Lambda Athena Cap and Baseplate Pass Around

[Phoenixkh]

This is just a first impressions post as I only have one shave under my belt with the Athena.

This is an incredibly blade forward razor. I like mild razors - the Overlander being my current top pick - and this is nothing like an Overlander to my face and head. There is no auto-pilot or can't cut yourself feeling to the Athena. The razor reminds me more of a Timeless 95 or Gillette New SC. Maybe even slightly more aggressive than a Lupo.

I remember people saying that angle is important and I will try to play around with (I tried riding the top cap and going neutral) but this is a lot of blade feel for me and my particular wants and desires. I generally prefer more mild razors than most people on this forum so this is not entirely surprising but somewhat surprising as a lot of people compare it to a slightly more efficient Overlander and to me, its in another ballpark in terms of aggression. Just some initial thoughts.

I'm curious what blade you were using, though for me, the Athena has been pretty blade agnostic.

I get along with the Athena quite well, but I started out with a fairly mild AC Claymore Evolution. Since then, I've selected razors a notch or two... half step or two, more efficient. That's the nice thing about @Wgg2017 's pass around.... You get to try it for yourself before plunking down your cash. A few people have felt the Athena was too efficient for them, so you have some company.

 

[catchacoolbreeze]

I'm curious what blade you were using, though for me, the Athena has been pretty blade agnostic.

I get along with the Athena quite well, but I started out with a fairly mild AC Claymore Evolution. Since then, I've selected razors a notch or two... half step or two, more efficient. That's the nice thing about @Wgg2017 's pass around.... You get to try it for yourself before plunking down your cash. A few people have felt the Athena was too efficient for them, so you have some company.

I started with a new Gillette Platinum for my head shave and I had to abort the shave halfway through - I think that was a first for me.

For my face - I then changed the blade to a carbon steel Treet that has been very smooth in my Overlander.

 

[Phoenixkh]

As is so often posted here.... YMMV, the B&B mantra. I've been following @Mr. Shavington razor advice for going on two years now....The only razor we have or had in common that didn't work for me was the Overlander.... All the rest, we both love.

I don't know why the Overlander didn't work for me. It was one of my first DE razors and I didn't know what I was doing. I was coming from shaving with an AC single edge razor for the first 5+ months of my wet shaving journey. It could well be that my inexperience was the problem. I've considered buying another one, but I seem to have enough razors that provide wonderful shaves. It's also possible, the Overlander is a bit too mild for my old man, grey/coarse whiskers. I just don't know and at this point, I don't seem to be willing to spend the money to find out.

 

[Kix]

This is an incredibly blade forward razor. I like mild razors - the Overlander being my current top pick - and this is nothing like an Overlander to my face and head. There is no auto-pilot or can't cut yourself feeling to the Athena.

After my first shave with the Athena, I posted this:

"This was the first shave with the Lambda Athena. It's a different experience. The Athena has some blade feel, not scary, but it's there. For me, it's not an auto-pilot razor. It's more efficient than my fave Overlander, and thus more care is required. I opened a weeper from several days back and got a tiny cut on the side of my neck. An unfamiliar razor and a new blade can do that sometimes. Neither was a big deal, but reminded me to be a little more careful next time."

So, as @Phoenixkh reported, you have some company in finding the Athena "blade forward". I hope you find, like I did, that your next shave will be much better. I found out very quickly that the Overlander technique doesn't work with the Athena. Once I figured that out, I started to get very good shaves from the Athena, and suspect that you will, too.

Hang in there and give the Athena more tries, I think you'll end up liking it.

 

[Wgg2017]

It's also possible, the Overlander is a bit too mild for my old man, grey/coarse whiskers. I just don't know and at this point, I don't seem to be willing to spend the money to find out.

@catchacoolbreeze and I swapped razors about a month ago. I sent him a .68 OC Timeless (my favorite razor) and he sent me an Overlander (which, if I’m not mistaken, is his favorite razor). I had never tried an Overlander and he had never tried the Timeless.

I found the Overlander too mild for my preferences and he found the Timeless too aggressive for his preferences. To me, the Athena is more efficient than the .68 OC Timeless so I’m not surprised that it is a bit more aggressive than what he prefers.

After reading so many great things about the Overlander I was really wanting to try/buy one. I’m glad that @catchacoolbreeze and I were able to swap and save me the hassle of buying a razor that ultimately wouldn’t work well for me. Just goes to show that we all have very different skin and whisker characteristics and what works great for one person may not work well for another.

 

[AJMiami]

I started with a new Gillette Platinum for my head shave and I had to abort the shave halfway through - I think that was a first for me.

For my face - I then changed the blade to a carbon steel Treet that has been very smooth in my Overlander.

