Product Review: Gillette Good News! Disposable Razors

Remember that old ad slogan for The Gillette Company... "The best a man can get!" I can't remember when it first aired or even how long it did air, but I'm here to tell you that after more than 30 years of daily shaving, I'm still convinced that Gillette razors are the best that I can get. Considering the company's product line and its 100+ year history, it's nice to know that my favorite blade will most likely be around throughout my next 30 years! Yes... them thar Gillettes are that good!

My first experience with a Gillette was on June 16, 1975... at 4:30 a.m. Chicago time. How can I recall that little factoid? Simple... it was my first morning of Navy Boot Camp, when I and a lot of other 18-year-old boys with "peach fuzz" found out that shaving was a required part of our new life. We were issued a three-pack of Gillette "Good News!" razors along with a starter can of Gillette "Foamy" shaving cream (how's that for ingenious marketing!) and for most of us, that three-pack lasted for nearly half of our entire 9-week tour at Great Lakes Recruit Training Center. I suppose part of the reason for the longevity of those razors was because our beards hadn't developed enough by that age to get to that "stubble" effect, but I think a better reason those disposable blades lasted so long was the simple and obvious fact that they just didn't get dull after one or two (or three or four or five) shaves.

I've tried other brands of disposables... mainly when I was in a pinch and thought I could save a few bucks going with a cheaper alternative. I even used an electric razor for a brief time, but I never got the satisfaction from that or other disposable blades that I have always gotten from the Gillette products. Even the "look-alikes" that beg you to "Compare to Good News! brand" really offer no comparison at all.