Homelikeshaving.ru razors

[Space_Cadet]

Do you own or ever seen homelikeshaving razors? For example their "Start" model. I think they make wonderful razors at laughable prices. In my opinion their value for money is by far the best in the wetshaving world. But for some reason 99% of wetshavers don't even know about them and certainly don't own one of their razors.

 

[Cino]

I have a polished Ti Tiaga. Very nice razor.

 

[Iridian]

We have now and then a very few people posting their Homelike Shaving razors, like the fantastic Elbrus here:

HLS Elbrus review

HLS Elbrus Titanium For some time now, I had my eye on this lovely adjustable slant. Very beautiful machine, but at the same time quite scary to look at! A little bit of the huge warp of the blade, a little bit of the huge gap in the last setting, could put someone off from messing with it…...

www.badgerandblade.com

I also like Tibam and Stork handles. They just disappeared from stores and are hard to get. I could theoretically import HLS razors, but many people trying to get some things directly from Russia had no luck due to sanctions or rather trouble with the customs office. There are supposedly ways to bypass sanctions, but I didn't dare.

Outside the EU things might be easier, but European customs made me understand why it was such a big deal that Jesus was friendly to a customs officer in the bible.

 

[muzichead]

Do you own or ever seen homelikeshaving razors? For example their "Start" model. I think they make wonderful razors at laughable prices. In my opinion their value for money is by far the best in the wetshaving world. But for some reason 99% of wetshavers don't even know about them and certainly don't own one of their razors.

If you dig deep enough on B&B you will find some good info on the Start razor as well as the Taiga SS and Ti and now as pointed out above, the Elbrus.

 

[tomas1870]

I suggest to take Colibri and not Start if you like little bit of blade feel.

 

[Space_Cadet]

I suggest to take Colibri and not Start if you like little bit of blade feel.

And I, on the contrary, think that Start is better.

 

[wetshaver233]

I have the stainless Taiga and Start 2 with some of it's plates. Both razors are really good and their prices are hard to beat, but there's no way I would pay 2x more for the titanium Taiga.

The inventor is quite clever and instead of creating something new from scratch, he uses ideas and designs from both vintage and modern razors and utilizes the very best of them and improves them as best as he can.

While the Taiga looks nothing like the Rex Ambassador and the owner of HLS gets anry when people call him a copycat, I'm sure it inspired him a little and he took some ideas from it. Same goes for the Start 1 and 2 and pretty tge other models too.

What other razor manufacturers should learn from the HLS is that (not sure if all of their razors or most) hold the blade near the edge, which imo is a must for every modern razor and I really don't understand why so many razor manufacturers are completely missing that detail. There's absolutely no reason why the blade shouldn't be hold as tight as possible from both the top cap and the base plate.

 

[sidpost]

There's absolutely no reason why the blade shouldn't be hold as tight as possible from both the top cap and the base plate.

Wolfman and other's do this. The Guerrilla I tried had zero chatter at 0.99mm blade gap.

 

[wetshaver233]

T

Wolfman and other's do this. The Guerrilla I tried had zero chatter at 0.99mm blade gap.

The blades on the WR2 stick a bit too much for my taste though.

 

[Amorphous Metal]

I have the stainless Taiga and Start 2 with some of it's plates. Both razors are really good and their prices are hard to beat, but there's no way I would pay 2x more for the titanium Taiga.

The inventor is quite clever and instead of creating something new from scratch, he uses ideas and designs from both vintage and modern razors and utilizes the very best of them and improves them as best as he can.

While the Taiga looks nothing like the Rex Ambassador and the owner of HLS gets anry when people call him a copycat, I'm sure it inspired him a little and he took some ideas from it. Same goes for the Start 1 and 2 and pretty tge other models too.

