- Thread starter
- #2,601
Ah, thanks! I think getting a new razor altogether was the bad choice. I might even cancel my order (well probably not - but it’s not all excitement either for some reason).Bad choice
Blackbird is on another level for me
A newbie’s journey into DE shaving
- Thread starter Guido75
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #2,602
| Razor | Blade | Brush |
| Karve CB OC-C | Super Diamond Edge (1) | Omega Proraso |
| Preshave | Soap | Postshave |
| Cold splash KCG Face Wash Proraso Green preshave | Barrister + Mann Leviathan | Cold splash Aftershave Balm |
| Passes | WTG XTG ATG and touch up |
| Efficiency (details here) | Quality / My process |
| 8/10 (~20m) | 8/10 (Multiple weepers) |
| Effectiveness | Comfort / Blade condition |
| 7/10 (DFS) | 6/10 (Harsh) |
| Notes: |
Summary. A rough shave this morning with a new to me blade. This might even be a one and done for me. Razor and soap were fantastic.
Razor and blade. New to me blade after binning the Gillette Super Stainless from Canada. Excellent blade that was, but I had the impression that it was giving me ingrown hairs - which I rarely get if at all. This new blade however was terrible. WTG was more or less ok, but XTG and particularly ATG was harsh and uncomfortable.
Brush and lather. Bloomed the soap again today and that worked wonderfully. Good lather. Still solid. I think I will bowl lather tomorrow to see how much water I actually need to add to the soap to change its characteristics.
Technique. Used the Gillette Slide on WTG again, just to mix things up a little. I was not satisfied with my XTG as I mixed that one up a little too much. My neck really requests me to use my beard map.
Enjoy your shave!
lasta
Blade Biter
I assume this is the Supermax Diamond Edge? It has its fans, but IMO, a rather dull blade!
- Thread starter
- #2,604
Yeah it is. And I think I can second that dullness - good description. Or the pairing with the Karve OC was not a wise one in hindsight. Could be it too! For tomorrow's shave I am going with a fresh RK Stainless.
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- #2,605
Reached out to Theodoros this morning. The razor was already at the post office, but he was able to get it back. So I cancelled my order. The Athena ticks all the boxes of my preferences a razor needs to tick. If I wanted the Ares just as bad, I would have already jumped on board. Somehow this feels like the right decision for now. And someone else is getting lucky, because the current batch was only 50 razors (and apparently he is sending them out earlier than expected).
No new razors for now. And enjoy what I have which is plenty!
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I've not tried that one yet. Not sure I want to now.
- Thread starter
- #2,607
I haven't binned it yet Eric. I might try it with a milder razor instead...problem is my collection is geared more towards effective razors than it is towards milder.I've not tried that one yet. Not sure I want to now.
Definitely no stock-up material for sure - for me at least.
Now you have me worried that the 200 I just bought are all junk! You know they closed the plant so buying any now is risky as they might be last off the line in a hurry or simply rejects entering the distributions stream. They are nice in my Blackbird, too bad you missed out! 
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
I haven't tried the Diamond Edge, but do have some of their Blue Diamond Titanium and Super Stainless. Overall, they're not bad. I can usually get ten great shaves with them, but I have noticed they can be inconsistent. A few have struggled to reach shave six, but at the price I paid, I really don't mind the occasional duff one.
Guido, We will have a layover in Amsterdam on the way to and back home from Indonesia in February... not enough time to see your fine country. I wish airlines were less fussy about deviations from return trip tickets. They kill you if you pause for a few days.. or change anything else.
I do hope there are a few nice restaurants in the airport. We won't have time to venture out. It will be interesting being in a European airport this trip... We had layovers in Istanbul and Dubai the past two trips. I'm guessing Americans, as long as we behave, are more welcome in Amsterdam than we are in either of those airports. <eg>
We often pretend we aren't Americans when we're traveling... We've even considered putting Maple Leaves on our carry on luggage.
I do hope there are a few nice restaurants in the airport. We won't have time to venture out. It will be interesting being in a European airport this trip... We had layovers in Istanbul and Dubai the past two trips. I'm guessing Americans, as long as we behave, are more welcome in Amsterdam than we are in either of those airports. <eg>
We often pretend we aren't Americans when we're traveling... We've even considered putting Maple Leaves on our carry on luggage.
No oversized foam fingers with “#1!” on your hands, Kim?
- Thread starter
- #2,612
| Razor | Blade | Brush |
| Greencult 1.0 | RK Stainless (1) | Zenith 502B |
| Preshave | Soap | Postshave |
| Cold splash KCG Face Wash Proraso Green preshave | Barrister + Mann Leviathan | Cold splash Aftershave Balm |
| Passes | WTG XTG ATG and touch up |
| Efficiency (details here) | Quality / My process |
| 8/10 (~20m) | 8.5/10 (Minor weepers) |
| Effectiveness | Comfort / Blade condition |
| 8/10 (DFS+) | 9/10 (Butterysmooth) |
| Notes: |
Summary. I could have been more effective, but all in all a great close shave.
