Review El Jefe SE razor

Darkbulb

Darkbulb

Member #10
****** News Update ******

If you bought a El Jefe razor for the already reduced price of $35 iKonRazors are now refunding you $15 making the razor $20.
Personally I think this shows a good level of commitment to quality on iKon's side and with that I will be keeping my 'Boss'
 
Darkbulb

Darkbulb

Member #10
Shave Report #1​


Ok, so the El Jefe might not have had the most flawless exit out of the gates that I've ever seen. Quite honestly it seemed like quite a mess as I sat fiddling with the razor head and entertaining myself in the number of ways it could easily mis-align.

It is is however not impossible - or very difficult - to assemble the head in such a way that it all aligns correctly. You just have to be careful and double-check once you're done.

Having said all that - I did assemble it this morning and took it for its maiden shave. There were some slight worries that it would all come loose and shred my face apart but as it turns out those concerns were easily dismissed and what I ended up with was a very, very good and clean shave.

I did my usual two passes (WTG and ATG) and the razor performed very well in both of them. Smooth mid-aggressive and delivered a quite impressive end-result. After two passes I was smooth and I mean smooooth. I was impressed.

I'll be using it more this week to firm up my thoughts on it but I have to say - after my initial impressions the shave itself might have just turned it all around for me.

I'm not quite ready to go out and get the "El Jefe" fan t-shirt as I still feel that the way the head design came out is far from what it should be BUT....with a discount making the head $20 and adjusting to loading it "the way it wants" I can almost get behind this razor seeing how very nicely it performs.

​
 
Darkbulb

Darkbulb

Member #10
Looney12345 said:
Yes please :) Two handles I also own... although mine isn't polished (Z1)
Click to expand...
Ok tried them out;
- the Rocnel handle gave a bit of resistance when getting close to securing the head to the handle and I opted out of pushing it to see if it would work or not due to the the aluminum (?) threads on the Jefe,
- the Z1P handle did however mount swimmingly with the head. If you have Z1 it might actually look even better with the head as it's matte/blasted.

Here's the Jefe on a Z1P:
 
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Looney12345

Looney12345

Forum GOD!
Darkbulb said:
Ok tried them out;
- the Rocnel handle gave a bit of resistance when getting close to securing the head to the handle and I opted out of pushing it to see if it would work or not taking the aluminum (?) threads on the Jefe,
- the Z1P handle did however mount swimmingly with the head. If you have Z1 it might actually look even better with the head as it's matte/blasted.

Here's the Jefe on a Z1P:
Click to expand...
Thanks DB, waiting to hear what @Paul is going to do with the potential group buy, particularly now that it's been discounted to $20!
 
Looney12345

Looney12345

Forum GOD!
So I received my El Jefe head today and thought I'd share a couple of pictures of different handles... I had 6 handles to attempt to plonk this head on top of... Only two worked, both of which were Windrose and weirdly one of the other 4 was also a Windrose and that didn't work! It got to a few mm from being able to tighten and didn't want to go any further and I wasn't about to force it knowing how fragile the thread is. The other 3 wouldn't even screw on a turn, they just didn't accept the thread at all.

Anywho, some pictures below;

The line up of handles, left to right;

Assassin (upside down :D), Rocnel, Windrose Z1, Windrose H3, Windrose H5, ATT Atlas

IMG_20161110_174411.jpg


Now the two that it worked with, first the H-3

IMG_20161110_180157.jpg


IMG_20161110_180111.jpg


IMG_20161110_180032.jpg


Then the Z1

IMG_20161110_175813.jpg


IMG_20161110_175458.jpg


IMG_20161110_175433.jpg
 
Darkbulb

Darkbulb

Member #10
Looney12345 said:
So I received my El Jefe head today and thought I'd share a couple of pictures of different handles... I had 6 handles to attempt to plonk this head on top of... Only two worked, both of which were Windrose and weirdly one of the other 4 was also a Windrose and that didn't work! It got to a few mm from being able to tighten and didn't want to go any further and I wasn't about to force it knowing how fragile the thread is. The other 3 wouldn't even screw on a turn, they just didn't accept the thread at all.

Anywho, some pictures below;

The line up of handles, left to right;

Assassin (upside down :D), Rocnel, Windrose Z1, Windrose H3, Windrose H5, ATT Atlas

View attachment 3668

Now the two that it worked with, first the H-3

View attachment 3669

View attachment 3670

View attachment 3671

Then the Z1

View attachment 3672

View attachment 3673

View attachment 3674
Click to expand...
I think it looks excellent on the matte/satin Z1
 
Acer89

Acer89

James
Looney12345 said:
So I received my El Jefe head today and thought I'd share a couple of pictures of different handles... I had 6 handles to attempt to plonk this head on top of... Only two worked, both of which were Windrose and weirdly one of the other 4 was also a Windrose and that didn't work! It got to a few mm from being able to tighten and didn't want to go any further and I wasn't about to force it knowing how fragile the thread is. The other 3 wouldn't even screw on a turn, they just didn't accept the thread at all.

Anywho, some pictures below;

The line up of handles, left to right;

Assassin (upside down :D), Rocnel, Windrose Z1, Windrose H3, Windrose H5, ATT Atlas

View attachment 3668

Now the two that it worked with, first the H-3

View attachment 3669

View attachment 3670

View attachment 3671

Then the Z1

View attachment 3672

View attachment 3673

View attachment 3674
Click to expand...
Those pics are very nice. The bamboo does it for me. Hurry up and shave with it!
 
jmudrick

jmudrick

Forum GOD!
Three shaves in my assessment is that for me this head is more trouble than it's worth . Even paying close attention to alignment, trying three different blades and two handles, I can't get an even passable head shave . OK on the beard but certainly no better than the Hawk or General with which I have no issues .
 
Str8Mug

Str8Mug

Forum GOD!
I apologize for reviving an old thread, but I was loaned an El Jefe Head paired to a Bulldog handle from a member on another forum and wanted to try my luck on this imperfect razor. I actually have 3 shaves on it, and to be quite honest they have been pretty good shaves with the last one being very good, almost on par with my Rx. The first 2 shaves I used a Kai Titan Pink blade and the 3rd shave was done with a Feather Pro. I actually preferred the shave with the Feather Pro. I was aware of the inconsistent blade alignment but if your careful and take a few extra seconds in lining up the blade and properly aligning the cap, I had no troubles at all. All 2 pass shaves with just a couple of weepers on the first shave. Close and comfortable shaves since the first. I actually like it and now have my eyes peeled on the search for one. Its got its nuances, but I guess that's character and personality. I like that in a razor. Plus, it almost acts as an adjustable, depending on how you position the blade forward or aft on the top cap and pushing it forward or back. Mild to a little more aggressive. The search is on.......
IMG_0680.JPG
IMG_0681.JPG
IMG_0679.JPG
 
B

bazemk1979

Veteran
Well op the only thing machined on the razor head is the threads where you screw in the handle. There was a guy who posted a pic of his El Jefe on some of the forums where you can clearly see from the coloration on the threads itself that the head is NOT aluminum, those type of colors are only found in Zinc products.

So all in all the head looks to be Zinc molded and the threads machined, what makes me wonder is how come they didn't spend some more time in testing the parts in order to get the Zinc mold to satisfactory lengths.
 
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