Well when comparing adjustable Gibbs clones Rex Ambassador, while by all accounts a terrific DE razor, to me visually seems quite similar to original Gibbs (15/17) and yet owner of Rex is usually the one with the short fuse about pointing to others about copying. For instance Taiga, Osprey and Muramasa are quite distinct in design in comparison to Gibbs. And later model Gibbs razors could be completely disassembled, which the Rex Ambassador interestingly did not copy. Why forego a beneficial aspect of any design when copying when not being restrained by other considerations. (Usually when protections expire beneficial aspects of desing are taken by others if they add value to product, no matter where or by whom it is designed and made.) Not being able to completely disassemble a razor and clean it, to me it seems could cause long term problems in case of some instances of substandard cleaning (imagine a few times a year being in a hurry and not cleaning your razor correctly, the effect accumulated over the years). Satiricaly we could question if it is a case of by design planned some kind of obsolescene or servicability aspect to secure long term revenue stream to Rex for their sold "heriloom" adjustable razors. For comparison, of recent adjustables discussed on B&B, to my knowledge at least those from Tatara, Blackland, HLS and Shield enable complete disassembly.

 

[wetshaver233]

Well when comparing adjustable Gibbs clones Rex Ambassador, while by all accounts a terrific DE razor, to me visually seems quite similar to original Gibbs (15/17) and yet owner of Rex is usually the one with the short fuse about pointing to others about copying. For instance Taiga, Osprey and Muramasa are quite distinct in design in comparison to Gibbs. And later model Gibbs razors could be completely disassembled, which the Rex Ambassador interestingly did not copy. Why forego a beneficial aspect of any design when copying when not being restrained by other considerations. (Usually when protections expire beneficial aspects of desing are taken by others if they add value to product, no matter where or by whom it is designed and made.) Not being able to completely disassemble a razor and clean it, to me it seems could cause long term problems in case of some instances of substandard cleaning (imagine a few times a year being in a hurry and not cleaning your razor correctly, the effect accumulated over the years). Satiricaly we could question if it is a case of by design planned some kind of obsolescene or servicability aspect to secure long term revenue stream to Rex for their sold "heriloom" adjustable razors. For comparison, of recent adjustables discussed on B&B, to my knowledge at least those from Tatara, Blackland, HLS and Shield enable complete disassembly.

I see what you mean by - the Ambassador is heavily inspired by the Gibbs 15/17 and I do agree, but I guess that comparison is interpreted differently by people and that's where all the confusion comes from.

Oh and just for the record - I'm not a fan of Matt, his company or his products.

The thing is that people are comparing how someone is coping a very old desing from a brand that doesn't even exist anymore to someone else, who either took inspiration from someone else's recent work or just made his own version, which operates and looks pretty much or almost the same. For me, both of these situations are very different, but I understand those who think that they are the same thing and would argue for the sake of arguing.

As much as I and most folks around here don't like Matt and his products, we have to admit that thanks to him, a lot of other modern razors exist today and while some razor manufacturers won't have the balls to admit that, I think anyone who knows a thing or two about razors can see some of the similarities between some of the razors that came after the Ambassador. It's just how it is and prople can use the straw man arguments how he was inspired by the Gibbs, yet a lot those same people haven't even heard the Gibbs brand and those who do swear that before the Ambassador, the Gibbs 15/17 were nowhere near as collectable or as expensive as they are now, or at least that's what I've heard from others. That's my opinion anyway and I don't want to turn this thread into a off topic debate, about who copied who.

I also keep hearing that tge Osprey can be fully dissasambled, yet I can't separate the adjustment mechanism from the head. If someone knows how that can be done without using tools, please let me know.

 

[GlazedBoker]

Do you own or ever seen homelikeshaving razors? For example their "Start" model. I think they make wonderful razors at laughable prices. In my opinion their value for money is by far the best in the wetshaving world. But for some reason 99% of wetshavers don't even know about them and certainly don't own one of their razors.

There are a few threads out there with dedicated users on HomelikeShaving Start & Taiga series of razors. They’re not talked about as much for a number of reasons that I don’t want nor have the desire to bring up. And yes, their razors are world class performers.

Homelikeshaving CTAPT razor.

After two years daily driving my Van Der Hagen i think i’m finally going to buy my “forever”’razor. I really love this this CTAPT razor set and the price is right in my book. Anyone have any experience with it? I’ve found scant little online about it. Looks beautifully made though and with that...

www.badgerandblade.com

This one below on the Taiga was a real good source of user experience and info sharing until it was locked up by the site admins. You can read up on it if you wish. Real good stuff.

