Injector Razor Pass Around

hitemfrank

I have been intrigued by injector razors latley so I ended up buying one from one of the shaving sites. There was an issue with him sending it to me so he sent a second one to me along with the one I paid for.

So I've decided to see if there are some here who would like to try out an injector razor. The idea being that people who are interested will let me know and I'll make a list. I will then post it to the first person on the list. They use it for a few shaves (a week or so) and send it on to the next person on the list. Real names and postal adresses obviously stay in PM's.

Eventually it comes back to me (it is mine afterall ).

Eligibility
I've seen pass arounds go wrong and the items get lost on other sites. There have also bee cases of people just being involved in the site for a ass around and when they get the items, shock and horror, it doesn't go past them.

In an effort to stop this happening you must meet certain criteria. First and foremost, be active on boards. So I'm looking for a minimum of 500 boards posts.

However, if you are under 500 posts but active in Facial Hair and Hats I will make an exception. I myself use very little of the rest of Boards so I think it's fair. Chances are if you don't have many posts but I recognise your name from around this sub forum you'll be in.

*the criteria is subject to change

Posting the razor and blades
This must be done in at least a padded envelope. When I send it to the first person it will be in a added envelope with extra bubble wrap.

If it is not sent in a added envelope, this pass around wont last long.

I'm hoping we can get a few guys trying it out as an alternative to a DE or even a cartridge razor so the longer this lasts the better.


For those wondering, 'What the hell is an injector razor?' I'll explain in the next post.

hitemfrank

An injector razor is a safety razor design developed in the 1920's. It was designed so that you pretty much dont have to touch the razor blades, by holding blades in a magazine which you then push (inject) into the razor.

Pictures of the injector for the pass around below.


A Schick type E injector (1935-1945) and the magazine of razor blades. The magazine holds 20 blades. I will be posting two magazines with the razor so there should be at least 35 blades. I've used a few blades from one of the magazines.


Above you see the under the head of the razor and on top of the magazine. On the magazine there is a piece of metal that says 'Insert Key' and that goes under the head where it says 'Insert Key'. It's all very simple.

Once the key on the magazine is inserted into the head of the razor, you just pull the slide back so it picks up a blade and then push it into the razor...


... and then this happens. It pushes out the old blade and puts in a new one.


That's pretty much all there is to know about the injector.


So, who is interested?

raytaxi

Looks a very good razor
New to the whole DE shaving and getting used to the change Just need to get under jawline shave mastered one of reasons for switching could never get close with Fusion razor.

hitemfrank

So...... only two people interested so far. This is going to be a quick pass around.

I'll leave it until Monday and see if anyone else is interested at this point. I should get it posted out to someone on Tuesday.

hitemfrank

I figured I would give this a little update (and bump).

The injector is currently with Vote 4 Pedro, so hopefully in a few days he will post his impressions of the injector.


Anyone else interested in trying it out?

Vote 4 Pedro

The Injector Razor.

My first impressions were that the razor looks a neat idea, very well made and in great condition.

To me it felt very much like the disposable razors do in the hand, quite small and very light,
I really didn't know what to expect from using it, but i had my first shave with it almost a week ago now.
I was unsure what it would shave like but i was pleasantly surprised when i used it.
It was so easy to use and it felt instinctive to hold, getting the angle of the blade right first time,
I did the standard three pass shave as i would with the DE, and i found myself shaving quicker than with the DE razor
even though i was in no rush at all.
It gave a really nice clean shave but in less time.
The only thing i struggled with was getting under my jawline done correctly but i'm still very new to DE shaving and thats the hardest part to get right for me anyway.
The second and third shave also went very well without any cuts or little nicks, It just seemed to do a great job.
The only thing different to my Edwin Jagger DE razor is that i thought it was slightly more aggressive, I certainly seemed to feel the blade more anyway and that also suited me.
With the DE razor i have tried a good few manufacturers blades and definitely found a difference in them, quality and sharpness etc. but with this type of razor i don't know if there is the choice of blades or not but it would be interesting to try a few if they are available.

On the whole i liked the razor, very nice indeed.
People should take the opportunity to try it out while the pass around is in operation. I'm finished with it now and it's ready to move along.

Many thanks to hitemfrank for letting use try it.

hitemfrank

Vote 4 Pedro wrote: »

The Injector Razor.

My first impressions were that the razor looks a neat idea, very well made and in great condition.

