The Gillette Tech

I started out with a Tech....half a century ago...and have in my rotation an Aluminium Ball End tech....coupled with a Feather blade this is a great little Razor...and I mean little it seems tiny compared to the Merkur Futur for example...

For someone just starting out with DE shaving this would be a good razor to gain experience with....I would think you'd have to try very hard to cut yourself with this razor...even with a Feather blade in it...
 
I love tech's I've got 9 of them,and love shaving with all of them. I can honestly say I have never had a bad shave with any of them,a 1950s gold plated fat handled tech was my first vintage razor,so simple to use and maintain,possibly ideal first razor I know a tech will be my two sons first DE razor the cheeky bleeders have picked what ones they want, pah jogg on kitty's
 
My first post on the forum! I was searching the web for some information about a razor and to cut a long story short, ended up right here
After my grandfather died, I inherited his Gillette razor, complete with bakelite case - at the time I was just a young lad and in the intervening years I tried it out a couple of times and it didn't end well. Anyway, I was raising funds for Movember and had to shave so I pulled the old razor out and tried again, having learnt how to shave with a safety razor... and I love it!
There's something quite special about using my granddad's razor, a 1940's Gillette Tech Thin Handle and I really enjoy the whole DE shaving experience.

 
 
Chris,

Great write up on those Gillette Techs.
What a shame that Gillette (now) only offer a few cheap DE razors (the Gillette '7 O'Clock' and 'Click' models for example) to selected markets....Are they really worried that men may realise 'en masse' that there is an alternative to multi bladed monstrosities / pack of 10 disposables?
An admission of guilt - or greed?
 
I've just had a quick look at Gillette cartridge blades on offer...Typically, Gillette Fusion - pack of 4 (5 blade) cartridges, that's £10 to you Sir...

However, 4 cartridges should last 'up to 13 weeks' according to blurb on packaging...Assuming daily shaves, that's a total of 91 shaves...Or 22-23 shaves per cartridge.

I am getting on well with the Trig Silver Edge blades - £9.60 for 200 from Connaught Shaving, postage to add, unless you are spending over £45.

So many guys are being duped into thinking (as I was) that the choices are 'electric, cartridges, or disposables' when it comes to shaving.
Still, we can all do our bit to 'convert' friends, family, work mates...
 
To let others know that there are more choices is great and should they want to try another form of shaving ie DE /SE is fantastic but we must also remember that we all have a free choice as far as what we shave with and must respect the choices of other's. Shave happy
 
A good write up, very interesting.
 

Until very recently I was one of those who would trot down to Waitrose to buy another set of 4 Fusion blades for £13-£15 and rather resented the fact they cost so much (but still paid it anyway).

Although there are various reasons why I have started to use DE shaving, cost is definitely one of them. It's not just the blades either, although I just paid £15 for 100 assorted blades (so I can try out various blades; that includes p+p), at around 4 shaves per blade that's over a year's worth of shaving... somewhat longer than £15-worth of Fusion blades

But then there's the shaving foam... buying cans with the aerosols never struck me as particularly environmentally friendly, and at £4 per can, I went through a few of those too. A block of shaving creme is £3.50 and will last me..? Not sure, but longer than a can!

We all choose our 'tools' based on personal preferences, etc. but I certainly agree that traditional shaving has been sidelined by the mainstream and maybe it's time to raise awareness of this form of shaving?
 
How do you think this can be achieved? Who should be trying to achieve it?
The manufacturers of the cartridge systems don't want to raise awareness because there is too much money in it for them to keep it quiet so that only leaves the manufacturers of the traditional shaving products to raise awareness but I'm guessing they think the market is not big enough to support a advertising campaign and even if they did the cost would be passed on to us who are already using the products!
I quite like it being a little bit of a fringe movement, perhaps we should be spreading the word ourselves but it's not that easy, I've tried. Some people think that it's old fashioned, some think it's a backward step in the evolution of shaving, some people just enjoy using cartridges and canned foam and we have to accept this because everyone has the freedom of choice and no matter what I think about cartridge shaving I do believe we should be free to choose what we shave ourselves with. if you can convert people by raising awareness good on you, those of us who can pass this knowledge on to their son's is also great because we need fresh blood to carry the torch of proper shaving into the future after alot of us older shavers are gone.
 
Hi Blademonkey,
Yes of course, you are right regarding the choices of others; the problem (as i see it) is that many (most?) people shaving with cartridges / disposables don't even know that DE exists as a viable option - meaning that their choices are limited.

Shavin' happy. ;-)
 
Hi Jason, that is quite shocking that most people who use carts or disposables don't even know that DE exists as a viable option, the people ( friends ) I've spoken to about how I shave know that there are other methods but seem to be stuck in their ways and simply just don't want to change, some even think it's really strange that I would want to use a straight razor to shave with when they have disposables " which are far safer and never going to kill them" so what I'm saying is even if you show or tell people about it most just don't want to change and will be happy useing what they are using.
But as an experiment I will put together a beginners kit of a basic DE razor ,soap ,brush, and some blades and give as a Christmas gift to a friend and see if he gets into it and maybe if he does he may spread the word himself.
Ps sorry to the OP for going off thread a little and now back to the
Gillette Tech which is the razor I will be putting in this start up pack, phew, stayed on topic after all!!
 
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