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Shave Off...Cobra Classic vs Ever-Ready Streamline

Today was a day which I have been waiting for all week, the arrival of two SE's that seem to have a loyal following, the Modern Cobra Classic and the Vintage Ever-Ready Streamline.

I first off want to thank Bob, aka Osborn Cox for the loan of the Cobra Classic, and for the gracious LOSER who sold me one of his spare Streamlines that wishes to remain anonymous. Without both this would not have been possible. There are other razor forums on the interwebs, but not one can match the true brotherhood that I have found here at B&B. The gentleman and ladies of this forum are some of the kindest and generous members of the wet shaving community.

At 48 I returned to classic shaving for one reason, to get BETTER shaves. For years I have suffered from extreme bumps, ingrown hairs, and all of the horrors that disposable razors and canned goo can do to your face. I am not a collector, yes, I have purchased a lot of razors, but at any given moment I try not to have more than 8 razors as part of my rotation.

This was my face just weeks before returning to Classic Shaving, as you can see, not a pretty site. I was embarrassed of my skin and I hated to shave.
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And this is my face today, just minutes after the shave off, MUCH improved complexion, no more ingrown hairs, and no more bumps.
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(no jokes about the pic, or I will hunt you guys down!!!)

I wanted to do a side by side comparison of the two razor so I could see the and feel the difference.

First of the Razors.
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The Cobra Classic, the only modern Single Edge Razor that I am aware off.
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The Ever-Ready Streamline, considered to be one of the finest Vintage Single Edge Razors every produced.

The prep was was simple and what I do daily, a shower that included a face wash with Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Anti-Blemish Cleanser.

The lather was built with 10 swirls of VDH loaded onto a vintage Stanley brush, one squirt of Kiss My Face Unscented, and about two tablespoons of water.

I decided to use the Cobra Classic on the left side of my face and the Streamline on the right. The Cobra was loaded with the Feather Blade, although Bob was kind enough to send me two different packages of blades to choose from. The Streamline I decided to load with a CVS Carbon blade, as I they are always sharp and I like to use them as my test blade for any new classic SE.

The first pass was with the Cobra. The first thing I noticed as how well balanced and good this instrument felt in my hands, nothing like many of the DE's and even some of the SE's that I have used before. I applied the razor to my face and did one smooth downward stroke from my sideburn area down to my jawline. WOW was that smooth, I did not even feel like I was shaving, but sure enough I was. I continued to do the first pass on the left side and then switched gears to the Streamline.

The Streamline instantly provided a great amount of audio feedback that is expected from vintage single edge razors. I made the same type of downward stroke as with the Cobra. The razor felt very well balance, performed well, but not feel as smooth on my skin as the Cobra had. I finished the first pass with the Streamline, washed up and did a check to see which razor had done the best on the first pass.

The winner of the first pass was the Cobra Classic, hands down.

On to the second pass, which is a XTG pass for me. Same routine, used the Cobra Classic, and then the Streamline. Splashed water on my face, and checked to see after two passed which razor has done a better job.

Again, the winner was the Cobra Classic. To be sure I called my wife into the bathroom and asked her for her opinion. She ran her hand over one side, then the next. She pointed to the left side of my face and said "that one, it is much softer". I thanked her for her input and went for pass number three.,

I decided at this point to just finish the shave with the Cobra Classic. I did one ATG pass, some light buffing, and I was done.

WOW, WOW, WOW. I cannot say enough good things about the Cobra. Having tried everything from open comb DE's, to injectors, nothing has provided such a fine shaving experience. It now rates number one over my beloved 1912 Damaskeene, which now will fall into second place.

Since I only want to keep it for a few days and then return to Bob, I will use this exclusively until I ship it back (then quickly purchase one).

I will then shave with the Streamline and give it a through work out like I do with all of my razors, especially those that I keep.

For me, the hands down winner was the Cobra Classic. I do like the shave of the Streamline, but to be honest, the hype of the razor I was expected another ah ha moment like I had when I shaved with the 1912 for the first time. I did not get that. It felt very similar to me like a MicroMatic, just slightly better performance.

Will I keep the Streamline? Absolutely, as it does it job, provided a close shave and it is sexy as all hell. Will it be used every day, no...it will be a razor I use once per week in my rotation until I get my very own Cobra.
 
Awesome shave off!!! I have a hard time putting my cobra up there is talk of jealousy among my other razors.
 
Great Review Daniel, and i feel the same way you do when it comes to Vintage Shaving, Weather it be and SE or DE . Good Job :thumbup1:
 
I enjoyed the review. The long narrow head on the Cobra seems good for cutting more area on each stroke, and easier to get in the areas under the nose and around the chin. One minor issue is being stuck using only Feather injector blades...but there aren't many choices for other SE razors either.
 
I enjoyed the review. The long narrow head on the Cobra seems good for cutting more area on each stroke, and easier to get in the areas under the nose and around the chin. One minor issue is being stuck using only Feather injector blades...but there aren't many choices for other SE razors either.

KAI milds fit too and if it was true is being "stuck" with that blade, i am pretty OK with that..
 
KAI milds fit too and if it was true is being "stuck" with that blade, i am pretty OK with that..
The review was a comparison between two razors. One thing that the Streamline has over the Cobra is a bit better blade selection.

As to the quality of Feather blades, like all blades, everyone has their subjective opinions.
 
