Gillette TTOs

thisISjoel

thisISjoel

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Is there a definitive comparison online between all the old Gillette TTOs? Lately I've been really enjoying my slim, but y'all know RAD is a thing so I'm thinking about maybe a red tip or a blue tip or a super adjustable. I guess what I want to know is how each different TTO model compares to the various settings on the slim and/or if there is any point getting a non-adjustable TTO when I already have the slim?
 
thisISjoel said:
Is there a definitive comparison online between all the old Gillette TTOs? Lately I've been really enjoying my slim, but y'all know RAD is a thing so I'm thinking about maybe a red tip or a blue tip or a super adjustable. I guess what I want to know is how each different TTO model compares to the various settings on the slim and/or if there is any point getting a non-adjustable TTO when I already have the slim?
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I just ask the collector, AKA @Mark1966
 
i have a standard flare tip super speed its right in the middle for blade feel and its perfect size too.

but my favourite is the slim adjustable, hands down best razor ever made
 
Never seen a chart or list, just opinions when researching them for myself....... my opinion on what i've got/tried.

Adjustables: They are all different which supports the RAD and need to collect them all. Aggressiveness obviously overlaps, but they have different heads, different balance, so deliver different shave experiences........... :whistle: seed planted.

There are a lot of TTO's, and they vary depending on blade etc, but heres my take on the most common ones without getting into Sets etc.

Bluetip around 2-3 on the slim, nice shaver but mild. Don't use it much other than when my face is tender or for touch ups. I find it mild no matter the blade i'm using, but it will get the job done if you use a sharper blade in it. Light and "flickable"
Blacktip. Not much more aggressive than the Bluetip, very smooth shaver with better balance. 3-4 on slim settings and more sensitive to what blade is used.
Standard Superspeed. 3-4 on a Slim, blade sensitive so could be pushed towards 4-5. Balance varies a little between the different types. Shaves well but not especially smooth.
Rocket HD 500. Better balance than a standard Rocket and the SS. Very smooth shaver and blade sensitive, 3-5 on the slim. One of Gillettes best in my opinion.
Redtip. Cant do anything the Rocket can't do better. But it's a Redtip, and has iconic status so a "must have" for the collectors. Not much more aggressive than the standard SS but has better balance and looks better.

Do you need them all?

Of course you do :LOL:
 
Elsewhere there are rankings of modern razors by aggressiveness and a range of razors by blade gap, a component of aggressiveness but at least one which can be measured with some degree of consistency.

However blade gap is only one factor in determining the 'blade exposure', good illustration here, which is also impacted by head design and head weight. I would also argue that blade choice plays a big factor too.

My (subjective) assessment, using the Slim 1-9 as the range would suggest that the Fatboy is one notch lower and the Super Adjustable one notch higher. They use different head designs though and handles and lengths so balance changes too - also affecting the perceptions of the shave.

While the blade gap of the Red Tip (aggressive) and Blue Tip (mild) are probably within the spectrum of the Slim they have a different weight, feel and balance - so will give a different shave experience.

If you are thinking of results I'd say the Slim has most covered, if experience - they much variety awaits!
 
Mark1966 said:
If you are thinking of results I'd say the Slim has most covered, if experience - they much variety awaits!
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+1 My Slim is the king of my Gillette TTOs. It's also my first daily shaver and so my first love and all the bias that comes with that. I do have most TTOs besides a 40s Super Speed and a working Super Adjustable. The Slim is the only one I still shave with now and then. Just love it on anything from a 5 to 9.
 
Greenpike said:
+1 My Slim is the king of my Gillette TTOs. It's also my first daily shaver and so my first love and all the bias that comes with that. I do have most TTOs besides a 40s Super Speed and a working Super Adjustable. The Slim is the only one I still shave with now and then. Just love it on anything from a 5 to 9.
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I love my slim, and when I first got it I went from 5 up, but lately I've been really enjoying it on 3 and 4. Still efficient and oh so comfortable :D
 
When I first began shaving around 1962, the Gillette Super Speed was available like the fusion is today. I purchased a Super Speed with the blue tip. It was a mild razor (as was my stubble). The regular (or medium) Super Speed did not have a colored tip, and the "heavy" had a dark red tip (actually, I recall it as "brown" but cannot explain why other than this was more than half a century ago).

A few years later, the Gillette Slim Adjustable razor was introduced. I bought two of them and rotated them for a number of years. It seems to me the blue tip was the equivalent of a 3 on the slim. This is the nature of an adjustable. A setting of 1 or 2 was milder than the blue tip, and a setting of 4 had a bit more blade exposure than did the blue tip. I tried the red tip Super Speed a few times (these razors were widely available and sold for maybe a $1.00), and it was the equivalent of a 7 on the slim, which was far too high of a setting for me.

