Just got the graphite version from shaving.ie. Came back in stock after being out of stock for months - so I assumed that all the QC issues have been fixed.
And it turned out right, no blade alignment issues whatsoever. The blade sat tight and evenly aligned with no adjustments needed whatsoever. Hope the graphite color also stays and the paintjob issues have been fixed.
The razor performs a fantastic job of mowing down a heavy week old beard at setting between 3 & 4 in the first pass. However the razor still struggled in the chin area - but I attribute it to the average Supermax Platinum blade and the not so protective Cella lather (Cella seems to have a lot of issues for me despite whipping up a ton of lather. Lather looks awesome on the face - but has no slickness or protection whatsoever). I usually stop with a 2-pass shave with Fatip Piccolo and Muhle R41 being my regular go-to razors. But with the Variant I did a second pass at setting 2.5 and a final 3rd pass at setting 2. The 3rd pass felt super smooth and there was no irritation in the end. I can't even imagine a 3rd pass with the R41 or the Piccolo.
To summarize - a near perfect shave where the razor offset the poor blade and a mediocre soap (YMMV when it comes to Cella!). Will load up a Polsilver or Feather in the Variant along with Haslinger next time! Sure to be even better!
And it turned out right, no blade alignment issues whatsoever. The blade sat tight and evenly aligned with no adjustments needed whatsoever. Hope the graphite color also stays and the paintjob issues have been fixed.
The razor performs a fantastic job of mowing down a heavy week old beard at setting between 3 & 4 in the first pass. However the razor still struggled in the chin area - but I attribute it to the average Supermax Platinum blade and the not so protective Cella lather (Cella seems to have a lot of issues for me despite whipping up a ton of lather. Lather looks awesome on the face - but has no slickness or protection whatsoever). I usually stop with a 2-pass shave with Fatip Piccolo and Muhle R41 being my regular go-to razors. But with the Variant I did a second pass at setting 2.5 and a final 3rd pass at setting 2. The 3rd pass felt super smooth and there was no irritation in the end. I can't even imagine a 3rd pass with the R41 or the Piccolo.
To summarize - a near perfect shave where the razor offset the poor blade and a mediocre soap (YMMV when it comes to Cella!). Will load up a Polsilver or Feather in the Variant along with Haslinger next time! Sure to be even better!
