As stated, been at this just shy of a year. If you guys read these threads, you know where I'm at:
Noob shaver, Karve review
Noob shaver, Timeless .68 review
I sold all my razors except the
As you can see, I'd settled on the Timeless .95SB in SS for my daily shaver.
Buddy that started me on this whole thing always raved about his Blackbirds, so I was intrigued. Waited for a deal, and snapped on one last week. It showed up Monday and I went at it.
First one went really well....incredibly well, in fact. I'd shaved Thursday morning, bought it later that afternoon, it shipped Friday and I just got caught up in weekend stuff so by the time it showed on Monday I hadn't shaved for about 4 days. I have a medium thick beard and it's like wire for the first 48 hours or so, then it starts to lay back and by the time the 4th day hits it's decently flat and softer.
Blackbird went thru it like a laser beam. I did a WTG pass on that growth and it just mowed it down and it was gone. I was astonished. I did an ATG pass just to help learning the angle and because I had soap left over, but didn't really need to.
AS went on with zero sting (which has never happened to me before) and I called it a day, amazed.
This shave was probably the easiest, best shave I've had in almost a year, and I've had some really good shaves with some really good razors.
2nd shave:
This one was a little more traumatic. I'm a musician and a gamer, and I'd had a new controller and mouse show up and I was eager to get to setting things up. Mistake. I have a routine when I get home from work.
Shower
Shave
Eat
Internet/Music/Games
I'm usually a pretty patient guy when it comes to a razor blade next to my face, but I was in a hurry and the Blackbird knew I was disrespecting it. Lather wasn't on point, I didn't relax into the shave, and I wasn't being careful enough. Cut myself twice....one a pretty decent nick that I still have 2 days later.
3rd shave:
I shouldn't have done this....I had the cut from the day before, I didn't really NEED to shave, but you get that feeling ya know? I had stubble, I wanted it gone, etc....I was a little more careful, but I still opened that cut on my face again. However, aside from that, the smoothness is off the charts with this razor for every shave so far.
Today's shave, with a hardware adjustment:
Yup, if you read those threads, you know I'm a big fan of those short thick Maggard's handles. The maneuverability is off the charts with this handle, so I applied it to this BB situation.
Better....easier to control, for sure. I'm just not built to get along with longer thinner handles, I don't like them, there's a lot of wasted end hanging out that does me no good, etc.
Ugly, but this did the job. Not as good as the first shave, but the best subsequent one, even though I'm feeling (6 hours later) sort of rawish around my neck area. Not irritated, nothing if I don't touch it, but feeling abraded if I run my hand over it. Smooooooth though. Smooth everywhere. Smooth is the BB's middle name....I haven't had one of these shaves where I wasn't blown away by the end result, which seems to be a common theme among BB owners.
Impressions:
The Blackbird is really well built. It's a blade forward razor with a lot more blade feel than the Timeless .95 I've been using as my daily for the last couple months. Super efficient, super cool design, interesting angles. Doesn't weigh a lot like my SS Timeless does, which I don't mind but some people might.
It's a lot more EFFICIENT than the Timeless .95, at least for me. There is less buffing in my problem areas; as long as I get the angle right it just disappears stubble, no repeat passes needed. I'll learn the angles and see what I can see; I'm hoping to make this a daily driver, but I think it might end up being too harsh on my face.
At this point? I'm not sure I like it. It does the job, but it's sort of mean about it. I know this is all operator error, and I'm sure if I can find the right angle with the least amount of pressure, I'll be able to use this no problem.
Would I recommend this? Yeah, if your technique is on point you'll have no issues. Would I recommend this to someone that's newer at this hobby than myself, with less razor experience i.e. Karve, 2 different Timelesses, bunch of Razorocks etc? No I would not.
This would frustrate a noob, almost to the point of quitting. There would be blood. Lots of blood. There's no autopilot with this thing like there is with the Timeless razors, this razor demands attention and respect, and if you don't give both you're going to cut yourself. Repeatedly.
2 things: I'm only using Gillette Platinums in this razor for now....they're my favorite blade in my Timeless and I just received 100 of them, so no point in not trying them out.
2nd thing is that all the pics are of that tin of WSP and that's because I'm trying to 3017 it.
Any questions, feel free.
Also picked up a polished Dart as well....I'll be reviewing that maybe next week, depending on how the rest of this week goes....if I pick this up and it clicks I might go another week just for the muscle memory on the BB.