The slim of course has a range of settings, and that range is obviously wider than what any one of the Super Speeds presented. It seems to me the slim went like this: 1-3 was "mild", 4-6 was "medium", and 7-9 was "heavy", with the these words (used by Gillette for marketing purposes with the Super Speed) referring to the nature of a person's beard. I had used the blue tip for several years before buying a slim and am certain that a setting of 3 was the equivalent of the blue tip. As for actual shaving results, it also seems to me the Merkur Progress is every bit as good as the slim, though it is a more aggressive razor. By that I mean a setting of 1 on the Progress is more aggressive than a setting of 1 on the slim, and that is because the slim has a wider range of settings. Both razors have a mid-point setting, equal to 1.5, 2.5, and so on. The slim has a 1-9 range of settings, the Progress 1-5. So, we see that the slim has a much wider range of settings, with 17 compared to the 9 of the Progress. The slim can thus be set higher or lower than the Progress.
 
thw said:
When I first began shaving around 1962, the Gillette Super Speed was available like the fusion is today. I purchased a Super Speed with the blue tip. It was a mild razor (as was my stubble). The regular (or medium) Super Speed did not have a colored tip, and the "heavy" had a dark red tip (actually, I recall it as "brown" but cannot explain why other than this was more than half a century ago).

A few years later, the Gillette Slim Adjustable razor was introduced. I bought two of them and rotated them for a number of years. It seems to me the blue tip was the equivalent of a 3 on the slim. This is the nature of an adjustable. A setting of 1 or 2 was milder than the blue tip, and a setting of 4 had a bit more blade exposure than did the blue tip. I tried the red tip Super Speed a few times (these razors were widely available and sold for maybe a $1.00), and it was the equivalent of a 7 on the slim, which was far too high of a setting for me.

The slim of course has a range of settings, and that range is obviously wider than what any one of the Super Speeds presented. It seems to me the slim went like this: 1-3 was "mild", 4-6 was "medium", and 7-9 was "heavy", with the these words (used by Gillette for marketing purposes with the Super Speed) referring to the nature of a person's beard. I had used the blue tip for several years before buying a slim and am certain that a setting of 3 was the equivalent of the blue tip. As for actual shaving results, it also seems to me the Merkur Progress is every bit as good as the slim, though it is a more aggressive razor. By that I mean a setting of 1 on the Progress is more aggressive than a setting of 1 on the slim, and that is because the slim has a wider range of settings. Both razors have a mid-point setting, equal to 1.5, 2.5, and so on. The slim has a 1-9 range of settings, the Progress 1-5. So, we see that the slim has a much wider range of settings, with 17 compared to the 9 of the Progress. The slim can thus be set higher or lower than the Progress.
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Very interesting @thw ! Great to hear from someone who used these razors when they first arrived on the scene!
The arrival of the Adjustable must have been quite a game-changer :woot:

I must say I have never realised the Slim could be used "between settings" as you mention - I have only ever used it according to "clicks" i.e. whole number settings.

They never really seemed to release an adjustable SE razor.

I have a "Mergress" which is a Progress with a different knob, that allows the settings to be continuously varied (no "clicks"). The Progress/Mergress is a great razor too!
 
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I would recommend the red tip. It's much more efficient than most vintage razors.

The blue tip didn't seem to cut any stubble for me.

The black beauty felt just like a slim to me.

The flare tip super speed with a father was also good.

If you have a light/medium beard, a Schick Krona with feather blade is very good.

Personally, I didn't get on with vintage razors at all. They were too light. The head geometry was also not to my liking and I rarely got a BBS from any of them and usually ended up with some irritation trying to get a good shave.

Contrast that with my progress and rockwell and I get daily BBS without even trying.
 
When I first began to shave in the early 1960's, Gillette was marketing three Super Speeds. These razors had the blue, regular, and "red" tip. They were widely available, inexpensive, and were displayed side-by-side in racks. (I'm still thinking the "heavy" model has a brown tip but cannot find any evidence of this.) I began shaving by using the very sharp Super Blue blades. The standard (and inexpensive) blade of the day, it was made of carbon steel and would quickly rust. It was a few years later that the adjustable slim was introduced. It initially cost $1.95 and was also widely available. I bought two of them, rotated them for about fifteen years, and these excellent razors remained as good as new. As is Gillette's custom, when the slim was introduced the production of the Super Speed razors slowed until they disappeared from the scene. Also in accordance with Gillette's marketing style, the DE razor blades suddenly became very scarce once the multi-blade gizmos were introduced. It was before my time, but I would imagine the same thing happened to the Fat Boy razor. The game, it seems, was (and is) to periodically introduce "new and improved" products to spur sales while drying up supplies of former models. That the reverse of "new and improved" has occurred is a curious thing. However, as multi-blade cartridges continue to increase (beyond all reason) in their number of blades and their prices, it seems to me there is a "critical mass" where this market will implode.

Around the time of the introduction of the slim, Gillette began production of its first stainless steel blade. These blades were not nearly as sharp as the carbon steel Super Blues, but they retained their edge longer and of course were not prone to rust. They were also more expensive. "Improvement" of stainless and platinum blades continued in mass production until the introduction of the multi-blade cartridges.

When DE blades became scarce and before long virtually unavailable, I briefly used a Schick adjustable SE injector razor. These were very good razors, but the SE blades also vanished with the introduction of the multi-blade monstrosities.
 
I personally find Mr Razor's website invaluable when it comes to identifying vintage Gillettes. It doesn't provide information on head gemeotry or adjustment settings, however.

http://www.mr-razor.com/

A Red Tip would be a great place to start if you're looking for a different experience to your Slim. I'm also quite fond of early Gillettes, and can highly recommend their Single Ring and Ball End Old Types, and any NEW you can get your hands on.
 
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