British Red Tip vs American Red Tip

Hey all,

Anybody shave with both of these razors that can tell a difference in shave quality? Are the British Red Tips razors worth the shave for the price they fetch?


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Is the British more aggressive? I have an American and it’s very mild.


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Is the British more aggressive? I have an American and it’s very mild.


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I don’t have a British Red tip, so I can’t compare.


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Google “bucket of Gillette rockets”.

Google “bucket of Gillette rockets”.

I picked up a British Rocket HD a few days ago, it’s halfway already. I am not sure if it has the same blade gap as the red tip.


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In the UK they want US razors and here many want UK razors. "The farther the reach, the sweeter the peach" syndrome. They are not IMO made better, just differently as how the head connects to the handle.

In the UK they want US razors and here many want UK razors. "The farther the reach, the sweeter the peach" syndrome. They are not IMO made better, just differently as how the head connects to the handle.

Ok thanks, good to know then no use in shelling out $$$$$ for the same shave.

My rocket HD on eBay went for the same price as an American Red Tip so I didn’t over spend. 40 USD.



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Full Disclosure: The only vintage Gillettes I buy are the 'Made in England' variety.
Why? I think they're better built, especially the rhodium plated ones.

I asked the exact same question elsewhere before I acquired my UK Red Tip Superspeed
and these are the answers from that thread (one of them is mine.

"For 'Made in England' Red Tips, some say the superspeed version is the rarest, others say the rocket version is.
I also saw a B&B wiki page that said the blade gap on the SS was 0.81mm.

Here's a passage from someone who sold their UK Red Tip Superspeed on Panjo:

"This is an extremely uncommon razor, even more so when you factor in just how clean it is. England produced a variety of their own versions of American Gillette razors. The majority of them included much improved build quality (this one being no different). There are in fact two English Red-Tips; the Rocket (rare by itself, but more common), and this one, the very rare SuperSpeed Version. I have yet to see one of these come up for sale. Occasionally, you might get lucky and see a Red-Tip Rocket come up for sale, but these almost never do....."

So which one is rarer?"


"I've seen more British red tip superspeeds than rockets both on the forums and evilbay over the years."


Theres some disagreement about which version is more rare. I believe the Red Tip Rocket is the rarer beast and said to be just a tad more efficient than the Red Tip SS.
A cased RT SS, claimed to be NOS, recently fetched 190 pounds on the bay.

Full Disclosure: The only vintage Gillettes I buy are the 'Made in England' variety.
Why? I think they're better built, especially the rhodium plated ones.

I asked the exact same question elsewhere before I acquired my UK Red Tip Superspeed
and these are the answers from that thread (one of them is mine.

"For 'Made in England' Red Tips, some say the superspeed version is the rarest, others say the rocket version is.
I also saw a B&B wiki page that said the blade gap on the SS was 0.81mm.

Here's a passage from someone who sold their UK Red Tip Superspeed on Panjo:

"This is an extremely uncommon razor, even more so when you factor in just how clean it is. England produced a variety of their own versions of American Gillette razors. The majority of them included much improved build quality (this one being no different). There are in fact two English Red-Tips; the Rocket (rare by itself, but more common), and this one, the very rare SuperSpeed Version. I have yet to see one of these come up for sale. Occasionally, you might get lucky and see a Red-Tip Rocket come up for sale, but these almost never do....."

So which one is rarer?"


"I've seen more British red tip superspeeds than rockets both on the forums and evilbay over the years."


Theres some disagreement about which version is more rare. I believe the Red Tip Rocket is the rarer beast and said to be just a tad more efficient than the Red Tip SS.
A cased RT SS, claimed to be NOS, recently fetched 190 pounds on the bay.

Panjo is shutting down.


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The blade gap on the US one is 0.73mm

The. UK RedTip SS is 0.81mm....so a little bump in efficiency there.

I haven't tried the US version but the UK Red Tip is verrrry smooth.