By the time Schick launched the final version of its legendary “injector”, the Type O in 1999, the death knell for single-blade razors as “mass” items had already been tolling for some years. Multi-blade cartridge razors were already well-established in market leadership, and single-blade razors were becoming specialty items (lucky us!).

The Schick injector, a Type L, was my first personal razor when I started shaving around 14 in 1967. It wasn’t the first razor that I shaved with. That was a Gillette Red Tip that had belonged to my father who had died some 6 years earlier. My mother had used it to shave her legs and when I took my first shave with that baby and its unknown-age blade, I must have looked like something out of a horror movie…blood everywhere. I immediately went out and bought that first Schick L and never looked back at DE shaving…it was a great razor, easy to maneuver, and producing a nice smooth result.

I now own several Schick injectors, a 1940’s model, another “L”, and the Type O. The Type O came with a twin blade, a too-little-too-late attempt by Schick to stem the tide of shavers moving to cartridge razors. But I must say, it produces a great shave. Almost as carefree as a Fusion, but still producing a “real” shave, i.e. one where the bade actually shaves the beard rather than pulling it out and cutting it (beard hysteresis as the latter phenomenon is called, and the basis for all multi-blade cartridge shaving).

My understanding is that the Type O is still sold in Japan. They fetch a pretty sum on eBay these days.