Homelike TAIGA Adjustable Razor

Have you seen this new Russian beauty? All stainless steel, called TAIGA, LIFETIME WARRANTY! https://homelikeshaving.ru/reguliruemaya-britva-tajga.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu21Bk7eUJE

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[abies]

I see what you mean by - the Ambassador is heavily inspired by the Gibbs 15/17 and I do agree, but I guess that comparison is interpreted differently by people and that's where all the confusion comes from.

Oh and just for the record - I'm not a fan of Matt, his company or his products.

The thing is that people are comparing how someone is coping a very old desing from a brand that doesn't even exist anymore to someone else, who either took inspiration from someone else's recent work or just made his own version, which operates and looks pretty much or almost the same. For me, both of these situations are very different, but I understand those who think that they are the same thing and would argue for the sake of arguing.

As much as I and most folks around here don't like Matt and his products, we have to admit that thanks to him, a lot of other modern razors exist today and while some razor manufacturers won't have the balls to admit that, I think anyone who knows a thing or two about razors can see some of the similarities between some of the razors that came after the Ambassador. It's just how it is and prople can use the straw man arguments how he was inspired by the Gibbs, yet a lot those same people haven't even heard the Gibbs brand and those who do swear that before the Ambassador, the Gibbs 15/17 were nowhere near as collectable or as expensive as they are now, or at least that's what I've heard from others. That's my opinion anyway and I don't want to turn this thread into a off topic debate, about who copied who.

I also keep hearing that tge Osprey can be fully dissasambled, yet I can't separate the adjustment mechanism from the head. If someone knows how that can be done without using tools, please let me know.

I don't really have any kind of investment in this but my memory of the Gibbs-like razors is a little different from "Razor Emporium made a Gibbs clone and then everyone followed".

There was the Gibbs, and then the Personna adjustable, which is worth mentioning because it too copied the Gibbs, but took standard DE blades unlike the Gibbs.

Sometime in the prehistory of our modern golden DE age, iKon started visiting forums and floating the idea of a Gibbs/Personna clone made in stainless steel. I remember this because the owner posted pictures of a Gibbs he had acquired and was asking if there would be any interest, and started musing about how to best make it out of stainless.

As far as I know about that, iKon never released such a razor. I was excited about the prospect but I don't think it came to fruition. But it was the first mention of the idea I recall.

However, in 2015ish, shaving blogs started posting articles about a "Valiant" prototype made by H&S. I swear Rocnel released a similar razor not that long after that.

Only after *then* did I see the Rex Ambassador appear, and as far as I can tell, Matt had a partner in that endeavor, who made a milder Denali variant?

The Rex Ambassador deserves a lot of credit because it's maybe the first Gibbs/Personna DE in stainless made at reasonable volume that I know of. But it kind of developed with a lot of chatter and punts at the idea from other places beforehand or around the same time.

I don't mean to derail any kind of thread but sometimes I think the background to the Rex Ambassador gets a little lost.

 

[wetshaver233]

I don't really have any kind of investment in this but my memory of the Gibbs-like razors is a little different from "Razor Emporium made a Gibbs clone and then everyone followed".

There was the Gibbs, and then the Personna adjustable, which is worth mentioning because it too copied the Gibbs, but took standard DE blades unlike the Gibbs.

Sometime in the prehistory of our modern golden DE age, iKon started visiting forums and floating the idea of a Gibbs/Personna clone made in stainless steel. I remember this because the owner posted pictures of a Gibbs he had acquired and was asking if there would be any interest, and started musing about how to best make it out of stainless.

As far as I know about that, iKon never released such a razor. I was excited about the prospect but I don't think it came to fruition. But it was the first mention of the idea I recall.

However, in 2015ish, shaving blogs started posting articles about a "Valiant" prototype made by H&S. I swear Rocnel released a similar razor not that long after that.

Only after *then* did I see the Rex Ambassador appear, and as far as I can tell, Matt had a partner in that endeavor, who made a milder Denali variant?

The Rex Ambassador deserves a lot of credit because it's maybe the first Gibbs/Personna DE in stainless made at reasonable volume that I know of. But it kind of developed with a lot of chatter and punts at the idea from other places beforehand or around the same time.

I don't mean to derail any kind of thread but sometimes I think the background to the Rex Ambassador gets a little lost.