Noob shaver, Karve review
Noob shaver, Timeless .68 review
I sold all my razors except the
As you can see, I'd settled on the Timeless .95SB in SS for my daily shaver.
Buddy that started me on this whole thing always raved about his Blackbirds, so I was intrigued. Waited for a deal, and snapped on one last week. It showed up Monday and I went at it.
First one went really well....incredibly well, in fact. I'd shaved Thursday morning, bought it later that afternoon, it shipped Friday and I just got caught up in weekend stuff so by the time it showed on Monday I hadn't shaved for about 4 days. I have a medium thick beard and it's like wire for the first 48 hours or so, then it starts to lay back and by the time the 4th day hits it's decently flat and softer.
Blackbird went thru it like a laser beam. I did a WTG pass on that growth and it just mowed it down and it was gone. I was astonished. I did an ATG pass just to help learning the angle and because I had soap left over, but didn't really need to.
AS went on with zero sting (which has never happened to me before) and I called it a day, amazed.
This shave was probably the easiest, best shave I've had in almost a year, and I've had some really good shaves with some really good razors.
2nd shave:
This one was a little more traumatic. I'm a musician and a gamer, and I'd had a new controller and mouse show up and I was eager to get to setting things up. Mistake. I have a routine when I get home from work.
Shower
Shave
Eat
Internet/Music/Games
I'm usually a pretty patient guy when it comes to a razor blade next to my face, but I was in a hurry and the Blackbird knew I was disrespecting it. Lather wasn't on point, I didn't relax into the shave, and I wasn't being careful enough. Cut myself twice....one a pretty decent nick that I still have 2 days later.
3rd shave:
I shouldn't have done this....I had the cut from the day before, I didn't really NEED to shave, but you get that feeling ya know? I had stubble, I wanted it gone, etc....I was a little more careful, but I still opened that cut on my face again. However, aside from that, the smoothness is off the charts with this razor for every shave so far.
Today's shave, with a hardware adjustment:
Yup, if you read those threads, you know I'm a big fan of those short thick Maggard's handles. The maneuverability is off the charts with this handle, so I applied it to this BB situation.
Better....easier to control, for sure. I'm just not built to get along with longer thinner handles, I don't like them, there's a lot of wasted end hanging out that does me no good, etc.
Ugly, but this did the job. Not as good as the first shave, but the best subsequent one, even though I'm feeling (6 hours later) sort of rawish around my neck area. Not irritated, nothing if I don't touch it, but feeling abraded if I run my hand over it. Smooooooth though. Smooth everywhere. Smooth is the BB's middle name....I haven't had one of these shaves where I wasn't blown away by the end result, which seems to be a common theme among BB owners.
Impressions:
The Blackbird is really well built. It's a blade forward razor with a lot more blade feel than the Timeless .95 I've been using as my daily for the last couple months. Super efficient, super cool design, interesting angles. Doesn't weigh a lot like my SS Timeless does, which I don't mind but some people might.
It's a lot more EFFICIENT than the Timeless .95, at least for me. There is less buffing in my problem areas; as long as I get the angle right it just disappears stubble, no repeat passes needed. I'll learn the angles and see what I can see; I'm hoping to make this a daily driver, but I think it might end up being too harsh on my face.
At this point? I'm not sure I like it. It does the job, but it's sort of mean about it. I know this is all operator error, and I'm sure if I can find the right angle with the least amount of pressure, I'll be able to use this no problem.
Would I recommend this? Yeah, if your technique is on point you'll have no issues. Would I recommend this to someone that's newer at this hobby than myself, with less razor experience i.e. Karve, 2 different Timelesses, bunch of Razorocks etc? No I would not.
This would frustrate a noob, almost to the point of quitting. There would be blood. Lots of blood. There's no autopilot with this thing like there is with the Timeless razors, this razor demands attention and respect, and if you don't give both you're going to cut yourself. Repeatedly.
2 things: I'm only using Gillette Platinums in this razor for now....they're my favorite blade in my Timeless and I just received 100 of them, so no point in not trying them out.
2nd thing is that all the pics are of that tin of WSP and that's because I'm trying to 3017 it.
Any questions, feel free.
Also picked up a polished Dart as well....I'll be reviewing that maybe next week, depending on how the rest of this week goes....if I pick this up and it clicks I might go another week just for the muscle memory on the BB.