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Shaving: history and tradition...
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I wonder if the "ordinary blades" C.Kinbote's conflated "two Alfreds" used were those called "straight" razors, instead of the "double edged" apparattus possibly employed by John Shade. In most sites shaving was associated to "manliness"!
Information from another "antique razor apparattus" site: Editor's note: Here at AoM, we're big proponents of bringing back the traditional wet shave by learning how to shave like your grandpa (with a safety razor) or even like your great-grandpa (with a straight razor). If you decide to trade in your multi-blade cartridge razor for the old fashioned variety, you may find yourself with an old piece of gear that has a lot of character and history, but is also a bit worse for wear. What do you do to bring it back to looking the way it did when Grandpa unwrapped it on Christmas morning? To answer that question, I asked the vintage shaving experts at RazorEmporium.com, Matt Pisarcik & Sebastian Sandersius, to provide AoM readers with some advice on how to get their old razors looking like new.
The classic style of shaving is back. That's right, men everywhere are turning in their plastic multi-blade cartridge razors for sleek metal safety razors and some are even going for straight razors. And who can blame them with the price of new multi-blade cartridges going for around $4! A straight razor can last a lifetime and double edge blades for safety-razors cost around 20¢ a pop. Frugality isn't the only issue though; it has been argued countless times that you can actually get better shaves doing it the old fashioned way. There are even a few manufacturers today still making vintage style safety razors: iKon, Merkur, Mühle, Parker and Pils just to name a few. While these modern manufacturers exist, many men are discovering the fun of using a vintage razor made decades ago. Besides bringing some history and tradition to your morning routine, you can take pride in the craftsmanship and mechanical niftiness of some of these fantastic vintage shavers.
More... You are looking for a razor that you likely want to shave with, so most importantly you're going to need to know if blades are still being produced for your find. Fortunately, there are three major types of blades still made and widely available for vintage shavers.
As shown in the picture above, the three major blade types are:
1) "Double edge blades" which are mostly for razors branded Gillette.
2) "Single edge blades" which are mostly for razors branded GEM, Ever-Ready, and Star.
3) "Injector blades" which are mostly for razors branded Schick or Eversharp.
The aforementioned brands are the ones you want to look for. Here are a few razor models which you will commonly find:
Colloquially these razors have names (from left to right): GEM "1912," GEM Micromatic, Gillette "Flair Tip" Super Speed, Gillette Slim Adjustable, Gillette "Fatboy" Adjustable, Schick Krona, and Schick Injector. Each of these models are known to give great shaves, but keep in mind that one may work better than another for certain men. Whatever you get, it is likely to be very dirty so now you need to know how to make it "shave ready."
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