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First of all, this post begins with acknowledgement and thanks to @mpf9ret who kindly PIF'd me three GEM single-edge blades to allow me to try out the razor. My apologies that it has taken me a couple of weeks to get around to writing this review, which was made possible by your generosity!
Onwards to a couple of pictures of the razor, a vintage Ever Ready 'Made in England' safety razor which I recently picked up on eBay for under £20. These razors crop up on eBay quite regularly, but what attracted me to this one was the fact that it looked to be in very good vintage condition as well as the fact it came with the original box and instruction sheet, which seemed like a nice touch. It also included a vintage 'new old stock' blade (which I certainly won't be trying!). If anyone is able to help with an approximate date for this razor I'd be very grateful. In any case I think it's safe to say that it's definitely older than me, almost certainly older than my father, and perhaps almost as old as my grandfather!
This is my first time trying a razor which takes GEM style blades, so I was quite curious to find out how it all fitted together and how the thing works. The first challenge was getting the cardboard cover off the blades. Perhaps there's a knack to it, but I couldn't seem to do it without risking a nasty cut straight through the tip of my finger. I eventually eased it off with all digits intact, but I'm sure there's a better way than the way I did it. Loading the blade into the razor is easy enough, requiring you simply to flick back the top half of the head, place the blade against the blade guards, then snap the head back down. All of this is very straightforward and the blade was firmly fixed in place against the blade guards with a small gap to the open combs at the bottom of the head.
I decided to try out the razor with a Goodfella's Smile soap, specifically the Pino Alpestre, along with the matching aftershave splash. Their soaps always give me a well-cushioned, comfortable shave so I thought this was a good choice to use with an unfamiliar razor. It also gave me a chance to try out my new Yaqi Timberwolf which was ordered on AliExpress a couple of months ago. Combined with the soft Italian soap this thing swirled up an absolute mass of nice creamy lather. After six weeks of shaving with a single soap (I've been away for work), it felt great to have a different scent to shave with, and this one is perfectly clean, fresh and delicious.
So on to the most important part... How was the shave itself? With two passes this thing has given me a impressively comfortable BBS shave across most of my face. It's definitely a great razor when used properly. However, I have ended up with a couple of nicks along with some soreness and irritation on my neck. I think this is down to the combination of (a) not getting the correct blade angle, and (b) not noticing that I was using far too much pressure when shaving my neck. This is a solid, heavy razor so it really does require some conscious effort not to "press" when shaving. The blade angle also takes some getting used to, being different to both a DE blade and a SE artist's club style blade. I also had to do some touch-ups under the nose with my trusty Edwin Jagger DE89. The head on this thing really is big and you can also feel the blade guards against your skin when shaving those difficult areas, so I preferred to stick with something I knew rather than risk making a mistake.
Overall I'm very pleased to have tried my first GEM style razor. It wasn't a perfect shave by any means, but that's probably down to lack of technique rather than any fault of the razor. I think that vintage instruction sheet sums it up best when it says: "Don't press; one or two trials will make you expert" - great advice that rings true even today.
Onwards to a couple of pictures of the razor, a vintage Ever Ready 'Made in England' safety razor which I recently picked up on eBay for under £20. These razors crop up on eBay quite regularly, but what attracted me to this one was the fact that it looked to be in very good vintage condition as well as the fact it came with the original box and instruction sheet, which seemed like a nice touch. It also included a vintage 'new old stock' blade (which I certainly won't be trying!). If anyone is able to help with an approximate date for this razor I'd be very grateful. In any case I think it's safe to say that it's definitely older than me, almost certainly older than my father, and perhaps almost as old as my grandfather!
This is my first time trying a razor which takes GEM style blades, so I was quite curious to find out how it all fitted together and how the thing works. The first challenge was getting the cardboard cover off the blades. Perhaps there's a knack to it, but I couldn't seem to do it without risking a nasty cut straight through the tip of my finger. I eventually eased it off with all digits intact, but I'm sure there's a better way than the way I did it. Loading the blade into the razor is easy enough, requiring you simply to flick back the top half of the head, place the blade against the blade guards, then snap the head back down. All of this is very straightforward and the blade was firmly fixed in place against the blade guards with a small gap to the open combs at the bottom of the head.
I decided to try out the razor with a Goodfella's Smile soap, specifically the Pino Alpestre, along with the matching aftershave splash. Their soaps always give me a well-cushioned, comfortable shave so I thought this was a good choice to use with an unfamiliar razor. It also gave me a chance to try out my new Yaqi Timberwolf which was ordered on AliExpress a couple of months ago. Combined with the soft Italian soap this thing swirled up an absolute mass of nice creamy lather. After six weeks of shaving with a single soap (I've been away for work), it felt great to have a different scent to shave with, and this one is perfectly clean, fresh and delicious.
So on to the most important part... How was the shave itself? With two passes this thing has given me a impressively comfortable BBS shave across most of my face. It's definitely a great razor when used properly. However, I have ended up with a couple of nicks along with some soreness and irritation on my neck. I think this is down to the combination of (a) not getting the correct blade angle, and (b) not noticing that I was using far too much pressure when shaving my neck. This is a solid, heavy razor so it really does require some conscious effort not to "press" when shaving. The blade angle also takes some getting used to, being different to both a DE blade and a SE artist's club style blade. I also had to do some touch-ups under the nose with my trusty Edwin Jagger DE89. The head on this thing really is big and you can also feel the blade guards against your skin when shaving those difficult areas, so I preferred to stick with something I knew rather than risk making a mistake.
Overall I'm very pleased to have tried my first GEM style razor. It wasn't a perfect shave by any means, but that's probably down to lack of technique rather than any fault of the razor. I think that vintage instruction sheet sums it up best when it says: "Don't press; one or two trials will make you expert" - great advice that rings true even today.