Looking forward to your follow on impressions. I love the Overlander and feel it’s just about perfect for daily shaving. I’ve been on the fence on the Athena as I feel it might be too much for a daily driver.

 

[catchacoolbreeze]

It's been a little over a day and a half since my first attempt at this. I tossed in a fresh Personna Lab Blue and gave it a go. I went steep this time and I will say the blade feel was less than before. It, however, did feel a bit scrapey and not very comfortable but in a less intimidating way. I imagine the optimal angle is somewhere between neutral the steep angle I was at with this shave. I will try that next time.

This razor has a huge operational envelope regarding shave angles and I am not sure how I feel about it. It's very easy to go from playing in the safety of your cul-de-sac to a 5-lane highway. YOWZA! Personally I like the safety of a fenced-in yard . I can think of only one razor where the cutting angle was so narrow it got annoying at times and that is the Mamba 70. The razors I generally like are about average. My opinion at this moment is that I prefer average to something larger - if I like the cutting angle of a razor I generally don't want to deviate from it and if I do deviate a lot it will just not cut - vs getting ultra aggressive.

 

[Chef455]

There ya' go. Not every razor is suitable for everyone. I still have hardly touched any other razor in my den since I bought a Lambda Athena. I found the angle right away. I followed other's advice and just listened. When the razor started to "sing" I was there. The angle is a tad steep but not silly. I have yet to find a blade we don't like. The only way I could find myself on a 5 lane highway with this razor would be by pressing down hard and moving sideways. As always it comes down to YMMV.

 

[catchacoolbreeze]

I have not heard singing with this razor eithor physically or metaphorically. I am assuming it's because I haven't found the angle. That being said a lot of my beard groes almost flat against my face which makes things different than most guys...
Maybe that's why I am not getting the resonance you speak of?

 

[Chef455]

I have not heard singing with this razor eithor physically or metaphorically. I am assuming it's because I haven't found the angle. That being said a lot of my beard groes almost flat against my face which makes things different than most guys...
Maybe that's why I am not getting the resonance you speak of?

If you read the posts on the Athena a lot of members state, myself included, that you have found the right angle for the razor when the feedback is the loudest. I have found it to be true. Perhaps the direction that your whiskers grow does present a conundrum with this razor. While my beard doesn't lay "flat" it's not a challenge. WTG is noggin towards feet, xtg is ear to ear, atg is feet towards noggin. If your beard is very flat I would imagine a final atg pass would yield the most feedback. I only do an atg pass occasionally with my Athena as 2 passes is more than adequate for me. I hope you're able to find a groove with it. I will champion this razor until I can no longer shave, but it's always a YMMV thing. If nothing else I am glad you had the opportunity to give it a whirl and I think the pass around was a really great occurance. Happy shaves!

 

[Keto]

Exactly right not every razor works for everyone or the same for everyone.
That's what's great about shaving buddies where you can try razor without having to buy it.
Sometimes with just continuous usage changes my shaves.
This might be more difficult to do the more razors you have to mess with ( work with, I mean work with) if wifes reads this. Lol
We need these tools!

 

[spacemonkey42]

The Athena is really surprising in that it can cut at so many angles, given that it has zero exposure! It must be the rounded fins.

I am one of the ones saying to go where it is loudest. Now I think that isn't quite right. On my last couple shaves I searched for the loudest and went too steep. The sound stayed loud, but the shave wasn't as close when I went too steep. So I went back to where I started - start shallow, then go towards neutral a bit. The sound will get louder and the shave got better for me. I don't know if I am at neutral or not, but I am steeper than the shallowest it shaves at.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I think I end up in the neutral zone for the angle. I don't pay much attention as the razor sort of pulls me into that Zen zone. I've tried to stop and examine what I'm doing... and it takes me out of the zone. I do use the nicest timbre, which I think is the loudest... but it has a certain tone I've come to enjoy very much.

 

[horizon]

Gone is the period when I was looking for the corner. At first when I bought her, based on what I read here, I tried looking for the noisy place. I found it quickly, but I wasn't sure it was the most efficient shaving position. Therefore, I started from the upper cap and gradually descended to a steep one. In the end, I now use a shallow angle rather than a steep one where it's loudest. Not quite as shallow as the Blackbird, but not steep where the sound is loudest. I find the 35 degree position that Theo recommends in the instructions for use is the most effective for me and I stick to it. In fact, in the last few shaves, I don't pay attention to the angle anymore, apparently it has become intuitive to me and the muscle memory just moves the razor. I get stunning results, extremely high quality BBS, but with a very comfortable feeling, no irritation. I found that despite the small gap and neutral exposure of the blade, no pressure was needed.
Due to Athena's extreme smoothness, I changed my technique a bit. Instead of doing the second pass, side of the hair, I go directly to the ATG, so I do one pass in the direction of the hair and two ATGs, the latter being more of a touch up to get the perfect BBS. Otherwise, I can easily pass with only two passes.