I'd be interested to see your thoughts on the Streamline with a Gem stainless or Pella blade, and the Cobra on shave 3 or 4. First impression of the Cobra was fantastic for me, but it later just started eating me up, and was not consistent enough to make the grade. Everything is YMMV, but I won't even shave with an SE carbon, ever. They make my face look like your "before" pic!
 
I'd be interested to see your thoughts on the Streamline with a Gem stainless or Pella blade, and the Cobra on shave 3 or 4. First impression of the Cobra was fantastic for me, but it later just started eating me up, and was not consistent enough to make the grade. Everything is YMMV, but I won't even shave with an SE carbon, ever. They make my face look like your "before" pic!

The Ted Pella is next to try. Although I bought 300 of the Ted's in the group buy, I find that they give me a slightly harsh first and second shave, and get the best shaves from three to eight, with shaves nine through eleven being good, but not as sharp as I like.

Will post round two thoughts tomorrow.
 
I enjoyed the review. The long narrow head on the Cobra seems good for cutting more area on each stroke, and easier to get in the areas under the nose and around the chin. One minor issue is being stuck using only Feather injector blades...but there aren't many choices for other SE razors either.

Hey Jeff,

KAi has several blade choices as well as Feather, both unwrapped and wrapped. Being that these blades are used by Barbers and Beauticians, I think that they will be around for a while.

These are the two different blades choices that Bob sent with the Cobra.


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Hey Jeff,

KAi has several blade choices as well as Feather, both unwrapped and wrapped. Being that these blades are used by Barbers and Beauticians, I think that they will be around for a while.

These are the two different blades choices that Bob sent with the Cobra.


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Good to see blade choices. I most say I like the return of the injector design and the longer but narrow head of the Cobra seems a good design. That head looks like it should be more efficient and easier to shave under the nose area, and for trimming beards, etc. The Cobra is certainly a hybrid style razor.
 
About to perform Round Two of the Streamline vs Cobra.

Today the Cobra will be loaded with the Kai Captain Titan Mild Blade and the Streamline will be loaded with the Ted Pella Coated blade.

Give me a while and I will post pics and the second part of the review.
 
Round Two

For today's shave off, I did the same prep as yesterday, what has changed was the blade in each razor. The Cobra was loaded with a KAI Captain Titan Mild, while the Streamline was loaded with the group buy Ted Pella coated blade.
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The first pass I performed was on the right side of my face with the Streamline. A noticeable improvement in the glide, the amount of whiskers I could feel being removed, and overall feel. This was a very smooth shave, although I did notice I had a few weeper.

I moved to the left side of my face with Cobra. Uh Oh, this felt nothing like yesterday, not nearly as smooth, even a slight amount of tugging on the WTG pass.

I rinsed my face in cold water, put on my glasses, and examined the results. The right side done with the Streamline was noticeably smoother, although I had two weepers. The left side had a significant amount of stubble and I had a few raspberries.

The winner of this pass was the Streamline.

Pass Two was XTG....UH OH, not a smart move. The Ted Pella loaded Streamline tugged on my skin slightly while removing the stubble in it's path, I could instantly see irritation start to appear on my jawline and neck...argh, I hate skin bumps.

Now for left side....was I not meant to shave today? This was horrible, the KAI blade was nicking the daylights out of me, but I continued on until the pass was completed. Again I rinsed my face in cold water, put on my glasses and inspected both the stubble reduction and the damage to my skin.

The Streamline again won this round ONLY because I had a DFS, and almost a BBS with two passes, but my skin paid the price for it. This was like shaving with a 2011 R41, a road I did not want to go down again.

I called my wife into the bathroom and again asked for her opinion. Just like yesterday she agreed with me, she pointed to the right side that had been shaved with the Streamline and said "that side is smoother". I thanked her and she went on her merry way returning to the laundry room.

I stood their staring in the mirror debating should I do a third pass or not. I thought why not since it will be an easy on my face ATG pass, no big deal..I was wrong.

Basically the same results as the first two passes, the Streamline won, but my skin is a mess. I rinsed my face with cold water, applied the Alum and it was like I had put a match to my face after applying a liberal amount of alcohol. The only thing running across my mind was make it stop, make it stop, make it stop. After about 30 seconds the burn died down and I examined the nightmare. The right side of my face, although BBS smooth was covered in weepers, bumps and irritation. The left side of my face had numerous small nicks, slight irritation, and stumble that I can feel.

Today has me second guessing everything about both of these razors. As previously mentioned, I only returned back to classic shaving to have a better shaving experience. I could careless about brand names, prestige, or the amount of manhood that is proven by using a tool which makes my face look like a pubescent boy that has horrible hygiene. All that I want is a good shave. I can get a good shave from any number of razors that I own, primarily my 1912 Damaskeene, 1912, G-Bar, Push Button, Gillette Tech and EJ DE89L.

Both of these razors cost more than all of the
aforementioned razors combined, so I have to ask myself WHY. I will not give up on the pursuit of the greatest razor for my face, but I will also have to give some serious consideration on spending a half days pay just for a cool looking razor and blades.

As always each one of us has different skin, beard types and technique, so your mileage will great vary that mine.

Keep on shaving and try to have fun while doing it.
 

ouch

Stjynnkii membörd dummpsjterd
(no jokes about the pic, or I will hunt you guys down!!!)

Okay, no Vincent D'Onofrio Full Metal Jacket jokes, then.

That's a great post, and I must say that's some remarkable results in a short time. :thumbup1:

In your opinion, would you say the showdown was won more as a result of the razor or the blade?
 
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