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I have no idea where to post this - DE, SE or straight - so I've put it in General. How do you classify a Cobra - its part everything!
After using an iKon, I was not impressed with the ratttle fit of the Cobra. Everything is loose and jiggles until the locking cam/finger twist jams it all in place. It's a mean looking beast and I found the handle a tad unwieldy - triangular, lumpy on one side and mirror chromed on the other. Its a bit short for my large hands, too.
On this side of a first shave, I'm aware of some ground rules I didn't know about before I started.
1. DO NOT use a Cobra unless your face is blemish free - no nicks, cuts, spots, soreness, burn, nada from previous shaves. Young skin is desirable, to say the least.
2. ENSURE you comply with Rule 1.
Loading a blade is easy enough and self-evident. You are handling a very sharp blade, so care is required.
Lather up, put blade to face and whoa! this is completely different to anything that has gone before - nearest I can find is that it's like straight shaving with a DE handle and a whole new level of 'sharp'. (I can't say like SE because I lack that experience.) Lightness of touch, short strokes. Even then it picks up every minute blemish and scalps it, opens it again, makes it bleed one way or another. Any hesitancy is instantly marked in red, any clumsiness - it is the most unforgiving shave I have ever had!! and the most rewarding. Get it right and it is a fantastic shave!! Offers no resistance to whisker removal - just slides and glides them away. My usual three passes were reduced to two and I'm VBBS on my face and DFS on my neck - I chickened out of improving it because I'd already learned what the Cobra does to a sore patch. Its sole objective in life is to make things smooth and level and it cares not what gets in its way! Just like cats, it leaves the owner to clear up the mess!
Exhiliarating! That's the word for it. Exhiliarating! I was quite bloody but nothing a lot of alum and some touches of styptic couldn't fix - but 95% of the injuries were from days gone by and not from using the Cobra - well, not newly inflicted by the Cobra, just it slices off any blemish - picks up one side of an old nick and slices it off!
It was all my fault - not just as the operator - but after yesterday's first shave with an iKon after several days of first times following a bad idea day of a straight followed by a slant, I had decided that I would let my face recover with a week of EJ and green 7 O'clocks - but then Colin brought the Cobra and all that went out the window. The Cobra is now in the toy cupboard until I get home again next weekend, face unblemished - well - healed, then.
Overall opinion - what a machine!! It will test all your shaving skills and reward or punish according to your competence, if you Obey the Rules! I reckon the Cobra itself could do with some better engineering though it works fine as is. The Japanese Feather ProGuard blades are what it is all about, really - they are fantastic! They raise two questions already - is my skin strong enough for them (given my Cobra technique can only improve)? and what are they like in a shavette - Artists' Club? I'll learn to walk first, though!
After using an iKon, I was not impressed with the ratttle fit of the Cobra. Everything is loose and jiggles until the locking cam/finger twist jams it all in place. It's a mean looking beast and I found the handle a tad unwieldy - triangular, lumpy on one side and mirror chromed on the other. Its a bit short for my large hands, too.
On this side of a first shave, I'm aware of some ground rules I didn't know about before I started.
1. DO NOT use a Cobra unless your face is blemish free - no nicks, cuts, spots, soreness, burn, nada from previous shaves. Young skin is desirable, to say the least.
2. ENSURE you comply with Rule 1.
Loading a blade is easy enough and self-evident. You are handling a very sharp blade, so care is required.
Lather up, put blade to face and whoa! this is completely different to anything that has gone before - nearest I can find is that it's like straight shaving with a DE handle and a whole new level of 'sharp'. (I can't say like SE because I lack that experience.) Lightness of touch, short strokes. Even then it picks up every minute blemish and scalps it, opens it again, makes it bleed one way or another. Any hesitancy is instantly marked in red, any clumsiness - it is the most unforgiving shave I have ever had!! and the most rewarding. Get it right and it is a fantastic shave!! Offers no resistance to whisker removal - just slides and glides them away. My usual three passes were reduced to two and I'm VBBS on my face and DFS on my neck - I chickened out of improving it because I'd already learned what the Cobra does to a sore patch. Its sole objective in life is to make things smooth and level and it cares not what gets in its way! Just like cats, it leaves the owner to clear up the mess!
Exhiliarating! That's the word for it. Exhiliarating! I was quite bloody but nothing a lot of alum and some touches of styptic couldn't fix - but 95% of the injuries were from days gone by and not from using the Cobra - well, not newly inflicted by the Cobra, just it slices off any blemish - picks up one side of an old nick and slices it off!
It was all my fault - not just as the operator - but after yesterday's first shave with an iKon after several days of first times following a bad idea day of a straight followed by a slant, I had decided that I would let my face recover with a week of EJ and green 7 O'clocks - but then Colin brought the Cobra and all that went out the window. The Cobra is now in the toy cupboard until I get home again next weekend, face unblemished - well - healed, then.
Overall opinion - what a machine!! It will test all your shaving skills and reward or punish according to your competence, if you Obey the Rules! I reckon the Cobra itself could do with some better engineering though it works fine as is. The Japanese Feather ProGuard blades are what it is all about, really - they are fantastic! They raise two questions already - is my skin strong enough for them (given my Cobra technique can only improve)? and what are they like in a shavette - Artists' Club? I'll learn to walk first, though!
