She’s looking at you

Are you looking your best?

A British Gillette ad from 1949

Odd, my immediate response would been ‘Quick, look busy’…

A dollar in 1909 too…

I guess it was good value…

Still a dollar – and still the best

Well, a 1919 dollar, that is. A bit more today, even second hand. Although I did inherent the one I have and use.

Pal Razor Commercials

From the ’60s, as far as I can tell.

The Compax, according to Waits

As regulars might know, the Robert K Waits Razor Compendium is a good resource – even if it is getting a little long in tooth by now. But it does have an entry for the Compax, with the collapsible handle we looked at a couple of days ago.

To quote Waits in full:

What I find interesting is that Waits says nothing at all about the collapsible handle. The list of British patents shown in one of the photos is… intriguing.

Hexagonal collapsible safety razor handle

A travel razor usually either have a very tiny handle – like my, admittedly tiny all over, Laurel Ladies Boudoir Razor – or a handle in two parts – like my Merkur 985CL. But James Alex Denby Watt had a different idea. He patented a collapsible, hexagonal razor handle in 1930 – and it worked well enough to be part of a production razor.

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A video on the various Schick Repeating Razors

Courtesy of Razor Emporium.

Come to think of it… does anyone have a user grade Type C they want to sell me?

A 1929 Schick Repeater advertisment

“The best shave you ever had seems poor beside a Schick shave…”

Big words, but now that I own one, I can testify that the Schick Type B – as is shown in this 1929 advertisement, makes for a damn good shave.

And while I can get two weeks worth of shaves with a modern blade, Schick didn’t go overboard and overpromise on the 1929 blades – instead promising a mere four to ten shaves per blade. But with 20 blades in each clip, that was still a lot of shaves for just 75 cents.

1904 GEM advertisement

With the unforgettable tagline “It’s a pleasure to shave now”, and the trademarked slogan “well that’s fine!!”

Shaving Cream Song

As performed by Paul Wynn in 1946.