To me it felt very much like the disposable razors do in the hand, quite small and very light,
I really didn't know what to expect from using it, but i had my first shave with it almost a week ago now.
I was unsure what it would shave like but i was pleasantly surprised when i used it.
It was so easy to use and it felt instinctive to hold, getting the angle of the blade right first time,
I did the standard three pass shave as i would with the DE, and i found myself shaving quicker than with the DE razor
even though i was in no rush at all.
It gave a really nice clean shave but in less time.
The only thing i struggled with was getting under my jawline done correctly but i'm still very new to DE shaving and thats the hardest part to get right for me anyway.
The second and third shave also went very well without any cuts or little nicks, It just seemed to do a great job.
The only thing different to my Edwin Jagger DE razor is that i thought it was slightly more aggressive, I certainly seemed to feel the blade more anyway and that also suited me.
With the DE razor i have tried a good few manufacturers blades and definitely found a difference in them, quality and sharpness etc. but with this type of razor i don't know if there is the choice of blades or not but it would be interesting to try a few if they are available.

On the whole i liked the razor, very nice indeed.
People should take the opportunity to try it out while the pass around is in operation. I'm finished with it now and it's ready to move along.

Many thanks to hitemfrank for letting use try it.

Thanks for the feedback.

I have similar feeling about how light and aggressive it seems.

One of the disadvantages is that there isn't really a choice of blades available for injectors. The ones I sent with the razor are all you can get easy(ish) in Europe. I think there is a second brand in the US but other than that, if the blades dont suit your skin you are out of luck.


I'll get you to send it on to raytaxi (due to the lack of interest I'm bending my rules to include him). Could you PM each other and sort out the details?

Just let me know when it's been sent and received.

Vote 4 Pedro

PM sent to raytaxi
waiting for reply.

raytaxi

Reply sent thanks Pedro and hitmefrank for including me in the pass round.

hitemfrank

No worries, man. Hopefully you wont have any issues with the razor.

Just make sure you know if you have to put a new blade in or not before you use it.

raytaxi

Thanks will do. Have read instructions few times now already :-)

Vote 4 Pedro

Address sorted, It's packaged ready to post to raytaxi in the morning.

The Razor itself is wrapped up in bubble wrap, then it's in a jiffy bag, then the blades and razor are in another jiffy bag,
should be well protected.
Please will you let us know when you get it in the post.

Vote 4 Pedro

@raytaxi,
Sorry i forgot to say that it has a brand new unused blade in it.

raytaxi

Thanks

Vote 4 Pedro

Posted Today

raytaxi

Razor arrived today safe and sound will try it tomorrow. Please let me know where to send next.

hitemfrank

If no one else wants to try it out after you it will be coming back to me. Hang onto the razor for about a week and then post you thoughts on it.

Maybe someone else will come out of the woodwork and want to give it a try.

raytaxi

The Injector Razor
First impression very light in hand, with a nice feel to it, in very good condition. Was very nice to use, though found it more aggressive on skin. Not in a bad way and after first day didn't notice it again.
Shaving seemed to be quicker with this razor compared to my normal one (Muhle R89).
I'm new enough to DE razor shaving and found I had difficulties with same area with either razor. Under chin/ jawline area getting there though
Was very nice to try this razor and would recommend people to try it.
Thanks again hitmefrank for including me in the pass round.
It was that nice to use was looking at injector razors on ebay so far I have resisted the urge;) to buy one:D

hitemfrank

Thanks for taking part raytaxi and Vote 4 Pedro.

I was going to ask if either of you guys could see yourself buying an injector razor in the future but raytaxi has pretty much answered that already :cool:

glic83

Have to say would love a go off this but I only started DE shaving so wouldn't be comfortable with it just yet, It's a pitty it hasn't generated more interest.

hitemfrank

Well, when you feel you would be comfortable with it, send me a PM and I'll post it to you.

It's pretty easy to use but is a little on the aggressive side.

glic83

I will for sure just finding my feet here and trying to get used to different blades but when I'm ready I'll send you a pm , thanks again

Buddy97mm

Hi,

Wouldn't mind trying this if it's still available as pass around. Never used or fully understood an injector to be honest.

hitemfrank

An injector is just an old style of razor. There is no really secret to them. They were made from the mid twenties up until about 2000 and were generally more popular in the US.

Just another method to get a good shave :cool:


Do you currently use a DE razor or a cartridge?

Buddy97mm

I used cartridges for years with reasonable success, but about two years ago changed to DE shaving, after getting into it from Badger&Blade.

I now love the DE to bits, and although still use cartridges from time to time, I am a total DE convert, with various blades, brushes, creams and soaps.

I just read first post, and realise I probably don't qualify for this, so no worries.




