![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
- Murray
Gary, like the rest of us, you probably don't need another razor!brothers wrote: ↑Fri May 25, 2018 8:17 am OK --- You guys have managed to get me interested in this razor (Rockwell 6C/6S). Do you think it can compare favorably with the General? I have been reading the almost universally positive (rave?) reviews on the Rockwell website. I see that the stainless costs $100 and the chrome version costs $50. I also see that I can receive a discount signing up for the mailing list. I've got a lot of good DE blades and a lot of good DE razors. Now that I've got this one under my skin and into my head, I think I might give it a whirl. The unconditional 30 day money back guarantee allows me to try it with confidence that I might like it. Should I, or shouldn't I? Is it really that good?
Agreed! The time it took to locate the one for me was well spent.CMur12 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 25, 2019 2:37 pm Hi Tim -
Congratulations on finding the tool that gives you satisfying ergonomics and performance.
I have tried a lot of razors, too, and it took me a long time to find the ones that are just right for me. The solution is sometimes elusive and can require a long search.
- Murray
TRBeck wrote: ↑Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:47 pm As far as I can tell, I got my Edwin Jagger Barley Chrome razor in November 2011. Given missed shaves here and there, a dozen or so efforts with a straight, and a few dalliances with single-edge razors, I would estimate I've got about 1800 shaves on it. At the time, I paid south of $40 for this simple variant of the very basic "89" double-edge razor. I get a very clean, close cut with Personna Medical Prep blades, Polsliver Iridiums, and Gillette Silver Blues using this razor, even as some coarser hairs creep into my beard with age.
I have not been a big forum participant in recent years, and I guess while I was preoccupied with other things, boutique DEs (and, to a slightly lesser extent, SEs) sort of blew up. I see stainless this and titanium that everywhere I look, with prices well into the three-digit range. I don't want to criticize anyone's choices there, and I have tried a couple of them to see what the fuss was about. But for me, the general conclusion I came to after several shaves was, "Huh." Not bad, not great. Functional, felt good in the hand, worked fine, but...
I think it's easy when you're new to this hobby to get caught up in the bling of high-end brushes and fancy soaps and Penhaligon's. I know I did, and sometimes I still do. But man, the one thing I was told by dozens of guys here was to just get a good Superspeed or Merkur or Gilette Tech, learn some technique, and enjoy the shaves. And I did. I experimented with Red Tips (!) and Black Beauties (!!) and the Progess (!!!), and they are all excellent tools. None of them were any better as instruments than the EJ 89 or that first flare-tip Superspeed I had a decade ago. Oh, sure, I preferred the balance of this one or the look of that one or the weight of this head, but in the end, I got good shaves because I learned how to use the razor I had in my hand, not because I bought a different one.
Sometimes you read about these "pot metal" razors having QC issues, heads breaking off when one goes to rinse the razor or whatever. Maybe that happens. But I've used this thing with no particularly special care and have yet to get more than a couple of light scratches on it. It is simply an excellent tool for the job. Some expensive brushes feel better on the face, some look better, some build lather more readily. When it comes to DEs, other than a nicer handle, none of these seem to be improvements so much as they are variants.
Again, I don’t want to criticize anyone’s choices. Buy what you want and use what you like. Just to say, though, I think new guys in particular chase their tails enough trying every product out there instead of settling down. And now they can drop $300 on a DE “system” of interchangeable heads and handles only to find that they still have to shave themselves, and no razor can do it for them.
I may buy a backup of this Barley Chrome razor at some point, but I doubt it. I imagine it will last indefinitely. At some point I may replace it with my late grandfather’s Gillette slim adjustable, which was given to me when he died earlier this year. If I do, though, I’ll be replacing one quotidian razor with another, an ordinary piece of shave equipment made for everyman, and made to endure for a lifetime or longer. And I’ll keep getting great shaves.
