Just had a shave using the Homelike Shaving Start razor.
As I do 3 passes and a clean up pass and there's 4 plates in the box, I decided to use a different plate for each pass.
4 days growth.
Pre: Hot Shower
Cream: Whispers From The Woods Santalum
Razor: Homelike Start Razor
Blade: Feather (2)
Brush: West Coast Shaving Honeycomb Synthetic
Post: Cold Scottish Water
A/S Homelike Shaving Dejavu
Balm: Executive Shaving Intense Moisturising
1st pass with the growth using the 1.18 blade gap. First stroke and I could feel the blade, not in an aggressive way and it was very smooth. I expected it to feel a bit harsh but there wasn't any of that and it mowed through 4 days of growth with no problem. This blade gap felt a little bit like the RazoRock Gamechanger .84 but a couple of notches smoother.
2nd pass across the growth using the .90 open comb plate. I don't usually get along that great with open comb razors and was expecting this pass to have more blade feel. Nothing like it. I honestly couldn't feel the blade doing it's job and the only way I knew there was a blade in there was the sound of it cutting the stubble. I had a couple of small weepers on my neck but nothing major and I also nicked the top of a small pimple on my chin which the styptic took care of. It's the smoothest feeling open comb I think I've ever used. Unbelievable!
3rd Pass against the growth I went with the .69 blade gap comb. Going ATG with an aggressive plate usually causes weepers on my moustache and chin areas so I went with the .69 instead of the .90. Again, I could've sworn, there wasn't a blade in the razor. Going ATG on my cheeks I could feel myself making tiny adjustments to the angle of the razor to try to try to feel the blade angle against my skin. I only knew it was in there when I could hear the blade doing it's job.
Clean up pass I went with the .90 straight bar but to be honest there wasn't much there!! No problems again and it felt like butter going over my face with virtually no blade feel.
I used an alcohol based splash and there was virtually no sting to speak of.
Ok, this was my first shave using this razor and I need to try it out some more with different blades and try to shave with less growth etc., but this was the smoothest shave I've had in a long long time. Everything in this shave performed exactly as it should. The soap was amazingly slick and the cushion and glide was brilliant.
I thought the Nodachi was smooth but this razor has blown that out of the water after this shave. I couldn't believe how smooth the Open Comb plate felt and the 1.18 plate was just fantastic.
Oh what problems we have as wet shavers!!!