True, the Personna version is even better in that regard, but afaik it was made by Gibbs too and since most people only know about Gibbs, it's a much better reference without confusing anyone even more.

I haven't heard about the Ikon and H&S thing, but I know of Rocnel and they did indeed introduced their fully stainless steel razor before the Rex razor was introduced. Was the Ambassador inspired by it? I suppose anything is possible, eve though the first release was a collaboration between Rocnel and Barbaros and it doesn't look like the Ambassador to me.

The Denali version and the collaboration between that italian guy and Matt is also true and I'm sure there are others who also contributed and helped with the development of the Ambassador. I guess we will never know the whole story or have the whole picture, but regardless the point I was trying to make is that his design is something that a lot of companies are using today as a base design for their adjustable razors and imo, the only other adjustable razors that are truly unique and have absolutely nothing in common with it are the Tatara Muramasa and the Rocnel adjustables. The inventors of the others modern adjustables have at the very least owned an Ambassador and took it apart to see how it works and that russian guy from HLS is showing in at least one of his videos where he compares the Taiga with the original Gibbs, the Ambassador and the Pearl Flexi. Obviously, the Taiga is different from the Ambassador, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't inspired by it or influenced in some way.

 

[Cafebarian]

I have two Start (v1) razors. They are among my best performers! 1.18 in OC and safety bar is mild feeling and very efficient. Best way to describe the high gap Start is RR Gamechanger comfort and RR Lupo efficiency.

 

[Fiddler]

One of the best razors I own is Taiga in Ti.
Very smooth, very efficient...run it at 2 or 3 and it's an amazing shaver.

 

[Amorphous Metal]

I see what you mean by - the Ambassador is heavily inspired by the Gibbs 15/17 and I do agree, but I guess that comparison is interpreted differently by people and that's where all the confusion comes from.

Oh and just for the record - I'm not a fan of Matt, his company or his products.

The thing is that people are comparing how someone is coping a very old desing from a brand that doesn't even exist anymore to someone else, who either took inspiration from someone else's recent work or just made his own version, which operates and looks pretty much or almost the same. For me, both of these situations are very different, but I understand those who think that they are the same thing and would argue for the sake of arguing.

As much as I and most folks around here don't like Matt and his products, we have to admit that thanks to him, a lot of other modern razors exist today and while some razor manufacturers won't have the balls to admit that, I think anyone who knows a thing or two about razors can see some of the similarities between some of the razors that came after the Ambassador. It's just how it is and prople can use the straw man arguments how he was inspired by the Gibbs, yet a lot those same people haven't even heard the Gibbs brand and those who do swear that before the Ambassador, the Gibbs 15/17 were nowhere near as collectable or as expensive as they are now, or at least that's what I've heard from others. That's my opinion anyway and I don't want to turn this thread into a off topic debate, about who copied who.

I also keep hearing that tge Osprey can be fully dissasambled, yet I can't separate the adjustment mechanism from the head. If someone knows how that can be done without using tools, please let me know.

I agree. Let me be clear, I am not criticizing Rex razors. I truly think they are one of the best on the market based on common consensus. Actually it is quite the opposite, I actually like Rex razors a lot, just not the attitude or the approach of its owner in conveying the process about how they came to be which in a way discredits and appropriates what others beforehand already did or belittles and ridicules the same development approach made by others.

The main part of my critique being regarding the inspiration the owner finds in other older designs ... it's just that nuance of his perception, that when he does it, it is inspiration, but at the same time when others do it, its copying and whatnot warranting youtube shenanigans, the attitude that I find objectionable. I do not mind in any way shape or form that he finds and takes old designs modifies them and then resurrects them through modern CNC production process. The market obviously yearns for such products and he was one of the first to exploit that Gibbs clone segment. But standing on the high hill of originality when looking to uncanny eye like the razor it's "inspired" by that seems a bit of a stretch. So yes, Rex Ambassador looks like Gibbs razors so a hefty portion of design was kept. One can call that "inspiration"... I call that copying of certain aspects. Again I do not mind that or find that bad in itself. Good designs are copied, because they are good and there is absolutely no shame in it. And the original got certain things right obviously and present number of the Gibbs clones are a hommage to its good general approach to adjustable DE razor design. I just get the feeling that too much is being taken from the original designers of Gibbs razors, especially since they (probably) are not with us anymore to defend and argue about their contribution or point their fingers at others. The design of Ambassador is mentioned as a "Gibbs clone" in pretty much any discussion on the matter that I came across. Live and let live. Good designs will be valued on their own merrit, no need for youtube shenaningans which just detracts from the value of the product.