 

[Wgg2017]

It, however, did feel a bit scrapey and not very comfortable but in a less intimidating way.

How was the post shave? Any burning, hot feel, or redness?

I only ask because I used a rather steep angle with the Athena once and just knew I was going to have irritation afterwards because it seemed to be scraping during the shave. However, there was no irritation at all. I was very surprised based on how it seemed during the shave.

 

[Teutonblade]

I find the discussion around the Athena’s blade angle interesting. It illustrates two performance metrics which I’m still not sure if I’ve properly defined but which I’m currently calling “consistency” and “ease-of-use”. I define consistency as the predictability of the outcome and ease-of-use as effort and concentration required during the shave. I’m a huge fan of the Athena but where it loses points is in these areas (see below).

I realize that to a certain degree consistency and ease-of-use could be the same thing. After all, razors don’t change, technique does. Still, I can’t help but feel with certain razors outcomes tend to be more unpredictable, like the Athena. As @spacemonkey42 said the Athena simply can cut at so many angles it’s hard to dial-in one’s technique. Conversely, a razor like the Blackbird seems to force you into the optimal angle, while with the Overlander it seems to not matter whatever the angle. Anywho, the idea and scores are a work-in-progress.

 

[catchacoolbreeze]

How was the post shave? Any burning, hot feel, or redness?

I only ask because I used a rather steep angle with the Athena once and just knew I was going to have irritation afterwards because it seemed to be scraping during the shave. However, there was no irritation at all. I was very surprised based on how it seemed during the shave.

Nope, none that I rememeber anyway. I probably had that "post shave feel" for about 10 to 15 min (I also get that with my Overlander sometimes).

 

[spacemonkey42]

@Teutonblade, I'm betting that once you tune in your Athena a bit more, the comfort, consistency, and ease of use will go up several notches. It took me a while to develop my technique with the Athena, but it really rewards you when you do.

 

[AJMiami]

I find the discussion around the Athena’s blade angle interesting. It illustrates two performance metrics which I’m still not sure if I’ve properly defined but which I’m currently calling “consistency” and “ease-of-use”. I define consistency as the predictability of the outcome and ease-of-use as effort and concentration required during the shave. I’m a huge fan of the Athena but where it loses points is in these areas (see below).

View attachment 1868392

I realize that to a certain degree consistency and ease-of-use could be the same thing. After all, razors don’t change, technique does. Still, I can’t help but feel with certain razors outcomes tend to be more unpredictable, like the Athena. As @spacemonkey42 said the Athena simply can cut at so many angles it’s hard to dial-in one’s technique. Conversely, a razor like the Blackbird seems to force you into the optimal angle, while with the Overlander it seems to not matter whatever the angle. Anywho, the idea and scores are a work-in-progress.

Interesting take, ease of use and consistency are very important factor. My most consistent razor of all time has been the blackbird ti lite. I don’t think I ever gotten a rough shave from it.
On the other hand, the blackbird ti standard plate is good, but I do not get as consistent results as the lite plate.
I also recently discovered that the Overlander is a very special razor. For daily shaving is as good as anything out there.
In addition, we all have different levels of skills and abilities. I consider myself a mediocre shaver, even after ~15 years of shaving with DEs and SEs. My motor skills will never be tuned to get effortless daily shaves from the most demanding razors

 

[Teutonblade]

Interesting take, ease of use and consistency are very important factor. My most consistent razor of all time has been the blackbird ti lite. I don’t think I ever gotten a rough shave from it.
On the other hand, the blackbird ti standard plate is good, but I do not get as consistent results as the lite plate.
I also recently discovered that the Overlander is a very special razor. For daily shaving is as good as anything out there.
In addition, we all have different levels of skills and abilities. I consider myself a mediocre shaver, even after ~15 years of shaving with DEs and SEs. My motor skills will never be tuned to get effortless daily shaves from the most demanding razors

@AJMiami that's funny you mention the Blackbird standard because I find it and the Overlander give me the most consistent results. I guess YMMV. I tried the Blackbird Lite and found it a little too mild to be differentiated from some of my other mild razors like the Athena and Overlander so I returned it. That said, it provided a lovely a shave. Agreed that the Overlander is special, but not for the reasons most people expect. I think it's uniqueness is in its comfort (low aggression), consistency and ease-of-use, not efficiency. The thing is so damn safe that it's fun to use and really allows you to just focus on the joy of shaving.