What are the worst DE razor(s) you've ever tried and why?

[Rosseforp]

Paying $400 in little increments (several razors) is less noticeable than paying $400 in one shot (Wolfman).
We've been doing it right my friend

I guess I'm just a glutten for punishment.

I only have one Wolfman, so far, and I'm still trying out new razors. After my Wolf showed up, which I do love by the way, I got a Vector and a Van Der Hagen, and I'm still looking at vintage razors.

As far as worst razor that would have to be my Vikings Blade Chieftain. After about two weeks of online research 4 years ago, which didn't include B&B, I ordered amazon's top razor and was immediately underwhelmed by the experience. Next was the Feather Popular, a Razorock DE1, then my Special Edition Piccolo.

I PIF'd the Chieftain a couple of years later after giving it a couple more tries and still getting lousy shaves from it.

~doug~

 

[LRod]

I only have one Wolfman, so far, and I'm still trying out new razors. After my Wolf showed up, which I do love by the way, I got a Vector and a Van Der Hagen, and I'm still looking at vintage razors.

And you told me: "Just get a Wolfman"
Like if that helps any, hahahaha!!
I get a Wolfman and I'd still be buying like you, Lol!!
This only stops when you run out of funds!
And probably not even then because you'll then sell one to buy another

 

[LRod]

What IS it about the human brane that can easily justify wasting money on 20, $20 purchases, but can't possibly justify the purchase of 1, $400+ item...... all of which, all 21, do the same thing?

Setting aside the financial aspect of it:
20 definitely looks cooler than 1 in the den, Lol!!

 

[Rosseforp]

Setting aside the financial aspect of it:
20 definitely looks cooler than 1 in the den, Lol!!

Ah, my Wolf has plenty of company.

~doug~

 

[Guido75]

Ah, my Wolf has plenty of company.

View attachment 1499955View attachment 1499956View attachment 1499957

~doug~

Took my a couple of seconds to realise the last picture read with a mirror . I thought man that’s a lot!

And you just had to show your spare handles didn’t you?!

Guido

 

[Guido75]

My worst razor was just a razor head. A R41 clone from probably China. After two shaves I got the R41.

In response to earlier posts I have had great shaves with the Flatboy. One of my most fun razors (with standard M5 threading by the way). I find the audio feedback providing great guidance to adjust to the right angle. Will be shaving with it tomorrow morning…correction…in a couple of hours.

Cheers,

Guido

 

[BradWorld]

Haha … that adequately describes my journey.

Me too! I tried everything. Then got a Wolfman. Game over.

 

[Jack Goossen]

I feel the same way about Wolfman Razors. It took me 100 plus razors before I got the confidence to pay for a Wolfman. If I had gotten one a few years sooner, it would have saved me from buying dozens and dozens of lessor razors. And saved me a lot of time and money.

Makes me wonder, Brad.... did you stop buying razors after you got your Wolfie

 

[Beefdrippings]

Very similar experience here. I own three Slims and though I desperately wanted to, just could not get along with any of them. I have a ‘59 Fatboy that works way better for me.

Gillette Slim (I believe 1964). The razor seemed to be in proper working order, but I just could not get a decent shave with it, even turned all the way up to 9. It left patches of stubble and I had irritation. Very underwhelmed by the quality of shaves I got from it. I was surprised because of all the love lavished on this razor. Not for me, I guess.

 

[BradWorld]

Makes me wonder, Brad.... did you stop buying razors after you got your Wolfie

No. I just buy more Wolfmans now.

 

[Trollky]

In the years I've been DE shaving I've enjoyed many razors and disliked plenty of others. If memory serves, the dodgiest of the lot were:

Parker 96R - the worst butterfly razor I've ever had the misfortune to shave with.

Blackland Dart - to say this razor was "blade forward" would be an understatement!

Any Merkur open comb razor - WAY too mild.

Edwin Jagger DE89 - I've had 3 and all of them provided shaves as rough as a badger's arse...

Blackland Blackbird - pronounced blade exposure on one side, none on the other side.

 

[Quaznoid]

Weishi 9306. Doesn’t shave at all. Like it has no blade in it

 

[ercy]

The worst razor I've ever used was Rocnel SE-P. It was an unbalanced, unnecessarily heavy razor. Huge head design was really bad. It was hard and unsafe to load and remove the blade.
Qshave and Mingshi futur clones were bad. I had a Merkur Futur and i cannot say it is a bad razor but aggressive. I just did not like the clones' shaving performance.
My biggest dissapointments were Merkur 34C and 34G. I really wanted to like them but i could not get a satisfiying shave.

 

[Dennis Trigubetz]

The Merkur Vision 2000.

It's way too heavy, cumbersome, and unwieldly, especially if one has arthritic hands. If stored with the doors firmly closed it may freeze up and be impossible to open. It's a high maintenance adjustable razor that doesn't get along well with hard water and mineral deposits. There are legitimate reasons why Merkur discontinued it.

But on the other side of the coin, it's unique in design and appearance. And it's also a very good shaver! I dearly love the razor and would never sell it.

A guy from Greece has one up on eBay for $399.99. plus shipping and sales tax. Its condition is OK except he had the cute idea to carve hin name "George" on the handle. He's from that fake negotiating school whereby he says he's had higher offers when you make him a decent offer. Of course his item has been unsold for months just like other razor sellers.

A guy in Fresno CA has one listed on Facebook for months at $300 but won't ship!

 

[Jay21]

Parker 96R. It was my first DE razor and made me put DE razors aside for over seven years. It was that bad.

 

[Chaucer]

This thread is really interesting. It dramatizes the sheer number of DE razor choices we have and the highly varied reactions to the more popular ones. FWIW, here are the DEs that really, really didn't work for me:

Too harsh
Gillette New
Holy Black slant (by another name)
ATT S1 & S2 slant in aluminum (but fabulous in SS--go figure)
PAA bakelite ( I forget which one)
Too mild
Feather AS-D1 & AS-D2
Muhle R89
Just wrong
Merkur HD

iI've tried but ended up selling or trading others, including a Pils, several vintage Gillettes, an iKon 102, and an ATT Windsor. But these were all closer cases.

 

[AJMiami]

Muhle 2011 R41, A Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy's Revenge

 

[Dennis Trigubetz]

After thinking about it I have only one more razor to add. The Blackland ERA with #5 plates in SB and OC. I could not get a close shave with either plate, and to my taste found it very uninspiring to look at. Kind of like kissing my sister.

I have both the Blackbird with the SB and OC plates and the Vector SB which are both great razors.

In the price range of the ERA, my Game Changer .84 SB and my Karve CB brass with various SB and OC plates offer me far better shaves.

My Era razor is slightly wobbly in its dedicated stand; I found to my delight that my Rocnel SE 50 fits in the Era stand with less wobble due to its weight.

 

[Manye]

Wahl Adjustable - Merkur Futur clone
Feather Popular
Stank! Gave them both away

 

[noodles hovar]

Just sent a Shark DE ($6.99! with 2 tucks of Shark blades) back to Amazon. You don't feel some razors because they are amazingly smooth. I didn't feel this one because it didn't cut any whiskers!