Gillette vintage razors can really be great
Really an extraordinarily nice shave today. It’s been a while since I used my 1940’s Gillette Aristocrat (the razor pictured on the cover of the Guide as shown at the right) and this morning it felt extremely good.
First was the prep, of course: the Vie-Long horsehair brush, bristles well wetted before my shower, worked up an easy and pleasant lather from D.R. Harris Rose shaving cream. (I should note, BTW, that I returned to sniff the D.R. Harris After Shaving Milk: it is indeed rose. Somehow I couldn’t identify it but (interestingly) it had an extremely masculine fragrance, not knowing what it was.)
The Aristocrat, with a Kai blade, did a wonderful job and left a BBS finish, to which I applied a splash of Saint Charles Shave’s Bulgarian Rose aftershave.
Friday: the vestibule of the weekend. At last.
Later On 
How do you rate D.R. Harris creams alongside Trumpers or Taylors?
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Gavin Groom
14 November 2014 at 12:26 pm
I don’t have enough shaving cream experience, really, to note the differences. So far as I can tell, all the classic English shaving creams (Cyril R. Salter, Coates, Geo. F. Trumper, D.R. Harris, Taylor of Old Bond Street, Truefitt & Hill) are quite good. Those who tend to use shaving creams rather than soap might be able to speak better to their relative strengths. Good question for the Wicked_Edge, in fact.
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LeisureGuy
14 November 2014 at 12:34 pm
Good idea. I’m on Wicked_edge right now in fact. The main reason I ask is because I have rather dry skin, and am considering switching to creams from soaps – I’ve found they do a far better job of not drying my skin out.
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Gavin Groom
14 November 2014 at 12:59 pm
How does the Aristocrat head compare with the President’s?
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Larry Isaacs
22 November 2014 at 1:53 pm
Identical, so far as I can tell. They must have liked this head—and the overall design. Besides the Aristocrat and President in this line, there’s the Ambassador (or Diplomat?), the gold-plated President. And there may be other models using this head.
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LeisureGuy
22 November 2014 at 1:58 pm