I almost bought a Parker Variant, but held off because it was a bit pricey for a razor I knew nothing about. It looks like an all-metal Merkur Progress, but with knurled handle. Anyone know anything about it?
I had a new batch black handle. The coating pealed, but Howi and Helen instantly made it right. Great people. I'm going to do a series of side by side tests. I've done one against the Futur, and I'm not especially impressed with the Variant, but the jury is still out. So far I like my Mergress more, and I even prefer the Futur. I find the Variant rather heavy and a little clunky, but as I've said I'm going to do more extensive testing. It's in my rotation, but I very much doubt it's the Holy Grail of DE shaving, or even of adjustable DE razors.I almost bought a Parker Variant, but held off because it was a bit pricey for a razor I knew nothing about. It looks like an all-metal Merkur Progress, but with knurled handle. Anyone know anything about it?
2 months in. Can't use anything else. This thing really hums with a feather blade. I mean, you don't think it is shaving, but Voila - BBS shave
Nice!Parker reintroduced the black razor this week, but they are now calling it "Graphite". I spoke with Howi earlier in the week and he explained the new finish for all black razors is new being applied with electroplating and it is a metal finish - applied just like the chrome plating. He said Parker stopped selling the black razors several weeks back until they could change the process and that anyone that had an issue received a replacement if they contacted him or the vendor they purchased from. (He exchanged my black variant as it did start to show a bit of brass). He explained previous versions of the black variant had a powder coating finish and that anyone that had a black variant and had an issue had their variants replaced free of charge. NOW THE GOOD NEWS. My "Graphite" Variant arrived this morning. The finish is beautiful and extremely uniform and high quality. I can see that the finish is drastically different than on my first Variant.. it is also more of a "graphite" color, not jet black - I think it is an improvement. Best of all the shave was the same as with my old Variant - Amazing. I want to thank Howi, Super Safety Razors and Parker for standing by the product.
I just got the Graphite Version! Thank you for posting this, was reading all the previous post and was getting worried mine would start fading. Take this guys advice the Graphite color is very nice!Parker reintroduced the black razor this week, but they are now calling it "Graphite". I spoke with Howi earlier in the week and he explained the new finish for all black razors is new being applied with electroplating and it is a metal finish - applied just like the chrome plating. He said Parker stopped selling the black razors several weeks back until they could change the process and that anyone that had an issue received a replacement if they contacted him or the vendor they purchased from. (He exchanged my black variant as it did start to show a bit of brass). He explained previous versions of the black variant had a powder coating finish and that anyone that had a black variant and had an issue had their variants replaced free of charge. NOW THE GOOD NEWS. My "Graphite" Variant arrived this morning. The finish is beautiful and extremely uniform and high quality. I can see that the finish is drastically different than on my first Variant.. it is also more of a "graphite" color, not jet black - I think it is an improvement. Best of all the shave was the same as with my old Variant - Amazing. I want to thank Howi, Super Safety Razors and Parker for standing by the product.