RAD took hold... quick and strong

RAD
Function: acronym

Razor Acquisition Disorder

I'm a sucker for cool stuff, and if I get a hankering for somethin' I tend to go overboard. I'm a big time gadget geek and also a compulsive spender (unfortunately for my wallet/finances).

I immediately started out with two razors: A used 1954 Gillette Super Speed (in great condition); and a brand new Merkur Vision 2000. These only seemed to whet my appetite as I began to see all of the different vintage razors out there on the forums and then on eBay. I love vintage stuff anyway, and the whole Double Edge wet shaving experience is a blast from the past, so why NOT have some old razors from the era?


Well, after looking at many different razors that are out there and available, I fell in love with the Gillette Fat Boy. I placed a bid on one that a guy from one of the shaving boards was selling on eBay, but it wouldn't end for like 4 days (I'm impatient). I fairly quickly got outbid and I didn't want to go over my maximum... so I looked around and found one in possibly better shape that also came in the original case and the case was also in better shape that the other I was looking at. This auction ended sooner, so I put in my same bid. I then saw a guy raising my bid, but didn't go over my high bid yet. I also continued to look around at what else was available and found another Fat Boy in very good condition, without the case though, and the bidding was ending very soon... minutes even. I figured I would probably lose the one with the case, so I decided to snipe this one and see if I got it. I sniped it with the same maximum bid as the other with only 30 seconds to go and I WON it! ... Uh oh... I was still winning the other one. This one cost me close to my maximum on the other one. I hadn't wanted to spend that much money, but I figured I could turn around and sell it if I needed/wanted to.

As I was looking, I found another Gillette that I had interest in... the Gillette Super Speed Red Tip. This has a much beefier handle, like the Fat Boy, but no adjustments. It had NO bidders, was in decent shape (obviously some wear though), and was starting at $0.99. I figured I would pay up to $10 for it and the auction was ending around the same time as the other Fat Boy. So I put in $10 as my maximum and left the rest, on both, to fate. Well, someone bumped me up to $8.25, but I won it... I ALSO won the other Fat Boy (mixed emotions), and for less than the first one I won.

I already got the first Fat Boy I won. It IS in good shape! I haven't used it yet because I thought I might turn around and sell it, but the one person I was interested in trading it with for a 1972 razor (my birth year) didn't want it. I then thought about it for a moment and decided that, if I do like the Fat Boy, having two might be a really great thing! I can take one on my travels and not worry so much about the possibility of it getting stolen. At the same time, I'm VERY interested in getting my wife into DE wet shaving, and she might like the Fat Boy too.

The other Fat Boy with its case, and the SS Red Tip should arrive in the mail on Monday, so I'm anxious to see what they look like. Hopefully the Red Tip isn't in too bad of shape. There were a share of hi-res pictures, but they weren't all in focus and there was an annoying orange light, like an auto-focus light, and that made it difficult to see just how good of shape it was in. It may have been intentional to hide rusting and brassing, but other pictures of the same sides without the orange light but further distance didn't appear to show any of those signs.

Anyway, now I own 5 DE razors after only starting a week and a half ago. YIKES! I think I just hit the brakes and my next razor purchase will be a 1972 razor in really good/excellent shape. ;-)