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Maxwell June Review. First Shave
My razor arrived today and I examined the packaging. The packaging appears to be environmentally friendly from the cardboard box to the twine used to keep the razor in place. It fits with the manufacturer's theme of reduced unrecyclable waste. Here is a photo.
I purchased the "starter kit" which includes everything you see here. The razor head and handle, the guard/insert, the press (3 pieces), a blade disposal tin and inside the tin a tuck of Astra SP blades.
I carefully examined the razor. I have corresponded with Maxwell June founder, Robert Glenn, and he told me that the razor head had some slight imperfections and that he would send me a replacement razor head when they were back in stock. I didn't see any blemishes on the razor so I will be keeping it. It appears to me that the manufacturer really pays attention to the details and is interested in customer satisfaction and will make things right if there is a problem. These are the kinds of people that I enjoy doing business with. I decided to load a Wizamet blade that was 7 shaves old just to see what happened when I went to remove the blade. Blade loading was quick and easy. When I went to remove the guard/insert like the video shows by hand I couldn't get a good grip on it so I used the press to remove the guard insert. It came out easily. It appears that the tight fit is what holds the blade in place and keeps it from shifting during use. The blade had snapped into two pieces, one wider than the other and basically fell out. Picking up those two little slivers of blades made me nervous of cutting myself but I managed with no blood loss. I think this razor would really benefit from a feature on the Winning Razor which is a magnet embedded at the bottom of the handle to make picking up those blade slivers easier.
After that I loaded a new Gillette Nacet blade as I wanted a really sharp blade to give this razor an opportunity for it's best showing. Nacets are also a blade that I have found to be pretty unforgiving, causing me blood loss if I am off of my game in a typical DE safety razor. The blade sits fairly deeply in the press so it doesn't give much wiggle room for blade misalignment during loading.
I Pressed the Nacet blade into the razor. Once again the bload loading was quick and easy. It appears to me that the blade gap on the lower blade is very narrow but larger for the upper blade.
In my correspondence with Robert he stated that their target market is users coming from wet shaving with cartridge razors. With that in mind I decided like I did most of my 40 years as a cartridge razor shaver. I used canned goo, Edge shaving gel, warmed up in my Conair lather heater. I believe that most people coming from cartridge razors probably use canned goo. I timed my shave to see if there was a significant time savings.
First Shave Rating 10/10 BBS Time 20 minutes
I tried to approach the shave as a cartridge shaver. For the most part I probably used too little pressure. That is from my DE shaving experience. At times I did intentionally apply pressure that I never would with a DE razor. I had no weepers or irritation. The razor does give good audible feedback. If the angle is wrong it just doesn't cut. I struggled a little with razor angle. The handle needs to be close to a 45 degree angle and I am used to a much steeper angle. New razor new techniques required. I liked the audible feedback and I did have to do a lot of blade buffing to take my stubble down. You know when the razor is quiet it is time to move to another area. I did XTG one way and XTG the other. When I was a cartridge shave that is all I used to do. I could have stopped there with a CCS/DFS but I did my usual ATG and I achieved BBS. This is not an aggressive razor but for me, getting to BBS took more blade buffing/ razor strokes than I normally do. Once again could be I need to develop a better technique for this razor. Skin stretching definitely helps. I wet my face beforie applying canned goo for each pass but I forgot for my final pass so the lather was thick and clingy. It took a little more work to rinse the head clean when the lather was too thick. Once I was done I skipped the alum (never used it when I shaved with cartridges) but I did follow up with Captain's Choice Venture aftershave. There was some minor feedback with the aftershave in my trouble spots where it took more attention (I experience the same with all razors) but it is not to be confused with irritation as I had no irritation. I felt the handle was a little thin and the whole razor is much lighter than I am used to but I had no issues with gripping the razor and never felt like it might slip from my grasp. Feeling my face now an hour and half later it is as smooth as a porpoise's skin and I feel no razor burn.
This razor is easy on your skin. It would make a great choice for any shaver but I think those coming from cartridge razors would appreciate it most. If I had a teen shaver in my house this is the razor I would get them. Since the head doesn't pivot it also teaches the importance of maintaining the proper angle which is a good skill to learn if moving on to a typical DE razor. I will be using it more with different razor blades. I felt like my time of 20 minutes is a good 5 to 10 minutes quicker than my normal shave routine with a DE razor using shaving soap, bowl and brush.