(Apologies for multiple posts, attempting to reply whilst site was undergoing maintenance and replies not showing when submitted)

hitemfrank

Due to how little interest there was in this pass around I have already bent the rules for someone else so they could try it out.

PM me your address and I'll try get it sent out to you in a day or two

hitemfrank

I was cleaning up the injector tonight in order to post it to Buddy97mm tomorrow and I decided to try work something out that I had read about once, that is a really nice feature of this model of injector.

About a month ago I read that this particular model of injector can easily cleaned by taking the head of the razor apart. I tried to figure it out before and couldn't work it out but I succeeded this evening. Excuse the poor quality pictures.

*DO NOT TRY THIS WITH OTHER MODELS OF INJECTORS IF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE ONE*


To do this you need to move a part of the razor out of the way and that will let you get access to clean it better.

So you need to move this part

that is held in place here

To solve this push on the safety bar a little bit

Then rotate the part in the first picture in either direction

Now with that out of the way you can flip down the safety bar and clean it properly


A pretty simple but good solution to cleaning the injector thoroughly :cool:

Buddy97mm

For someone unfamiliar with injector razors, looks quite extraordinary and "antiquey" for want of a better word. I can't wait to try!

hitemfrank

It was made between 1935-45 so it is pretty 'antiquey'

It's really simple to use and feels much more like a cartridge than it feels like a DE or any other single edge razor I've used.

Buddy97mm

Received injector n post today, many thanks. Very impressive yet simple. Look forward to shaving with it over the weekend. Can I ask is it a new blade in it as don't want to unnecessarily use other blades.

hitemfrank

Yep, I put a new blade in it after cleaned it before I posted it. Don't worry about using blades unnecessarily, I have another 4 of those magazines of blades.

Buddy97mm

Tried this injector this morning, with a degree of excitement and trepidation as I lathered up my Arko.

My first thought when using it was how light it was, I didn't appreciate this until I started to shave but found that because of this lightness, I began to use more downward pressure on the head. In this, it certainly shaves more closely to a cartridge than a DE - when starting DE shaving, one of the first adjustments I had to make was to not press downwards on the head. However, the converse was true with this, the head seemed too light to apply the necessary pressue to my bristle and I had apply more pressure. This was no bad thing in itself as it didn't cause any irritation.

The second thing I noticed was how audible the shave was - I could very clearly hear the blade cutting my beard with every stroke. Again nothing wrong with this, but the razor overall did not glide with the lather through my beard as I have become accustomed with my DE.

The shave overall felt a little tuggy but, and here is the key thing, it did give me an excellent shave at the end of the day. Smooth skin, no rough patches left (even around the chin area) and zero irritation afterwards. I was surprised at this as I never felt it was shaving me closely to be honest and I was even more surprised at the end when using aftershave, and there was no real sting.

I will know more as the day progresses as to how close the shave was, as the hairs start to grow back - one of the real beauties of a good DE shaving for me is how long it takes for bristles to re-appear compared to cartridges, generally I am good until late evening., so I will see how the injector compares on that score.

Overall, a surprisingly good shave for me today and hopefully, tomorrow will be even better as I get accustomed to the razor.

hitemfrank

Great feedback Buddy.

Hopefully the rest of your shaves with it go as well as the first. It will be interesting to see what you think of the razor at the end of the week.

Buddy97mm

Having used the injector for close to a week at this stage, I have had some ups and downs with the razor during this time.

My first shaves were very good, close, no irritation, notwithstanding the fact that the actual shave itself did not feel that comfortable when I was doing it. In addition, I found that even when I thought on one occassion that I might have inadvertenly nicked myself, it never led to any blood or discomfort.

When I changed the blade (after 4/5 shaves), I did run into some difficulties. The mechanism for changing is rather nifty, but, whilst it seems idiot proof, I obviously got around this somehow. When I first shaved after changing the blade, all was going fine until I felt a sliciing cut near my ear - when I looked at the razor, I saw that I somehow had managed to allow the blade to come out on one end of the razor and it had nicked my ear close to where I was shaving. Thankfully, nothing too bad, and I assume down to me rather than the razor, but disconcerting nonetheless.

My shaves with this second blade have not been as good as the first blade. They are a little less smooth, more prone to nicks and scrapes, with somewhat more discomfort afterwards. I suspect this may be down to myself rather than the razor, or perhaps I damaged the blade when it protruded from the razor.

Overall, I have greatly enjoyed using this. I'm not sure I would go out and buy an injector as a result but it has been great to experience it. Many thanks hitemfrank for the opportunity.

hitemfrank

I know what you mean about the blade changing mechanism. I did something similar but managed to catch what was wrong just before the shave. It seems if you dont hold the razor at a certain angle when changing the blade it can end up sitting on top of the tab that is supposed to hold it in place.

