Prosthetic Conscience

On my new old double-edged safety razor

I had a lot to write about following my parents visit for my birthday last week, but I have been very busy since then, and haven’t had a chance to process my experiences. I really enjoyed having them visit. As I get older, I find myself having a closer relationship with my parents than I did in my teens or even in my twenties.

This visit, they brought me a present that is very special to me: my paternal grandfather’s double-edged safety razor. It is a Gillette, of a model that was produced between 1958 and 1963, generally called a “Fatboy” today by collectors and enthusiasts because of its short, thick handle. It is an adjustable, twist-to-open razor. There is not really any antique value to this razor; mint-condition ones are sold on eBay, cleaned and sanitized for about $20, and in-box ones can be had for a bit more. But this particular one is special because of the family connection. It is something I have in common with a relative I never knew; something besides the receding “widow’s peak” hairline I seem to have inherited from him.

I had been planning on getting a double-edged safety razor for some time. I have been shaving with soap and a brush with a mug made by Lori’s mother for a few years now, but I have been using a cartridge razor with them. I “downgraded” from a Gillette Mach 3 to a Gillette Sensor a while back because of the cost of replacement blades. The generic Sensor blades cost about half as much as the Mach 3 blades, but give as good a shave. I wished I had not gotten rid of my Trac II handle (the first razor I shaved with), because Trac II blades are still widely available, even cheaper, and probably give a more predictable shave given good technique. But now I have a double-edged safety razor, and even premium-brand blades for those are significantly cheaper than even generic cartridge blades.

I have been shaving for a week with this razor, with generic blades, and until today, the both close and non-irritating shave that many DE enthusiasts extol has been elusive. My first shave with the razor was smooth but not close, and I was mainly grateful to not have nicked myself. Since then I’ve messed with the adjustable setting, tried various combinations of passes, and so forth, mostly achieving shaves that were close but irritating, with more razor burn than I had gotten with my Sensor.

Today, though, I got my first really good shave with this razor. I did a first pass with-the-grain (WTG) on setting 1 to remove long stubble (I didn’t shave yesterday). Then I did another WTG pass on 7, which is the setting I found during the week that I needed to use to get a close shave. Then I finished up with an against-the-grain (ATG) pass on 1, and some clean-up on 1 along my jawline and chin. No across-the-grain (XTG) passes, which I had become accustomed to using with my Sensor, and had tried to do with the Fatboy following the advice of various on-line articles. I had no irritation with this method, and it was at least as close a shave as I ever got with a cartridge razor.

I’m looking forward to trying to repeat this shave tomorrow.

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