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Worst Wet Shaving Product You’ve Ever Bought?

Truefitt & Hill 1805 shaving soap, the very first version. Just awful. I have not recovered from this trauma to date. But at least I got the most beautiful wooden bowl.

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A Nylonfibre Omega Synthetic brush. It was f'n horrible. Gave me a burn, rash and didn't even lather that well. Tossed it after 1 use. Nothing comes even close - which includes soaps that didnt properly lather up.
 
RazoRock Santal somethingorother aftershave splash. I was looking for something that actually smelled like sandalwood, obviously in the wrong place. I unscrewed the cover and splashed a bit onto my hand. It made it to my face before I realized my mistake. Wow. I was immediately transported to a lush brothel on another continent. Ok, I was just trying to avoid saying it smelled like a ’fwh’, pardon the expression. The only way I could describe the scent is that it was like a combination of every cheap perfume I’ve ever smelled. I walked into the living room and the reaction from my wife was immediate, and unprintable here. Four thorough face washes that day, and it still lingered the next morning. It went in the bin. Thought about passing it to someone, but decided not to inflict it on anyone else.
Interesting though, when I looked for the exact name of it on the website today it wasn’t there, so maybe I wasn’t the only one that hated it.

My second worst purchase was the Merkur Futur. I realize it is a fine razor for some, just not for me. I get a comfortable clean shave with my R41 and Feather or Polsilver blades. But with the Futur there will usually be blood at any setting. Just too big and bulky. I know it’s my flaw, not Merkur’s.
 
[QUOTE="rockthrower, post: 10560023, member: 113267"

My second worst purchase was the Merkur Futur. I realize it is a fine razor for some, just not for me. I get a comfortable clean shave with my R41 and Feather or Polsilver blades. But with the Futur there will usually be blood at any setting. Just too big and bulky. I know it’s my flaw, not Merkur’s.
[/QUOTE]

No, it's definitely Merkur's.
 
[QUOTE="rockthrower, post: 10560023, member: 113267"

My second worst purchase was the Merkur Futur. I realize it is a fine razor for some, just not for me. I get a comfortable clean shave with my R41 and Feather or Polsilver blades. But with the Futur there will usually be blood at any setting. Just too big and bulky. I know it’s my flaw, not Merkur’s.

No, it's definitely Merkur's.

Curious. Because I get good results with my Ming Shui 2000S copy of the Futur. How could I go wrong with the genuine article? Especially if it was gold-plated? And my guests, upon using my bathroom, had to acknowledge my good taste and appreciation for the finer things?
 
I generally like Penhaligon's shave products, pricey but good quality, EXCEPT, several years ago they reformulated their shave soaps (English Fern and Blenheim Bouquet) no longer, I believe, using tallow base. I nearly developed rotator cup damage attempting to get any lather out of those pucks. I tried using them as shower soaps, expensive but what other use? Couldn't even get any suds in the bath, now they sit in a box with some other less successful shave products I have acquired over the years.
 
The Gillette Techmatic easily is the worst shaving product that I ever bought. It had a cartridge with one continuous roll of blade which you advanced by turning a knob when the section you were using became too dull. I think I bought it in the late 1960s when I was a college student. The Techmatic gave you a awful shave, not very close, but with lots of nicks. It was comparable to shaving with the lid from a can of veggies. Never tried shaving with a can lid, but I'm guessing the Techmatic gave about the same experience. Strangely enough, you still can buy used Techmatics (they weren't sold new for long) on eBay.
 
And now you know why is was $10 CDN!

(This is in regards to the Rockwell R1. A new $10 razor sold in m any Barbershops now.)

Yeah, I just bought one of these. Primarily liked the look of the knurled grip. The construction on this razor is nice. The knurled grip was very nice and worked very well for me! No finger slip problems, even with soapy fingers. Unfortunately, the head under-performed for me. It was hard to get a close shave and gave significant razor burn on my neck. A nick or two as well. Now, I understand one must get used to a new razor, so I may try it again. But it seems to me this razor is too conservative on the blade aggression. This causes you to push harder on the razor, with all the bad things that brings. My first pass left stubble, and I tried to compensate with a different angle and more pressure. My Merkur 38C still gives me the best shave, even with the same Rockwell blades. In part, because I am used to it though.
 
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I am not bashing Plum Island nor trying to tell others not to try their products. I really like their Bay Rum aftershave/moisturizer/body rub stuff. And the bath soap was good too. However, this spicy shave..... I just cannot get down with it. It is serviceable, I suppose, but I just did not care for it at all. <- Personal preference only
 

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TOBS Eaton College.

I imagine it’s the same base as all the others but boy was I allergic to something in there...
 

Toothpick

Needs milk and a bidet!
Staff member
Shave Secret. The oil you are supposed to use in place of shaving cream. What a bunch of crap that was. Clogged my razor beyond use.
 
Viking sandal wood preshave oil.
Stinks like putrid water and I cannot give this away. I have other preshave oil but they all smell and feel much better.
I can't remember where I bought this from. If I remember correctly, I think i purchased it at Target. I would advise all to use something else.
 
For me it wasn't a purchase, but a gift...and only today!
I just received a very well meant birthday gift of a, to be honest pretty nice looking Weishi 9306 C.
I thought why not, give it a try...
Showered, hot flanneled, lathered up and added a new Wilkinson Sword Classic...
Doors opened and closed nicely and locked in place, then it all went south, first couple of strokes seemed a little more aggressive than expected, but not too bad, turned the head and did another stroke which seemed a bit milder. When I started on my neck, with almost zero pressure...sliced and diced.
The partial shave, I stopped after two strokes WTG on my neck, was THE WORST shaving experience I have had since I tried my Dad's Red Tip as a 14 year old, and the bloodiest.
The razor was not holding the blade tight at all, it was moving side to side with each stroke, and was actually exposed beyond the edge of the razor head...
It was a gift and as I said, well meant...I couldn't pass it on in any way, so it will sit on the shaving shelves having outlived it's usefullness.
 
A few products come to mind. The first is a cheap Chinese adjustable razor I bought years ago. I couldn't get the blade to sit properly, and the blade jiggled around during the shave. I gave up on it after a few tries.

Next is a bottle of AOS preshave oil. I know a lot of you guys love preshave oil, but it DID NOT work for me. It didn't improve the shave at all, and just resulted in a big goopy mess. I exchanged it for a bottle of AOS aftershave balm, which was great.

Finally, Stirling's Rose soap and AS splash. Both of them burned like the devil. I'm sure it was just a particular ingredient, because no other Stirling product does that to me. I e-mailed Rod, and being the gentleman that he is, he gave me a full refund.
 
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