Closed Pass Around - One Blade SE Razor

Interesting razor. 6 shaves using two blades and some very good results.

Dislikes:
The size and shape makes it feel like shaving with a very expensive cartridge razor. Not a problem in itself but I never enjoyed shaving when I used a cart and I found this less enjoyable than a DE for Cobra.
There feels like there's a lot of drag even when using my slickest soap (and using the pivoting system).
It didn't handle concave surfaces very well (front of chin esp.)
Difficult to use directly under my nose.

Likes:
Works amazingly well under the chin and the neck area.
Mild but close shave on convex surfaces of my face.
Looks cool.
Smart blade change system.
In the areas it shaves well it gives a very even finish that SE razors often do and the Wolfman DE did.


Overall:
The negatives outweigh the positives and the fact that I struggled to get a close shave under my nose and under my mouth (despite trying six times) means this razor doesn't pass muster for me. When I compare it to the two shaves I had with my Weber yesterday and this morning then the Weber is better in most ways.

Martin,
Thank you for putting this very cool looking razor on pass-around.
 
That's a shame, and it's the same with all razors that are passed around, some surprise you and others don't. Being a DE or straight man I may bow out of this and allow a true SE nut to have a go as I don't see me and this Oneblade being a match made in heaven.

Many thanks Nico for the opportunity offered but I think I'll take a step back on this one.
 
Day one with the OneBlade

I'm impressed

The OneBlade has arrived. The first thing you notice is the big, heavy leather box it comes in. Why? What is it for? As nice as it looks on the outside, it's too big for a travel case and you would have to take the razor and the 200 gram stand on your travels. I don't have that kind of baggage allowance. It's too well made to throw away. Would I store the razor in the box between uses? No. So it's just a very expensive piece of packaging that you need to store somewhere until you sell the razor or until you shuffle off this mortal coil. Pretentious hipster crap.
On to the razor: It's different. In a good way. I like the weird handle a lot - very modern. The head screams ‘SE razor' at you. The blade loading mechanism is interesting, but I was expecting something a bit smoother and more sophisticated. Something spring loaded would be cool: push the blade in until it clicks, push again and it pops out. To remove the blade you have to lift it up slightly and pull it out. Workable, but I expected more from "The best razor on Earth. Period.”
All this doesn't really matter. The question is: how does it shave?
It's the last day of my Speickmania week. So here is today's setup:
  • Shower with Speick Men shower gel
  • Face wash with Speick soap
  • Hot towel with a bit of Speick Men EdT on it
  • A few drops of Somerset shaving oil as a pre-shave
  • Face lather Speick soap stick grated in to a bowl with an Omega 49 brush
  • Four passes WTG/XTG/XTG/ATG with OneBlade and a Feather FHS blade (1)
  • Speick Men ASL
  • Speick Men ASB
  • Speick Natural EdC
The pivoting head is supposed to pivot as you move the razor across your face and guarantee the correct blade angle everywhere. For the head to pivot, you need to apply pressure. The thought is a bit creepy: put a Feather blade in a razor and apply pressure. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing actually. The four passes with just enough pressure to make the head pivot go without incident. The OneBlade does shave a bit like a really heavy cartridge razor with good build quality. The pivoting head worked really well for me. After reading Paul's remarks about the razor I expected problems under the nose, but I didn't have any. Under the nose I didn't use the pivot action of the head, I used it like I'd use an injector razor. Worked fine for me. Convex or concave - both worked fine for me, but I felt that I needed to slow down when shaving around the jawline or upwards under the mouth. Maybe (that's) because I'm not used to the razor yet.
The end result: Wow! My face is incredibly smooth. Not a hint of stubble anywhere. Even difficult areas are as smooth as it gets. I'm impressed. Very impressed.
Is the razor worth the money, though? At currently £225 shipped it is quite pricey. If they dropped the stand and the silly leather box and halved the price I'd say the razor would be well worth the money. As it stands I think it is overpriced. Maybe a few more shaves will change my mind.
The plan: another shave with the FHS blade, then a shave with the carbon FAS blade, followed by a de-spined Gem blade.
After a week of Speickmania SWMBO commented that she is now fed up with the smell of Speick Natural EdC. So am I.
 
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