Razor and blade. I received a couple of RK blades from the very kind and gracious Paul @awk_m4. These are made specifically for Henson razors, but work in others as well. I believe this is my second blade and the first one gave great shaves. Usually a litlle harsher on the first run, but smoothens out afterwards. I paired it with the Greencult 1.0 today, a razor that wants me to pay attention. Blade gap .95 with blade exposure of .25 - particularly that last part is something I cannot deny. Blade feel is ever present, but in a comfortable way. It is mega effective and I could tell after the first pass this was going to be a very close shave. If you want a quick shave and only have to look decent (which to the outside world is perfectly achieved at CCS levels, but we here at B&B are hardly satified with that are we?!) this razor can give you a one pass CCS shave. Make it two passes and you are reaching DFS pretty easily. Similar price range as Razorock's Game Changer or Lupo series - but unobtanium at the moment. The Greencult 2 with baseplate III/IV is the closest thing on the market at the moment.
Brush and lather. A favourite brush and a good tool for today's lathering. As mentioned yesterday I went for bowl lathering using Al's @AimlessWanderer method minus the face lathering part at first. I bloomed the soap and loaded with a dry brush (or actually using the bloom water) for about 30 counts. Went to the bowl for a first swirl of the brush. Dunked the brush into water (second bowl) and continued lathering. I dunked the brush three times in total before painting/lathering on the face. Less of a marshmellow consistency and definitely more hydrated. This is one thristy soap! If I were to dunk my brush three times with say Proraso with my normal loading time / amount I would have nothing left but soup. But it seemed to work. Nice! This is one of the benefits of using a soap for longer periods of time.
Technique. The usual pattern today. No deviations or let's mix things up. Just my regular CB Curve for WTG, horizontal during XTG on the face and diagonal on the neck. Very light touch particularly on the neck. Worked well and I have BBS cheeks. I skipped my touch ups on the problem areas around the Adam's apple and therefore mostly DFS+ on the neck.
Enjoy your shave!
- Thread starter
- #2,613
| Razor | Blade | Brush |
| Lambda Athena | RK Stainless (2) | Omega Pro 10098 |
| Preshave | Soap | Postshave |
| Cold splash KCG Face Wash Proraso Green preshave | Barrister + Mann Leviathan | Cold splash Aftershave Balm |
| Passes | WTG XTG ATG and touch up |
| Efficiency (details here) | Quality / My process |
| 8/10 (~20m) | 9.5/10 (Almost clean) |
| Effectiveness | Comfort / Blade condition |
| 8.75/10 (BBS-) | 11/10 (GlideFest) |
| Notes: |
Summary. Second last shave of 2023 and I chose one of the finest razors in my collection. And it delivered on that reputation. Excellent start of New Years weekend. The Schick G1 joined the fun for an excellent near BBS head shave too.
Razor and blade. With input from you guys, especially @phoenixk, I have decrease my rotation and also grouped some razors together and I am liking it! What I am also liking is having only one Lambda. When these razors came out and I first saw the Athena I knew this might come on my path one day. I didn’t warm up to the design of the Ares though. I am thrilled that my cancellation will make someone else very happy. Theo’s work and service are outstanding in my book. Maybe I need to ask him if I can only get the Ares head
I love every shave with the Athena and today is no different. Super smooth, comfortable with great audio feedback. I realised I was shaving more steep this morning which seemed to give the loudest feedback so far. Razor and blade are working very nicely together.Brush and lather. Building on yesterday’s experiment and results I replicated my approach: loading using VPN water, three dunks in water while bowl lathering before going to the face. Worked again! Even did a fourth smaller dunk for the final third pass and touch up pass. This brought the remaining lather back to life.
Technique. Consistent application of beard mapped strokes and patterns. I tucked my chin in on WTG as well to allow the razor to glide from cheek to neck in a (vain?) hope that this would make my jaw line even smoother. I have the impression it actually did, so it bears repeating tomorrow for this year's final shave.
Enjoy your shave!
Yep, I think the Athena is perhaps one of the best deals for what you're getting in terms of manufacturing, comfort, efficiency and ease of use. Lets also not forget that beautiful case and the fact the razor is also drop dead gorgeous.
Razor Blade Brush Lambda Athena RK Stainless (2) Omega Pro 10098 Preshave Soap Postshave Cold splash
KCG Face Wash
Proraso Green preshaveBarrister + Mann Leviathan
Cold splash
Aftershave
Balm
Passes WTG XTG ATG and touch up Efficiency
(details here)Quality / My process 8/10
(~20m)9.5/10
(Almost clean)Effectiveness Comfort / Blade condition 8.75/10
(BBS-)
11/10
(GlideFest)
Notes:
Summary. Second last shave of 2023 and I chose one of the finest razors in my collection. And it delivered on that reputation. Excellent start of New Years weekend. The Schick G1 joined the fun for an excellent near BBS head shave too.
