Has the interest for vintage razors peaked?

Greetings

I would agree that the real advancement in shaving is not the new safety razors in stainless steels but blade technology; there are many razors designed before the last war and before the first world war that will shave every bit as well as any modern offering, it is the blades and in particular their coatings where real progress has been made. A modern DE blade not only has good longevity, cheapness and smoothness and a good edge but it it does not require removal from the razor after every shave and careful drying, in this disposable age that is exactly what most people want.

I love shaving with my "wedge" blade razors, I am retired and am fortunate to be able to spend the bulk of my time pursuing my hobbies but let's be realistic what person with a busy life would want to have to shave with them every day, when they could take a modern blade insert it in a stainless razor and (if they chose) leave it in there for it's life.

Regards
Dick.
 
jar said:
What I have found is that only very recently have there been new razors that might even be better than the older ones.

I was always attracted to new and shiny and so from the time I started buying my own shaving gear (around the time Prince Andrew was born) until about the time Diana met Charles I would buy the newest, shiniest Gillette du jour and add it to a growing accumulation. Before I began buying my own I also got some hand-me-down razors that had been my Dad's, also Gillettes.

But around the time Charles was courting Diana the new safety razors seem to disappear. For about a quarter century, maybe more, there were simply no interesting new razors to be found. I tried the multi-blade cartridge things and many electric razors but after a week or two they got tossed or given away or simply packed away. The electric razors never did a good job, were uncomfortable and seemed to last about a year before dying. I'd give some newest razor a try most every year in the hope it would be perfect only to return to my old Gillette safety razors once the new wore off.

Every once in awhile I'd find what looked like a new unused Gillette at a garage (think boot) sale and for a half dollar or so it would join the pile.

Then in I guess about the last half decade or so interest in safety razors seemed to pick up and several new safety razors appeared. "Oh shiny!" struck again and so I began buying the newest and latest and greatest once more. Family that knew I used safety razors returned to gifting things they knew I would enjoy and so an accumulation of new razors joined the old.

The new razors ran from inexpensive to what I considered absolutely crazy prices (I don't think I had ever bought a safety razor that sold for more than a couple dollars when new) so even the Weishi 9306 seemed expensive. There was the Weishi and one called Viking Chieftain and a Feather Popular and an AS-D2 and a Merkur 1904 and HD and 23C and a 25C and an Edwin Jagger (is that Mick's brother? ) 89lbl and an Ikon El Jefe and a Colonial General and a RazoRock Hawk and a version 2 Hawk and a Rockwell 2c and a Blackland Sabre and all of them were ok but not one was better than the equivalent Gillette or GEM. The new AC blade format showed promise but failed to impress when compared to the century old GEMs.

But it was fun and certainly less expensive than golf and harmed no one so I enjoyed testing the waters.

Then I found one new razor that really was significantly better than it's ancient predecessor; the ATT G1 version 2 head GEM format razor. The shave was even better, close and more comfortable than with my 1919 GEM Damaskeene that had been the standard to judge all single edge razors for me. It was better, easier and more pleasant than my MMOC or ClogPruf.

But wait... there's more. I found the inexpensive OneBlade Core razor gave me better, closer and more comfortable shaves than my Valet AutoStrops and that was whether I was using new Feather FHS blades or the half century+ old Valet blades.

Then I tried the ATT S2 slant head DE razor. And it too was great, close, effortless, comfortable near perfect shaves. Since this is OCtober I have scheduled a head to head test against another old Gillette; a Sheraton from around the time of George VI's coronation. That should be interesting.

And towards the end of the month I will test the ATT SE2 (the open comb AC format) against the other Open Comb razors that did well during this months trials.

So "Yes Virginia" the new razors really are nice, and some even seem to be better than those in the past.
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Thanks for the post, I enjoyed it.
 
Bogeyman said:
I think a lot of of opinions on how the newest & latest waves of "boutique" razors are rife with confirmation bias to a large degree. After all, anything made on new CNC eqpmt. surely must be better!! Surely the old engineers at Gillette, Schick, etc., were knuckledraggers as far as designing a razor with talents little beyond those of a Neanderthal!! :rolleyes:

The REAL progress has been in blade technology as far as DE/SE shaving is concerned. Since these wafer thin pieces of steel lack the mass of a cutthroat razor they depend on other means to give a great shave and coatings/sputtering have given us that. Take that away and we're back to 1903, plain & simple. You can't run a Ferrari on coal. ;)
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Yes, and no. I also have and use quite a few old blades.

There was a little girl
who had a little curl
right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good
she was very very good
but when she was bad she was horrid.​

The older blades (and brushes and soaps and creams) are like that poem. Some of the very best shaves I have had in the last decade or so were with blades that were over a half century old; and also some of my worst shaves. One memorable experiment was with a Gillette blade made in 1944 and a Gillette razor from the same period. I used tepid water and just plain soap and the result could be summed up by "If the folk back home had had to use this set up the war would have ended many years sooner".

medium800.jpg

But last month I also shaved with old Valet blades in an even older Valet AutoStrop and and also a new OneBlade Core and they were very very good and several GEM style Micromatic era blades that were superb. The older blades, particularly the carbon steel blades can be great, or terrible but once you enter the era of the post war stainless steel blades and the silicon coated blades (1958) I've found they are generally as nice as anything bought today.
 
Here's a thought.

There are increasing numbers of new razors being designed and released out to market. This would suggest that demand is increasing for safety razors.

So, the market seems to be growing.

What's the market buying? New or vintage? Well, it's hard to say because we simply don't have data. However, the thing about vintage razors is that they are not making them any more. Despite the remarkable quality of many of them (still working well sometimes a hundred years after being manufactured), the number of them is inevitably decreasing through loss, breakage and some being simply thrown out when their original owners die.

So with supply in a constant state of decline, there's a good chance that prices will at least be maintained, ACROSS THE BOARD, with variations from model to model.

I get the impression that price-wise things like Fatboys and Slims are increasing strongly, Gillette three piece razors like News and Techs are at least holding their value, good quality TTOs are increasing gently and others (like my Gillette Starburst) are stick at the same low prices they have always had. SE razors like the 1912 etc are a very niche sector, and these remain remarkably affordable.

I am not a straight user, but I get the impression that supply and demand is not the issue here. It seems to be a cost + margin market. The quality of workmanship and materials seems to set the price.
 
Supermangs said:
Here's a thought.

There are increasing numbers of new razors being designed and released out to market. This would suggest that demand is increasing for safety razors.

So, the market seems to be growing.

What's the market buying? New or vintage? Well, it's hard to say because we simply don't have data. However, the thing about vintage razors is that they are not making them any more. Despite the remarkable quality of many of them (still working well sometimes a hundred years after being manufactured), the number of them is inevitably decreasing through loss, breakage and some being simply thrown out when their original owners die.

So with supply in a constant state of decline, there's a good chance that prices will at least be maintained, ACROSS THE BOARD, with variations from model to model.

I get the impression that price-wise things like Fatboys and Slims are increasing strongly, Gillette three piece razors like News and Techs are at least holding their value, good quality TTOs are increasing gently and others (like my Gillette Starburst) are stick at the same low prices they have always had. SE razors like the 1912 etc are a very niche sector, and these remain remarkably affordable.

I am not a straight user, but I get the impression that supply and demand is not the issue here. It seems to be a cost + margin market. The quality of workmanship and materials seems to set the price.
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Nice post. You make good points, thanks
 
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