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Yaqi Razors review

Dear fellow shavers,

As many of you may know, I’m getting my brother and parents into more traditional shaving products. My brother has gotten a Wilkinson Sword classic (plastic) razor I got him, and all three have soaps and brushes I’ve gotten them, but I figured that they could all use some well built safety razors. So, as some of you also probably know from other reviews I’ve done, I’ve had a LOT of success with Yaqi, so I figured that with the new, really nice looking razors they’ve got, I’d check them out and then gift them to the three of them. So I got these razors and have tested each of them out to make sure I was giving good stuff to them. All three of these razors have the same head, so they all shave the same, but I used each one 4 times just to make sure everything is right.

First, I’ll give you the links for the razors in case you want to check out the specs or whatever.

US $21.88 | Yaqi Blue Color Brass Heavy Handle Wet Safety Razor
US $25.86 | Yaqi Chrome And Black Color Brass Heavy Handle Wet Safety Razor
US $25.86 | Yaqi Chrome Color Brass Heavy Handle Wet Safety Razor

Now in terms of performance. They’re fantastic!!! They’re mid-moderate aggression, they really cut right through my coarse hair, but I’ve not gotten any sort of irritation out of any of the shaves (except for one shave where I had a bum blade, which I had to change out, but that wasn’t due to the razor obviously). Each are really solid (I don’t want to say heavy, the brass razor I reviewed in the winter is heavier, but these are definitely on the solid side), the pieces fit together really well, the finish is flawless, there’s never any play in the blade, they haven’t loosened mid-shave in any of the shaves, blade alignment has been perfect each and every time, etc. Basically, what I’m saying is that the finish and the performance of them as great, just as good as my Merkur 33C in terms of finish but actually work better for my beard since these are a bit more aggressive. And that’s not to mention that I find these to be aesthetically very pleasing.

In terms of aggression, I would say that they’re essentially halfway between the new Wilkinson sword classic (metal) and my Yuma and Rapira Platinum Lux razors, and also more aggressive than the 33C, but not quite halfway between that and the Yuma (it would be like 1/3 the way from the 33C to the Yuma, being closer to the 33C). Hopefully that gives you an idea of the aggressiveness. Though I should say that for my skin, they’re exceptionally smooth shavers, but as always YMMV.

One thing that I want to single out though is the “flow through ports” on the baseplate. If any of you know what these are actually called, let me know, but for the interim I’ll call them this. Anyway, you’ll see what I mean, it’s the slots in the baseplate for soap/hair to go through. The DOC Yaqi razor I have is fantastic, but it didn’t have these ports, which was essentially my only issue with the razor (in case you don’t remember that review, it wasn’t really an issue, but with longer hair it did have a tendency to accumulate a bit). These ports work excellent, which was tested on the hair on the back of my neck, which only gets shaved once a week, so it’s always a bit longer when it gets cut. Anyway, it went right through when rinsing under the sink, no problem. This will definitely be good for my brother, who as a high school senior is a VERY infrequent/inconsistent shaver, and therefore will likely be shaving somewhat lengthy hair with the razor on occasion.

Well, I’ve blathered on long enough, so now I’ll just post some pictures (which I’m sure is what you all wanted anyway). Please ignore the residue on the head of the pictures with the blade loaded, I just shaved with Proraso green cream, which always leaves me this residue behind. XD

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Overall, they definitely get my seal of approval, they’ve given me consistently excellent shaves! Hopefully the family members will similarly have a great experience with them!
Also, if you haven’t checked out their brushes, they’re my fav too!
 
I also should add that they have other handle designs with the same head too, but I don’t have those links on me, so if you like the sound of them, but these designs aren’t really your thing, there’s other options on their website.
 
Looks a clone of the DE89 head; interesting texture on the handle though.

It does look similar, but at least based on how it works on my skin (YMMV as always), it's more aggressive than that.
The handles are quite nice, very heavy and the pattern is cut deep so its very grippy. You probably can't tell that from my pictures though since I have a tendency to get bad photos, haha. But hopefully you can get the idea. They have other patterned handles too, but this was my favourite.
 
Thanks for the reviews. I enjoy my Yaqi brushes. Just FYI, your links don’t go to those razors....they just go to the aliexpress general site. You didn’t mention materials...was trying the see what the head is made of. Zamak?
 
The Yaqi stuff in general is very good; especially the brushes!


AA
I agree, I have a couple of their brushes, and they're fabulous! Don't overlook the razors though, they also are really nice in my opinion!

