Vintage or New

I have had plenty of shaves with both modern and vintage razors.
When compared to, example, a Gillette Tech, I appreciate the exact fit and finish of my Brass Karve or Henson.

I appreciate the history behind the vintage pieces but when I need to shave I find myself picking modern more often than not.

New razors have no soul.

I will respectfully disagree, and wax philosophical as well! I am imparting some soul to my modern razors. In using them, caring for them, and enjoying them I believe I am imbibing them with some soul. 50 years from now, they will be vintage, and someone may look at my cherished Christopher Bradley that has a nice polish and patina, and say, "this one was used and enjoyed in its day."

Or in my head that's the scenario that plays out!

And when seeing a Vector, they may wonder if this was for a space mission or some specialized surgery, or left over from an alien abduction!

New razors have no soul.

And my vintage razors have no plating

18 April 2022



'64 Slim
Personna CC (3)
Black Tie #13
SynBad in Knothead Brushworks inlaid handle

I dialed it down from 9 to 6 this morning because wimpiness!

I have quite a few vintage and drag them out occasionally but my face tells me that CNC and MIM of today are more refined than vintage.  I do like the nostalgia of using  a 100 year old razor but I find if I’m strictly after performance then the new stuff is better.

New razors have no soul.

I will respectfully disagree, and wax philosophical as well! I am imparting some soul to my modern razors. In using them, caring for them, and enjoying them I believe I am imbibing them with some soul. 50 years from now, they will be vintage, and someone may look at my cherished Christopher Bradley that has a nice polish and patina, and say, "this one was used and enjoyed in its day."

In the future there won't be enough testosterone for "men" to have hair, so all the razors will be melted down. 


Those modern razors are stealing your soul, leaving you hollow and broken and confused. 

Vintage!!! There are no new razors, they still use the same blades that are 100 years old, still hold them with a top cap and a bottom plate, and they're still categorized as "Gillette type". Nothing beats vintage.

I recall posting a while back about the fact that despite all the advances in manufacturing, accuracy, materials etc in modern razors the blades continue to be basically the same as they've been for over 100 years.  SE, DE or straight - apart from some improvements in the steel and maybe some coatings they are unchanged.  I guess there is only so much you can do once you've achieved an edge keen enough to shave with.  You don't see rust so much unless you really neglect your kit.  The one improvement that we all want and yet will never see is a sharp edge that never gets dull.  I wonder whether we really do want that though?  It would be boring to never have to change your blade.

New razors have no soul.

And my vintage razors have no plating

That's the best part! I've sent some out just to have the plating removed, hate plating, love brass!

18 April 2022



'64 Slim
Personna CC (3)
Black Tie #13
SynBad in Knothead Brushworks inlaid handle

I dialed it down from 9 to 6 this morning because wimpiness!

See! Those modern razors are making you weak! 

Vintage!!! There are no new razors, they still use the same blades that are 100 years old, still hold them with a top cap and a bottom plate, and they're still categorized as "Gillette type". Nothing beats vintage.

I recall posting a while back about the fact that despite all the advances in manufacturing, accuracy, materials etc in modern razors the blades continue to be basically the same as they've been for over 100 years.  SE, DE or straight - apart from some improvements in the steel and maybe some coatings they are unchanged.  I guess there is only so much you can do once you've achieved an edge keen enough to shave with.  You don't see rust so much unless you really neglect your kit.  The one improvement that we all want and yet will never see is a sharp edge that never gets dull.  I wonder whether we really do want that though?  It would be boring to never have to change your blade.

That would be like eating once and being full forever! I want to taste different things.