New stainless steel safety razor!

I changed from cartridge razors to double edged safety razors a couple months ago due to price and how it takes so much to shave with cartridge razors due to clogging and needing so many passes to cut hair.  I started inexpensive with a cheap Weishi brand razor and a bit later bought a 1940s Gillette Tech razor.  I needed more weight due to shaving my scalp, so I picked up a Minotaur brand.  I’ve used that one for a couple months with many brands of blades to test.  I finally settled.

I decided it’s time to go luxury, so after exhaustive research and testing of blades I went with a Japanese brand… Feather.  Their blades are a bit more expensive but are amazingly accurate and sharp.  I used it on my Minotaur and I didn’t even get one nick on my scalp.

I’ve also decided to go with their razor, as well… The AS-D2 model.  They are a lot more expensive than ordinary razors, but with as much hair as I remove from my body (head, face) on a daily basis I believe it’s worth every penny.

After handling many varieties of razor, when pulling this one out it felt solid.  Not super heavy though it’s a good weight, but the stainless steel body feels like its indestructible.  The slots in the head hold the blade perfectly with no need to align.

 

The blade sits in the head in a very mild fashion.  This makes shaving with the Feather AS-D2 razor a whole new world.

I used this razor for the first time tonight, and I’ll be honest I’m in love.  Using the Feather brand razor blades that came with the razor, I shaved my head and my face after lathering with shaving soap.  The first thing I noticed as the angle of shaving is much steeper (45+ degrees), so steep it’s almost like shaving with a cartridge razor.  The next thing I noticed was the almost effortless feeling it was to shave with this.  Unlike the other safety razors I’ve used, I did not feel any of the razor tracing along my skin and hair was just disappearing off my scalp.  Granted, I washed the blade very often.  I also noticed that I didn’t need to be so cautious about the razor runs and doing random cleanup traces here and there.  After my first pass, I was able to re-lather my head and wet my other hand to feel along my head for any hair spots to shave them down.

Without any effort, my scalp is baby butt smooth.  Of course my face is as well, but I don’t have a thick beard or anything so it’s just touch-up.
I really wish I had put out the extra cash and bought the Feather AS-D2 razor before.  I know why I didn’t, as I was new to safety razor use and learning.  I’m extremely happy.

EDIT 4/5/2016
I have tried several different razor blade brands with the Feather brand razor, so far.  The brands I have tried so far are:

• Feather
• Voskhod
• Gillette Silver Blue

Since I’ve only had the razor for 5 days, that’s more razors than I’d normally use.  I put 3-5 shaves through a blade, normally.  I would normally choose Voskhod as my selection, but with this razor the Feather brand works beautifully smooth!  There is a surprisingly huge difference between Feather brand razor blades and the rest of the brands so far, when used with this Feather AS-D2 razor.  The cuts are smooth, and sometimes I just can’t tell it’s cutting until I see the hair disappearing.  It definitely has a sharp edge though, and is to be respected.

EDIT 4/12/2016
I ordered another set of razors to try out, and I’m actually happily surprised by these.  I picked up a 100 pack of SuperMax Blue Diamond titanium coated double edged razors from eBay for $11.44 (free shipping, from Turkey).  Made in India, distributed by a business in the UK.

They came in a dispenser box full of 5-pack razor paks.  I tried them out tonight, and surprisingly it felt just a little bit less smooth then Feather brand but very close!  I shaved my scalp with 1 day of growth, so I’m going to leave the hair grow for 2 days to see what the quality is.  With Feather razors, even with 3-4 days of growth I just need to make sure it’s lathered well and it carves right through without skin irritation.

Let’s see how the SuperMax do with that much of a workload.  To be continued in 2 days…

EDIT 4/14/2016
After 2 days of hair growth, I tried out the SuperMax Blue Diamond razor again.  It feels almost as smooth as the Feather razor blade (almost…), but it wasn’t nearly as sharp.  It took 3 passes plus touch up with the SuperMax, while Feather brand usually has touch up on the 3rd pass.  It’s still a respectable blade, and I’ll continue to use it when I’m not using Feather, Voskhod, and other brands.

The next blade I’ll be testing is Rapira Platinum Lux which I purchased recently.

EDIT 4/16/2016

I used the Rapira platinum lux razor blade tonight, and honestly I wasn’t impressed by it.

Sure, it was smooth in the respect that it didn’t dig in and cause cuts, but it wasn’t sharp at all.  I did 3 passes, and even with touch up after the 3 passes I wasn’t able to get baby butt smooth skin on my scalp.  It worked great on my face, but then again that doesn’t require a great razor to do.