mikeny278 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2019 9:01 pm Wholeheartedly agree with this post. Finally perfected my shaves when I started using the same razor for an extended amount of time, and that was with a Merkur HD. When I want to "change it up," I go to a Feather Popular. Have tried all kinds of razors, but when I started using one razor, one or two creams, and one blade type for an extended period of time it finally just all clicked. I suppose some experimenting at first was necessary, especially with razor blades, but my recommendation would be to pick one razor that is middle of the road (not mild, not aggressive) and just learn on it. When one gets irritation from a certain setup, instead of trying to find a milder or more efficient razor, or a sharper and smoother blade, sometimes you just need to get better with prep and technique, and/or let your face irritation subside before shaving again. I wish I followed this advice 10 years ago and tried some of the razors I did after I really knew how to shave with a DE. Looking back, some of the razors that did not work for me were probably not the razor's fault but my own! But now that the Merkur HD/Feather Popular work so well for me, I don't have much interest in all of these new (or old) razors...
TRBeck wrote: ↑Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:47 pm As far as I can tell, I got my Edwin Jagger Barley Chrome razor in November 2011. Given missed shaves here and there, a dozen or so efforts with a straight, and a few dalliances with single-edge razors, I would estimate I've got about 1800 shaves on it. At the time, I paid south of $40 for this simple variant of the very basic "89" double-edge razor. I get a very clean, close cut with Personna Medical Prep blades, Polsliver Iridiums, and Gillette Silver Blues using this razor, even as some coarser hairs creep into my beard with age.
I have not been a big forum participant in recent years, and I guess while I was preoccupied with other things, boutique DEs (and, to a slightly lesser extent, SEs) sort of blew up. I see stainless this and titanium that everywhere I look, with prices well into the three-digit range. I don't want to criticize anyone's choices there, and I have tried a couple of them to see what the fuss was about. But for me, the general conclusion I came to after several shaves was, "Huh." Not bad, not great. Functional, felt good in the hand, worked fine, but...
I think it's easy when you're new to this hobby to get caught up in the bling of high-end brushes and fancy soaps and Penhaligon's. I know I did, and sometimes I still do. But man, the one thing I was told by dozens of guys here was to just get a good Superspeed or Merkur or Gilette Tech, learn some technique, and enjoy the shaves. And I did. I experimented with Red Tips (!) and Black Beauties (!!) and the Progess (!!!), and they are all excellent tools. None of them were any better as instruments than the EJ 89 or that first flare-tip Superspeed I had a decade ago. Oh, sure, I preferred the balance of this one or the look of that one or the weight of this head, but in the end, I got good shaves because I learned how to use the razor I had in my hand, not because I bought a different one.
Sometimes you read about these "pot metal" razors having QC issues, heads breaking off when one goes to rinse the razor or whatever. Maybe that happens. But I've used this thing with no particularly special care and have yet to get more than a couple of light scratches on it. It is simply an excellent tool for the job. Some expensive brushes feel better on the face, some look better, some build lather more readily. When it comes to DEs, other than a nicer handle, none of these seem to be improvements so much as they are variants.
Again, I don’t want to criticize anyone’s choices. Buy what you want and use what you like. Just to say, though, I think new guys in particular chase their tails enough trying every product out there instead of settling down. And now they can drop $300 on a DE “system” of interchangeable heads and handles only to find that they still have to shave themselves, and no razor can do it for them.
I may buy a backup of this Barley Chrome razor at some point, but I doubt it. I imagine it will last indefinitely. At some point I may replace it with my late grandfather’s Gillette slim adjustable, which was given to me when he died earlier this year. If I do, though, I’ll be replacing one quotidian razor with another, an ordinary piece of shave equipment made for everyman, and made to endure for a lifetime or longer. And I’ll keep getting great shaves.
Tim, I think an advantage of a really mild razor for learning is that, with the narrow blade gap, it either cuts (whiskers) or it doesn't. There is no risk of scraping. With more aggressive razors and the wider blade gap, if the angle isn't right, you risk scraping the skin (and not cutting whiskers). The correct blade angle is less obvious.TRBeck wrote: ↑Mon Apr 01, 2019 8:10 am Murray, I hear you. I actually have very fond memories of my Merkur 1904 and my old ball-end Tech. They shaved nicely, and I probably dialed in my technique better because of how mild the razors were. No relying on huge blade exposure to do the work. In all honesty, I could probably be getting great shaves with either of them right now, if perhaps just slightly less close than my preferred razor(s).