nicks, razor burn etc. If the 3 setting is to mild go up in increments of one until you find the setting that works for you.

Like a straight razor a DE is best used following good preparation, with light to no pressure and with some skin stretching. Multiple pass gradual stubble removal rather than trying to get bbs on the first pass is also conducive to a comfortable conclusion.

Thanks everyone. I'll look for the date code and will try to get some pics up later.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Back in the early 1950s Gillette made three different color coded models for light, medium, and heavy beards.

So what colors correspond to which level of aggressiveness? Haven't seen that enumerated anywhere before.

I found out that both razors are Gillette's but I can't find the date code. Would it be in the same place? I'm not finding any markings anywhere else on the razor.

Originally Posted by jlnorsworthy

So what colors correspond to which level of aggressiveness? Haven't seen that enumerated anywhere before.

The gillette "blue tip" was mild the "red tip" aggressive the only other color superspeed I know is the black tip so that must be the medium one

Originally Posted by bulldog

I found out that both razors are Gillette's but I can't find the date code. Would it be in the same place? I'm not finding any markings anywhere else on the razor.

On the bottom of the head show below is "A,2" blue tip superspeed



and a Fatboy "G,1"



once you find the code you can compare it to a date code chart to know what model and year it was produced

LINK