Item Description
Initial impressions: compared to V1 aluminum
Weight : feels to be about the same weight as the V1 aluminum.
Fit and finish: excellent
Blade exposure: looks to be identical as the V1 when I put Kai Titan Mild blade installed in both
Blade fit on new post design: with Kai Titan Mild some left right wiggle. No front back wiggle. Overall better than v1 aluminum which for me had more blade wiggle. The blade fit is not as good as the fit on my DLC SS V1 Hawk or my Brass General.
Length: Same length the Hawk V1
Bottom adjustable knob on handle: rounded on the base so you can't tail stand the razor. The knob can be removed to shorten and lighten the razor
Feel in the hand: I like the way this razor with this handle feels in my hand more than the V1 aluminum. Although it's lighter than the Stainless Steel Hawk, I like how it feels in my hand as much as my DLC SS V1 Hawk.
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First Shave with the Razorock Hawk V2
Face shave - Blade used - Feather Super (9th face shave)
Note that I find that I cannot shave my face with the Aluminum Hawk V1 due to it's light weight.
Initial impressions after first couple of swipes on both cheeks- Smooth - quick - efficient - Nice!
The Shave - Because this was my first shave with this razor and I need to figure it out still, I chose to go very light and not go for a two pass plus clean up BBS. In fact, I decided that I was only going to shoot for a DFS and wanted to see how easily I might get a DFS with this razor. I completed three passes as usual using little pressure. These passes went very quick and smoothly. Similar to the General, I find that with the rounded top cap is much more forgiving when it comes to attack angle and it will cut down the beard even if your attack angle is not perfect. It seemed to be going very well. After three quick passes; however, there was still enough rough patches that I decided to go for a fourth pass and still had to do some clean up. I made the mistake of using more pressure on the fourth pass and ended up with some irritation on the left and right underside of my jaw line, a very tiny bit of a creeper on my left cheek and damn there was still quite a bit of roughness there. I cleaned up the leftover rough patches using barely any pressure at all to avoid further irritating my skin and figured that I wasn't getting a DFS tonight. I thought to myself that I should have used the feather pro instead and maybe I wouldn't have gotten irritation under my jawline.
I rinsed off the shave soap and applied the alum block - Got a lot of feedback on my jawline and on my cheeks - Much more than I have felt in a while - Damn, not a good sign I let the Alum stay on my face while I proceeded to shave my head
After shaving my head I rinsed my face and applied the Alum again to my head and again to my face - No feedback.
Upon inspection - I see a bit of redness under my jaw line and a little bit on my cheeks. I apply Witch Hazel and then some Lubriderm Men's 3-in-1 face, body and aftershave balm and while doing so I am feeling my face and.....
BBS - Holy BBS!!
I apply my Ogallala Bay Rum Limes and Peppercorn aftershave splash and "Ooooh!!!!the burn!!!! - I haven't felt a burn like this in a long time...it was a good burn and I liked it.
Note - A half hour later the redness is gone and I am left with a very soft most incredible BBS face.
Given this, based on this first shave, I still find that the General with the Feather Super is more efficient than the Hawk V2 with the Feather Super at eliminating the beard even if your technique is off simply because I don't get any irritation using the General and most often I can get BBS or damn near BBS using only two passes and touch ups with the Brass General.
I conclude that the Hawk V2 is just as aggressive as the Hawk V1 and both are more aggressive than the General - for me - the Feather Super in the General is a perfect paring giving just the right amount of aggressiveness and blade feel.
For me - The Feather Super in the Hawk V2 is more aggressive than I was ready for and I ended up getting some irritation as a result of using too much pressure on my fourth pass. (a fourth pass that shouldn't have even been needed)
It's very important to note though that since I cannot use the Aluminum Hawk V1 for face shaving due to it's light weight (I do use the heavier DLC SS Hawk V1 and think it's great), the simple fact that I was able to shave my face with the Hawk V2 says a lot in my opinion. I will take it a step down for my next shave and use a Feather AC pro blade instead of the Super to see if I can get as good a shave but with no irritation - I will then use the Feather Super again for my third shave and really pay attention to not use too much pressure on any of the passes to see if I can get as good a shave again without irritation.
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First head shave with Razorock Hawk V2
Blade used - Feather AC pro-guard - on it's 16th head shave
Fantastic.
Quicker and easier full head shave than the aluminum Hawk V1.
More efficient than the Hawk V1
I did 2 passes and barely had to do any touch ups / clean ups and got BBS on my head
The shave : After the first pass I already had a DFS and I though to myself "incredible" and I considered stopping there but I decided to do a second pass against the grain for the purposes of this review. The second pass was just as effortless and quick as the first and upon feeling my head, there wasn't much to even clean up / touch up. This new rounded top cap makes shaving my head a breeze and it took very little concentration on technique to be able to fly though each pass. 16 head shaves on this blade and this blade seems to be getting better ***...
An important and very relevant point to be made - the crease one has on the back of the head / neck - for me is usually the one spot that I need to always touch up on and it takes effort to get the razor in there right to get the hair in there cut down close - I never get BBS in the creese, don't even try and don't count that when I say I BBS my head. Tonight though, with the Hawk V2's rounded top cap, it rolled on through the creese effortlessly and gave me a true BBS (even in this creese) and I didn't even have to work at it.
With the rounded top cap and the light weight, this razor is more forgiving than the Hawk V1 when it comes to technique and angle. It's also really easy to hold, move and manipulate the razor around the contour of the head. I got absolutely no irritation, no weepers or creepers just a fantastic and easily achieved BBS shave on my head.