My razor arrived today and I examined the packaging. The packaging appears to be environmentally friendly from the cardboard box to the twine used to keep the razor in place. It fits with the manufacturer's theme of reduced unrecyclable waste. Here is a photo.
I purchased the "starter kit" which includes everything you see here. The razor head and handle, the guard/insert, the press (3 pieces), a blade disposal tin and inside the tin a tuck of Astra SP blades.
I carefully examined the razor. I have corresponded with Maxwell June founder, Robert Glenn, and he told me that the razor head had some slight imperfections and that he would send me a replacement razor head when they were back in stock. I didn't see any blemishes on the razor so I will be keeping it. It appears to me that the manufacturer really pays attention to the details and is interested in customer satisfaction and will make things right if there is a problem. These are the kinds of people that I enjoy doing business with. I decided to load a Wizamet blade that was 7 shaves old just to see what happened when I went to remove the blade. Blade loading was quick and easy. When I went to remove the guard/insert like the video shows by hand I couldn't get a good grip on it so I used the press to remove the guard insert. It came out easily. It appears that the tight fit is what holds the blade in place and keeps it from shifting during use. The blade had snapped into two pieces, one wider than the other and basically fell out. Picking up those two little slivers of blades made me nervous of cutting myself but I managed with no blood loss. I think this razor would really benefit from a feature on the Winning Razor which is a magnet embedded at the bottom of the handle to make picking up those blade slivers easier.
After that I loaded a new Gillette Nacet blade as I wanted a really sharp blade to give this razor an opportunity for it's best showing. Nacets are also a blade that I have found to be pretty unforgiving, causing me blood loss if I am off of my game in a typical DE safety razor. The blade sits fairly deeply in the press so it doesn't give much wiggle room for blade misalignment during loading.
I Pressed the Nacet blade into the razor. Once again the bload loading was quick and easy. It appears to me that the blade gap on the lower blade is very narrow but larger for the upper blade.
In my correspondence with Robert he stated that their target market is users coming from wet shaving with cartridge razors. With that in mind I decided like I did most of my 40 years as a cartridge razor shaver. I used canned goo, Edge shaving gel, warmed up in my Conair lather heater. I believe that most people coming from cartridge razors probably use canned goo. I timed my shave to see if there was a significant time savings.
First Shave Rating 10/10 BBS Time 20 minutes
I tried to approach the shave as a cartridge shaver. For the most part I probably used too little pressure. That is from my DE shaving experience. At times I did intentionally apply pressure that I never would with a DE razor. I had no weepers or irritation. The razor does give good audible feedback. If the angle is wrong it just doesn't cut. I struggled a little with razor angle. The handle needs to be close to a 45 degree angle and I am used to a much steeper angle. New razor new techniques required. I liked the audible feedback and I did have to do a lot of blade buffing to take my stubble down. You know when the razor is quiet it is time to move to another area. I did XTG one way and XTG the other. When I was a cartridge shave that is all I used to do. I could have stopped there with a CCS/DFS but I did my usual ATG and I achieved BBS. This is not an aggressive razor but for me, getting to BBS took more blade buffing/ razor strokes than I normally do. Once again could be I need to develop a better technique for this razor. Skin stretching definitely helps. I wet my face beforie applying canned goo for each pass but I forgot for my final pass so the lather was thick and clingy. It took a little more work to rinse the head clean when the lather was too thick. Once I was done I skipped the alum (never used it when I shaved with cartridges) but I did follow up with Captain's Choice Venture aftershave. There was some minor feedback with the aftershave in my trouble spots where it took more attention (I experience the same with all razors) but it is not to be confused with irritation as I had no irritation. I felt the handle was a little thin and the whole razor is much lighter than I am used to but I had no issues with gripping the razor and never felt like it might slip from my grasp. Feeling my face now an hour and half later it is as smooth as a porpoise's skin and I feel no razor burn.
This razor is easy on your skin. It would make a great choice for any shaver but I think those coming from cartridge razors would appreciate it most. If I had a teen shaver in my house this is the razor I would get them. Since the head doesn't pivot it also teaches the importance of maintaining the proper angle which is a good skill to learn if moving on to a typical DE razor. I will be using it more with different razor blades. I felt like my time of 20 minutes is a good 5 to 10 minutes quicker than my normal shave routine with a DE razor using shaving soap, bowl and brush.
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