It was sitting in the glass counter at my local thrift store. The long blue textured handle, and adorable starbursts called me over to look at it. I pondered it while I searched for vintage pyrex. The starbursts were just too much for me to resists. I had to have this in my collection. Then reality hit me like a ton of bricks. What on earth was I going to do with a razor from the early 60s. Upon getting my lovely lady home I did some research. I found out that it was a  Gillette Ladies Safety Razor from about 1963-65. More importantly I found out how i could still use it.

The First thing I thought of was, How on earth was this thing called a "safety" razor. I mean My venus had wire wrapped blades to prevent nics. The blade on my safety razor was just a double sided razor. There were 3 blades on my venus to this model's singular blade. As a die hard fan of the Gillette venus let me tell you I was more than a bit skeptical of this throw back razor, and the clames that safety razor fans made. I ordered a pack of razors from Amazon. Boy was I wrong about more blades being better.  My legs have never felt smoother. I get such a close shave I can go an extra day between shaving now. Yes, it takes me about 3-5 minutes longer then i did with my venus and I did nick myself a few times along the way. But like with winged eyeliner or victory rolls practices does make perfect.

If that not enough to convince you this retro tip is worthy of a spot in your modern life... Lets talk about cost. You know you are suppose to change them once a week. How many of you do? It is understandable if you don't. The cost of a 3 pack of venus razors is 20.00! That 6.60 a blade! I can think of a lot better ways to spend 340 dollars a year then on razor blades. (for example this, this, or this) I am sure you can too. An 8.00 box of blades (100 count) will last me a little over 4 months. I change my blade about every other shave. Still not convinced?

Let's get perfectly modern and talk about the environmental impact of our cartridge razors. It's estimated that over 2 billions of those things end up in landfills a year. That is crazy!  Think of all that plastic leaking toxic back into the soil, and all of that metal that could be recycled into new blades. With a homemade tin can blade depository (that I can gladly show you how to make) you can recycle those blades so they don't end up in a landfill.

How can you get your hands on such a lovely relic from the past? well ebay, etsy, or thrift your own. Just Search for Saftey razor. Lots of sellers don't know they have a lady razor when they are selling them. Gillette made 4 colors of the Lady Gillette, Pink, Yellow (often called champagne), Blue and Dark Blue.

So now that you have this lovely functional relic how do you use it. Just like you would any razor. My tips would be to make sure you get a good lather with your shaving cream. If you want to get super retro you could always go for lavendar shaving soap and a shaving brush. Takes longer but makes the whole process seem a bit more luxurious. Take slow short strokes and work from ankle to hip. Slowly at first, but with practices you will get faster.

Once you get into the swing of things, you'll wonder why people ever swtiched to cartriage razors to begin with. A safety razor makes a great gift for that man in your life. It was infact the first christmas present I gave to my boyfriend. He's become completely obessed too. I hope that this has opened your eyes to the wonderful world of vintage safety razors. If you have any questions please feel free to ask! I am always delighted to chat about brands of razors or shaving soap.