First, major thank you to Poonjaji for this passaround! It's great to try this and not have to buy it blindly!
Received the razor Saturday evening and tried it out before work (I work nights).
- Soap: Bufflehead Updog
- Brush: Semogue 620
- Blade: Personna (0)
- Razor: Supply Provisions Single Edge with three dot plate
- Post: Dapper Dragon Signature Scale Polish
I must say, I find this razor very visually appealing. The finish looks great and the design makes it look sleek. My only nit would be that I wish the different plate dots were more obvious, perhaps colored or something.
In hand, this is a very hefty razor, one of the heaviest, if not the heaviest, that I've handled. I'm a bit on the fence about the weight, mostly because of how my hand gravitated to holding it lower on the grip, feeling like it could slide right out of my hand when rinsing. It looks like the machining on the head where it covers the blade was a bit off when it was made..? It seems to have a bit of a "smile" at the ends and perhaps a little uneven in the middle.
Changing the plates is fairly easy and straightforward; remove the screw, remove the plate, drop another one on and screw it down. I do have large hands so loosening/tightening the screw wasn't overly easy but I could do it easily enough. One has to be aware that the screw is probably easy to drop and lose, especially if changing plates by the sink. I've heard that Supply will sell the screws at cost but it'd be nice to see them for sale on the website without having to ask since it'd be a good reminder to pick up spares before you wind up needing them.
Once the plate is screwed down, I did notice a small bit of play in the plate, allowing it to move very slightly. I'm not sure if this is part of the V1 problem or not. At any rate, it was enough to allow a fingernail to slide the blade out even when the screw was tight.
Loading the razor with a fresh blade went a little weird. At first, the new blade started sliding in sideways over the existing blade and poking out over the guard. Second try, it started to slide in perfectly except it was going over the old blade (this is a known issue with the V1) On the third try, it lined up perfectly and ejected the old blade.
I never expect a perfect shave when using a razor for the first time as it can take a few times to find the perfect angle. While I can get a two pass BBS shave on some of my vintage injectors, this one needed a third pass to have BBS in most areas but left a very small amount of stubble in a few spots; I can barely feel it and it isn't visible. Hopefully I can dial in the angle in the next few days for a better comparison. It is worth noting that the small head design worked great in tight spots like under the nose and I had no issues there.
Shaving my head, however, was a different story. For some reason, it would shave fine on the sides of the blade and leave hair in the middle of the pass. I literally would be left with a strip of hair after making a pass, like the middle part of the blade didn't come in contact. I can't explain it or fathom why; I don't have little valleys on my head and I've never experienced this before. I could see it happening on the sides of the razor but not the middle. This issue was pretty pronounced and I was left with little "corn rows" all over my head. A second pass (usually not necessary on my head with a vintage injector) did a better job cleaning up but some extra cleanup was still necessary to remove all of the rows that were left behind.
All in all, it was a pretty good first shave. With more use, I'm certain I'd find that sweet spot and get a feel for how to hold the razor without fear of dropping it. I look forward to trying the two dot plate out and seeing how efficient it is.
Received the razor Saturday evening and tried it out before work (I work nights).
- Soap: Bufflehead Updog
- Brush: Semogue 620
- Blade: Personna (0)
- Razor: Supply Provisions Single Edge with three dot plate
- Post: Dapper Dragon Signature Scale Polish
I must say, I find this razor very visually appealing. The finish looks great and the design makes it look sleek. My only nit would be that I wish the different plate dots were more obvious, perhaps colored or something.
In hand, this is a very hefty razor, one of the heaviest, if not the heaviest, that I've handled. I'm a bit on the fence about the weight, mostly because of how my hand gravitated to holding it lower on the grip, feeling like it could slide right out of my hand when rinsing. It looks like the machining on the head where it covers the blade was a bit off when it was made..? It seems to have a bit of a "smile" at the ends and perhaps a little uneven in the middle.
Changing the plates is fairly easy and straightforward; remove the screw, remove the plate, drop another one on and screw it down. I do have large hands so loosening/tightening the screw wasn't overly easy but I could do it easily enough. One has to be aware that the screw is probably easy to drop and lose, especially if changing plates by the sink. I've heard that Supply will sell the screws at cost but it'd be nice to see them for sale on the website without having to ask since it'd be a good reminder to pick up spares before you wind up needing them.
Once the plate is screwed down, I did notice a small bit of play in the plate, allowing it to move very slightly. I'm not sure if this is part of the V1 problem or not. At any rate, it was enough to allow a fingernail to slide the blade out even when the screw was tight.
Loading the razor with a fresh blade went a little weird. At first, the new blade started sliding in sideways over the existing blade and poking out over the guard. Second try, it started to slide in perfectly except it was going over the old blade (this is a known issue with the V1) On the third try, it lined up perfectly and ejected the old blade.
I never expect a perfect shave when using a razor for the first time as it can take a few times to find the perfect angle. While I can get a two pass BBS shave on some of my vintage injectors, this one needed a third pass to have BBS in most areas but left a very small amount of stubble in a few spots; I can barely feel it and it isn't visible. Hopefully I can dial in the angle in the next few days for a better comparison. It is worth noting that the small head design worked great in tight spots like under the nose and I had no issues there.
Shaving my head, however, was a different story. For some reason, it would shave fine on the sides of the blade and leave hair in the middle of the pass. I literally would be left with a strip of hair after making a pass, like the middle part of the blade didn't come in contact. I can't explain it or fathom why; I don't have little valleys on my head and I've never experienced this before. I could see it happening on the sides of the razor but not the middle. This issue was pretty pronounced and I was left with little "corn rows" all over my head. A second pass (usually not necessary on my head with a vintage injector) did a better job cleaning up but some extra cleanup was still necessary to remove all of the rows that were left behind.
All in all, it was a pretty good first shave. With more use, I'm certain I'd find that sweet spot and get a feel for how to hold the razor without fear of dropping it. I look forward to trying the two dot plate out and seeing how efficient it is.
