Thread: shaving hurts and does not remove hair! advice needed

Have any of the honemiesters tried to hone one of these????? even given it a shot??? I have not ever even held one myself....

Nobody has sent me one yet, why dont you go for it and see what happens. Good idea if thats what you were thinking. We'll use the new guy for a guinea pig! I always figured they were Pakistani crap.

Maybe when you hone past the titanium coating you get to the High Carbon Silver Steel.

Who knows ? Assuming the marketing is honest

Much of the snake oil is here:

Yes, Titanium coated Straight Razor. How these razors are different from other razors? These razors have unique property that these are coated with thin film of Titanium metal. This Gunmetal color Titanium film makes these razors completely rust free and increase sharpness of razors. These titanium coated razors are not only beautiful, also have superb working. Unlike other gold plated razors, titanium Gunmetal color is UN-REMOVABLE even after sharpening the razor on strop or stone.

If the titanium coating is truely un-removable, and if the edge is coated, then you could not sharpen the razor. If you could sharpen the razor then honing would remove the coating and the edge would consist of the underlying, uncoated, steel (which is most likely not good). Of course I may have misinterpreted that. They do say "titanium Gunmetal color", so maybe the coating is removable but the underlying steel is also titanium gunmetal colored

If you disect just this bit. "other gold plated razors" are never plated on the edge. Maybe they're refering only to the spine? but "increase sharpness of razors" implies the edge also. Then there is the English good not so much... but that's not always an indicator of the quality or lack thereof.

good lord...... I had no idea it would be THAT bad..

my fiance bought it for me. i donno what to do now, if i go out and buy another one i am not sure how that would look....

i do very much appreciate the honest feedback though, could you fine people recommend a low cost alternative? thanks!

G

At this point I don't think it's going to hurt gsansom to attempt to get it honed by someone who knows what they are doing and take it from there. I bought the straight razor I use from the same place. It is a Mehaz from Solingen and cost me $50. It needed honing badly as it had a double bevel and another flaw which escapes me now but after it was rehoned it worked fine. So all I am saying here is that Leavitt and Pierce doesn't always sell junk but I guess one should do their homework before buying from them.

I was hoping Lynn was going to poke his head in on this one since I don't think there is a razor he hasn't done, or at least seen...

But yeah I am game to give it a shot, at least we will know, if it can be sharpened, now how long the edge lasts I guess Gsansom will have to let us know, Plus he can't be all bad for a newbie his S/N starts with GS

GS you got a PM let's see if we can put this together...

Originally Posted by gsansom

good lord...... I had no idea it would be THAT bad..

my fiance bought it for me. i donno what to do now, if i go out and buy another one i am not sure how that would look....

i do very much appreciate the honest feedback though, could you fine people recommend a low cost alternative? thanks!

G

if glen wants to try it, send it to him, he's sometimes nuts, and that's pretty much the only way to definitively put it on the list to avoid in the future. actually glen swears one of these cheapo razors he tried was useful, so we really don't know.
a low cost alternative would be either the entry level dovos, the wapienica (if they are still around), the double arrows, or my preferred choice, a vintage blade.

i'm sure that your fiance will rather have you with all your skin on your face, than using the stuff she gave you. she clearly wanted to give you a nice gift and just didn't know better. if that's going to be an issue, you probably need to work on the relationship a bit more before you tie the knot

As I understand it Leavitt and Pierce is a smoke shop, evidently they sold razors as a sideline curiosity. Go down there and see what else they have like maybe a dovo, thiers issard or something similar, tell your GF that you really appreciate the razor and are very excited about it, but you saw another one at the shop that intrigues you more and would like to exchange or trade up. Then take the razor with the reciept and do so. If its not possible due to store policy, then tell the GF the God awful truth after showing her this thread. Then with her blessing take the razor and the receipt and get a refund using the money to buy a decent, honestly "shave ready" razor from someone here at SRP.

Hopefully Glen's test shave won't take the edge off of it . Or it might be just fine.

but if that doesn't work out:

1) For probably around a grand you could get a custom razor maker to duplicate that one precisely, even right down to the color, but made out of the finest steel. Fiance would never know.

2) Explain to the fiance that it's an absolutely beautiful piece but it's a display razor. Like they do with swords and not meant to be used. That it's inspired you to buy another one to start straight shaving with. Then get a nice wooden cradle for it and put it up front in the hutch.

3) Lie through your teeth. Get a different one to shave with and tell her you only paid $10 for it. Tell her that the Venus is such a nice one and especially since it came from her that you want to preserve it in brand new condition just to look at and remember. (heh, she might have been drawn to that one because of the brand name right? Goddess of love and everything). Might work.