Regarding market situation and viability of Gibbs razors in the past and present times ... well wet shaving is witnessing a small renaissance and artisans are riding the waves with resurrecting and improving on old designs. I am truly and sincerely glad about that. The original Gibbs were and still are not that popular to shave with since majority needed special nonstandard DE blades which without a doubt contributed to their demise, until a proper time and a proper clone came out.

Regarding disassembly aspect, I wrote that as being based on B&B discussions, which I explicitly wrote, not on the fact that I possessed and tested all the mentioned razors. So I do not own Osprey. If you own it and say you cannot completely disassemble it, I believe you.

 

[JoeLr]

I feel like a few years ago you couldn't throw a dead cat without hitting a Homelikeshaving thread or post in the DE sub forum. YMMV, I guess.

 

[wetshaver233]

I agree. Let me be clear, I am not criticizing Rex razors. I truly think they are one of the best on the market based on common consensus. Actually it is quite the opposite, I actually like Rex razors a lot, just not the attitude or the approach of its owner in conveying the process about how they came to be which in a way discredits and appropriates what others beforehand already did or belittles and ridicules the same development approach made by others.

The main part of my critique being regarding the inspiration the owner finds in other older designs ... it's just that nuance of his perception, that when he does it, it is inspiration, but at the same time when others do it, its copying and whatnot warranting youtube shenanigans, the attitude that I find objectionable. I do not mind in any way shape or form that he finds and takes old designs modifies them and then resurrects them through modern CNC production process. The market obviously yearns for such products and he was one of the first to exploit that Gibbs clone segment. But standing on the high hill of originality when looking to uncanny eye like the razor it's "inspired" by that seems a bit of a stretch. So yes, Rex Ambassador looks like Gibbs razors so a hefty portion of design was kept. One can call that "inspiration"... I call that copying of certain aspects. Again I do not mind that or find that bad in itself. Good designs are copied, because they are good and there is absolutely no shame in it. And the original got certain things right obviously and present number of the Gibbs clones are a hommage to its good general approach to adjustable DE razor design. I just get the feeling that too much is being taken from the original designers of Gibbs razors, especially since they (probably) are not with us anymore to defend and argue about their contribution or point their fingers at others. The design of Ambassador is mentioned as a "Gibbs clone" in pretty much any discussion on the matter that I came across. Live and let live. Good designs will be valued on their own merrit, no need for youtube shenaningans which just detracts from the value of the product.

Regarding market situation and viability of Gibbs razors in the past and present times ... well wet shaving is witnessing a small renaissance and artisans are riding the waves with resurrecting and improving on old designs. I am truly and sincerely glad about that. The original Gibbs were and still are not that popular to shave with since majority needed special nonstandard DE blades which without a doubt contributed to their demise, until a proper time and a proper clone came out.

Regarding disassembly aspect, I wrote that as being based on B&B discussions, which I explicitly wrote, not on the fact that I possessed and tested all the mentioned razors. So I do not own Osprey. If you own it and say you cannot completely disassemble it, I believe you.

Like I said in some of my comments above - I'm not a fan of him either and I would never buy any of his razors, unless of course I find them at a very low price. He should be proud that others are using his designs and making new razors and at some point learn to accept it. I'm sure at some point some of the other popular and unique razor designs will get copied or used as an inspiration as well. Such is life and nothing can be done about it.

 

[muzichead]

Like I said in some of my comments above - I'm not a fan of him either and I would never buy any of his razors, unless of course I find them at a very low price. He should be proud that others are using his designs and making new razors and at some point learn to accept it. I'm sure at some point some of the other popular and unique razor designs will get copied or used as an inspiration as well. Such is life and nothing can be done about it.

First off, nobody is using his designs, they are using Gibbs designs!! He like everyone else made a copy of a Gibbs razor to sell, that is it, a copy of a Gibbs!!