I found the best thing to do is to tilt the razor backwards a little when putting the blade in as it forces the blade to lie against the back of the razor head so it can't end up on top of the tab.


I should be able to tell you in the next few days who to send the razor to.

Thanks for taking part in this and at least you now know how you feel about injector razors.

Buddy97mm

After hitemfrank's last post, I decided I would check the lie of the blade in the razor. Sure enough, it seemed to be not sitting properly still, so I eased it out and tried putting it back in again. However, it still seemed not to sit under the tabs properly, so I removed it again and this time I found that there were actually two blades stuck together!!!!!

I know I did remove the old blade some days ago and put it in the bin, so I can only assume that when putting the new blade in the razor, I somehow managed to put in two blades (apologies for inadvertent use of extra blade). It may have been for past few days that one of these blades was in correct position and the other was sitting on top of tabs or perhaps both were somehow in correct position, but, in either event, I would imagine the use of both blades was hardly conducive to a good shave.

It's therefore hardly surprising that my shaves over the past days were less than comfortable with two blades (at whatever angle) rubbing against my jawline! I have now remedied this and will resume in morning with one blade, and hopefully a shave more like that I experienced with the first blade.

Whilst my attempt (?) to turn an injector into a multi-blade razor was definitely not a success, I thank my stars that at least I did not attempt to make it into a 5-blade Fusion injector!

hitemfrank

Well, I've not yet seen two blades get stuck together before. It's something I'll have to keep a look out for.

Don't worry about using the extra blade. Hopefully the next shave is better than the last few.

Buddy97mm

I would actually say the two blades "stuck" together was a byproduct of my personal ineptitude, rather than any real flaw in the blades themselves being together - I obviously somehow did not perform the blade change correctly.

I'm ultimately relieved about it though, because I could not comprehend how the shaves had deteriorated so badly, whereas I now know there was at least a reason for it; my faith in the injector is nearly restored (assuming the morning shave goes okay tomorrow).

Thanks again for opportunity to use this razor, it has been a real eye-opener and I have enjoyed it. Let me know where you want me to send it next.

hitemfrank

Yeah, I'll let you know where to send it. Just waiting on a response to a PM.

Buddy97mm

Initially attempted to use either of two blades I had put in razor this morning, but eventually tried a completely new blade (singular). Great shave again, as had been my initial experience - very discernible noise of blade on bristles, felt a little tuggy, but a very clean, close, smooth and comfortable shave. I also find that in spite of what seems like a lot of the blade being visible, this is in fact a very forgiving razor, as little nicks never turn into anything messy.

This injector is to my mind very similar to a cartridge shave, but gives a closer shave. I am very impressed, far more so than I expected (in spite of experience with two blade)

Buddy97mm

Finished with this razor last weekend, and I'd like to publicly thank hitemfrank for his generosity in sharing this beauty with me and others who partook.

It's a super little razor, a great and different shaving experience and I would strongly encourage anyone with an interest in shaving to have a go.

glic83

OK, just had my 1st shave withe the injector razor.

I found the injector razor very light in the hand compared to my De razor but at the same time has a nice feel and is in great condition.
I lathered up my face as normal and began my shave. I found I was a lot quicker than normal but wasn't rushing just seemed to be getting nice clean 1st pass and was very happy with above the jaw line.
Then came the neck, I dont know if my angle was wrong or too much pressure but the neck feels a bit raw at the min so I'll be keeping an eye on if I'm doing anything different the next time I use it. Overall very happy with the 1st effort and looking forward to the next shave.

hitemfrank

Have you had any more shaves with the injector glic? How are you getting on with it?

glic83

Yeah have been getting better with it ,just had a shave a few mins ago and the progression from the 1st shave to now has been a steady improvement. Neck feels good after a shave compared to the 1st shave. Overall its been a great experience and I'm loving the real side of shaving since I left behind the days of the mach 3, and the injector razor was a lovely addition to the various other shaving options out there. Is there anyone else on the list?

hitemfrank

No one else is on the list to use it at the moment unfortunately. Hang onto it for another week and if no one else shows interest you can post it back to me.

glic83

Shame really as it is a lovely razor to use

hitemfrank

Anyone else interested in trying out the injector?

CJC86

I'd love to try one at some point, but I just have too many DE razors to work my way through first.

hitemfrank

Ok, no worries. Send me a PM when you fancy giving it a try.