Razor and blade. With input from you guys, especially @phoenixk, I have decrease my rotation and also grouped some razors together and I am liking it! What I am also liking is having only one Lambda. When these razors came out and I first saw the Athena I knew this might come on my path one day. I didn’t warm up to the design of the Ares though. I am thrilled that my cancellation will make someone else very happy. Theo’s work and service are outstanding in my book. Maybe I need to ask him if I can only get the Ares head
Brush and lather. Building on yesterday’s experiment and results I replicated my approach: loading using VPN water, three dunks in water while bowl lathering before going to the face. Worked again! Even did a fourth smaller dunk for the final third pass and touch up pass. This brought the remaining lather back to life.
Technique. Consistent application of beard mapped strokes and patterns. I tucked my chin in on WTG as well to allow the razor to glide from cheek to neck in a (vain?) hope that this would make my jaw line even smoother. I have the impression it actually did, so it bears repeating tomorrow for this year's final shave.
Enjoy your shave!
- Thread starter
- #2,615
| Razor | Blade | Brush |
| Timeless Ti95 SCL | RK Stainless (3) | FNX Barber |
| Preshave | Soap | Postshave |
| Cold splash KCG Face Wash Proraso Green preshave | Barrister + Mann Leviathan | Cold splash Aftershave Balm |
| Passes | WTG XTG ATG and touch up |
| Efficiency (details here) | Quality / My process |
| 8/10 (~20m) | 10/10 (Clean) |
| Effectiveness | Comfort / Blade condition |
| 8/10 (DFS+) | 11/10 (GlideFest) |
| Notes: |
Summary. I could have been more effective during this shave, but shaving with my Ti95 is always extremely pleasurable. Smooth, comfortable, effective - a great way to kick off Sunday and the last day of 2023!
Razor and blade. I am not sure if the RK is the best match for the Ti95, but the shave was definitely smooth and comfortable. And although the Athena delivered a closer shave yesterday, it was also with a red spot here and there. No such thing with the Ti95. Its weight is also exactly in the sweet spot for me. So a great close to 2023 and looking forward to shaving a lot with this razor in 2024.
Brush and lather. My biggest brush loaded for 30 counts delivered 6 great passes of lather (3 face with touch up and 3 head). Excellent. And I even managed to get a consistency I get from any other soap. So this morning no mashmellow texture!
Technique. Consistent with yesterday. Less effective than yesterday, but still a very good shave. Would gladly repeat this - maybe with a slightly sharper blade.
Enjoy your shave and Happy New Year to all!
- Thread starter
- #2,616
I have been doing a lot of reading about the Blackbird lately seeing all these raving posts from other brothers. @Cal found it to be his grail razor (and he has some great razors to compete with!), @Raven Koenes is almost there too from the looks of it. And then there are who had a Blackbird but sold it on because it wasn’t for them.
Purely based on specifications this razor appears to be very close to both Greencult razors and the GC1 in particular. I have read reports stating that shavewise they are similar with the GC1 being the smoother one of the two. Smoothness is also rated less on Blackland’s own website.
So I am going back and forth on getting one. In part because EU residence has a large impact on the investment needed. Even for the very nice one currently in BST. Especially when comparing it to the amount I paid for the GC1.
I believe @huck1680 has both razors and he has the GC first yet still got a Brassbird recently. So, Huck how would you compare them? I have the GC1 and GC2 II.
Thanks!
Guido
Purely based on specifications this razor appears to be very close to both Greencult razors and the GC1 in particular. I have read reports stating that shavewise they are similar with the GC1 being the smoother one of the two. Smoothness is also rated less on Blackland’s own website.
So I am going back and forth on getting one. In part because EU residence has a large impact on the investment needed. Even for the very nice one currently in BST. Especially when comparing it to the amount I paid for the GC1.
I believe @huck1680 has both razors and he has the GC first yet still got a Brassbird recently. So, Huck how would you compare them? I have the GC1 and GC2 II.
Thanks!
Guido
With G.R.U.Y.E.R.E. starting in a few hours, isn’t this more of a CE 2025 question?
lasta
Blade Biter
He'll probably wait until 11:59 before clicking buy!
Hey pal. I like both. I know that doesn't help but the GreenCult with the III plate is excellent. The BB in brass is also excellent. Main difference is the BB is an OC. The BB has a different "feel" to it. Which is in terms of a bit more blade feel. Both are very efficient with very good ATG passes. The GC is heavier but both are maneuverable. Do I need both? Nope but I like having them. I prefer the BB to the GC 1 which I sold off. I feel the BB is more "aggressive" in terms of intuitive feel if that makes any sense. Having said that both razors are really easy to shave with. I just like having a small collection of razors and these two would be in my "core" of shavers if I had to make a choice.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I really hope it's better than the one we're still in.
Cheers!
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- #2,620
Hey, that would still make it 2023!
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