First shave today with my new Fatip Testina Gentile. Several observations; first, the more razors I try (recently added RR Old Type, also), the more impressed I am with my daily driver, the Parker Variant.
Now onto the Fatip. It is not at all what I was expecting. It is very mild. Milder than a DE89 or my Variant set on 1. I know what you’re thinking; “it says Gentile in the name, dummy!” True, however from the reviews I’ve read, the consensus opinion seemed to be that it was a “mild-er” version of it’s aggressive big brothers Grande and Piccolo. Therefore, I was expecting something a little more aggressive than a DE89. The Gentile had 0 blade feel.
The results were generally good but DFS was the best I could manage, since no matter how many times I touched up problem areas under the jawline, I couldn’t shave those areas any closer than DFS. On the positive side of the ledger, it is a VERY gentle and comfortable DFS, so it will have a place in my rotation on days when my face is feeling raw or I’m shaving back-to-back days on less than a 24-hour cycle. Obviously, this is a first impression but I feel like I got a good feel for it since I experimented with different angles and pressure throughout the shave. Maybe I will try again with a very close cutting soap like ABC and a more aggressive blade and see if that makes any difference.
Overall Grade: Given that it will be a razor for limited use cases, albeit good for those applications, I give it a solid B.
Setup
Testina Gentile Gold with new Gillette Platinum
Vintage Blades Two Band Badger brush
PannaCrema Pure 2o Vetiver
Proraso Blue balm
Now onto the Fatip. It is not at all what I was expecting. It is very mild. Milder than a DE89 or my Variant set on 1. I know what you’re thinking; “it says Gentile in the name, dummy!” True, however from the reviews I’ve read, the consensus opinion seemed to be that it was a “mild-er” version of it’s aggressive big brothers Grande and Piccolo. Therefore, I was expecting something a little more aggressive than a DE89. The Gentile had 0 blade feel.
The results were generally good but DFS was the best I could manage, since no matter how many times I touched up problem areas under the jawline, I couldn’t shave those areas any closer than DFS. On the positive side of the ledger, it is a VERY gentle and comfortable DFS, so it will have a place in my rotation on days when my face is feeling raw or I’m shaving back-to-back days on less than a 24-hour cycle. Obviously, this is a first impression but I feel like I got a good feel for it since I experimented with different angles and pressure throughout the shave. Maybe I will try again with a very close cutting soap like ABC and a more aggressive blade and see if that makes any difference.
Overall Grade: Given that it will be a razor for limited use cases, albeit good for those applications, I give it a solid B.
Setup
Testina Gentile Gold with new Gillette Platinum
Vintage Blades Two Band Badger brush
PannaCrema Pure 2o Vetiver
Proraso Blue balm