Nice reviews!! :a14::a14::a14:
Thanks, definitely on the long side, but this will not be the first time I'll be accused of being long winded. :001_rolle

Thanks for the reviews. I enjoy my Yaqi brushes. Just FYI, your links don’t go to those razors....they just go to the aliexpress general site. You didn’t mention materials...was trying the see what the head is made of. Zamak?
Ah, thanks for the heads up on the links, when I try on my phone it goes to the specific razors in the app, but when I do it on the computer now I see what you mean. I'll see if I can get links that work on the computer and I'll post them is all the specs will be there. :001_302:
 
Great review. I tried couple of the Yaqi heads and I liked the DOC the best. Yaqi has good quality products in general.
 
The heads look similar to these from Edwin Jagger de 89. Mind you Edwin Jagger is made in China but Polished in U.K!
Merkur 33 in my opinion has a better head because it's a tad milder than this from Edwin Jagger/Muhle. So if this head is the same as Muhle i can understand why you thing it's a bit more aggressive. I have a Yaqi double open comb head and i find it gorgeous. Because it's mild but effective to my face. I won't try these heads because i suspect are the same as Edwin Jagger's head. But all in all that's a great review.
 
Great review. I tried couple of the Yaqi heads and I liked the DOC the best. Yaqi has good quality products in general.
Thanks, I try to be thorough and fair!

The heads look similar to these from Edwin Jagger de 89. Mind you Edwin Jagger is made in China but Polished in U.K!
Merkur 33 in my opinion has a better head because it's a tad milder than this from Edwin Jagger/Muhle. So if this head is the same as Muhle i can understand why you thing it's a bit more aggressive. I have a Yaqi double open comb head and i find it gorgeous. Because it's mild but effective to my face. I won't try these heads because i suspect are the same as Edwin Jagger's head. But all in all that's a great review.
Ah, ok, so you have the DOC. I would say that in terms of aggressiveness this would be ever so slightly more aggressive than that. If I had to give arbitrary numbers in terms of aggression, I'd say that the 33C is like a 3/10, the Yaqi DOC is like a 4/10, and this head from Yaqi is like a 4.5/10 or 4.75/10. Just ever so slightly different. But YMMV, and my numerical values could be very different than yours as I tend to prefer more aggressive heads.
 
How similar is the Yaqi head to the EJ 89 ?

Hard to definitively say as we all have different skin, but for me the Yaqi is definitely more efficient, but it's also exceptionally smooth. But like I said, your experience could be totally different.
 
I recently ordered The Beast and look forward to it. My Mellon has a better finish than my 1914 Merkur.

Ooo, I've wanted to try out the Beast, I hope you write a review on it once you get it!
These heads are finished on par with my Merkur, which is to say that they're all flawless. But glad to hear yours are also fantastic!
 
Do you have the link for the yaqi doc ?

Let me take a look.

So they've got a bunch of different finishes and handle styles, but in theory they'd all shave the same. For what it's worth, I have the gunmetal. Here's the links to their different styles (that I found, there could be others):
US $20.26 |Yaqi Grace Diamond Twinkle Razor Chrome version-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $15.0 |Yaqi High Quality Chrome Color Light Safety Razor For Wet Shaving-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $18.0 |Yaqi Matte Black Double Edge Safety Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $15.0 |Yaqi Space Color Brass Handle Men Wet Shaving Safety Razor 3pcs Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $22.8 |Yaqi Gunmetal Color Shaving Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $21.88 |Yaqi Camouflage Color Brass Handle 3 pcs Men Safety Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $20.16 |Yaqi Medium Red And Black Color Shaving Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $15.0 |Yaqi Chrome Color Brass Heavy Handle Wet Shaving Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $23.0 |Yaqi Charcoal Color Safety Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $22.8 |Yaqi Gunmetal Color Double Edge Safety Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $20.26 |Yaqi Chrome Color Knurled 3pcs Safety Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $22.86 |Yaqi Grace Diamond Twinkle Razor Gunmetal version-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $25.72 |Yaqi Black And Golden Color Safety Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
US $20.26 |Yaqi Long Black And Brass Color Safety Razor-in Razor from Beauty & Health on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Sorry for the long list, but you asked. xD
 
I went to the Chinese Yaqi tracker (their version of UPS) and there was a pic of 747s at the airport so I assume it's on its way. Pretty col showing you where your item is by pics. This is day 6.
 
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