Green Cult Steel Razor

[LRod]

The GC has double the blade exposure and that is undeniable.

It's strange that I had level II, III & IV and never felt that heavy blade exposure from level III & IV. I could tell that it had more than level II but not a huge difference. What I could tell though was the reduced smoothness as compared to the level II. I have other razors that are supposed to have less blade exposure than the GC III & IV and I feel the blade more with those. Anyways, since my shaving life revolves around buying, trying and keeping what I like most, my GC 2.0's got sold. In the end, I kept the 1.1's in two different finishes. I actually found the 1.1 to be my favorite GC.
It's equivalent to the 2.0 level II and just seems to shave better for me. Maybe it's the handle (which I love)/weight/balance?
I don't know but I really love that razor!

As for the OP's question, I wish I could help but I've never owned a Blackbird. And I do own a Timeless .68 but not the .95!

 

[RJB42]

It's strange that I had level II, III & IV and never felt that heavy blade exposure from level III & IV. I could tell that it had more than level II but not a huge difference. What I could tell though was the reduced smoothness as compared to the level II. I have other razors that are supposed to have less blade exposure than the GC III & IV and I feel the blade more with those. Anyways, since my shaving life revolves around buying, trying and keeping what I like most, my GC 2.0's got sold. In the end, I kept the 1.1's in two different finishes. I actually found the 1.1 to be my favorite GC.
It's equivalent to the 2.0 level II and just seems to shave better for me. Maybe it's the handle (which I love)/weight/balance?
I don't know but I really love that razor!

As for the OP's question, I wish I could help but I've never owned a Blackbird. And I do own a Timeless .68 but not the .95!

The perspective is much appreciated! Thank you.

I personally just can't get a good shave out of the .68 timeless. If I stick to a 3-pass shave and no touchup I'm not irritated, but no where near smooth. The .95 is almost there as far as perfect for me but I don't like the amount of touchup needed. The only other razor I've had is a 34C. Perhaps I'm chasing the wrong metric in more exposure = less passes for me, but it's the only variable I've been able to see a clear difference in for my face.

 

[LRod]

The perspective is much appreciated! Thank you.

I personally just can't get a good shave out of the .68 timeless. If I stick to a 3-pass shave and no touchup I'm not irritated, but no where near smooth. The .95 is almost there as far as perfect for me but I don't like the amount of touchup needed. The only other razor I've had is a 34C. Perhaps I'm chasing the wrong metric in more exposure = less passes for me, but it's the only variable I've been able to see a clear difference in for my face.

I'll quickly tell you my experience:
I shave daily (2 passes), hard whiskers and just chase a DFS that lasts throughout the workday. I don't aim for BBS as I don't like ATG shaving. It irritates me!
My preferred razor is one that can accomplish this while giving a smooth shave with a mid-aggressive feel.
So I've tried tons of razors in all different price ranges with all sorts of geometries.
My discovery (that took me over to years to find out):
Blade gap/blade exposure don't mean anything!
I have razors with huge blade gaps and small exposure, small blade gaps with big exposure, etc..., etc..
And some work and some simply don't!
So that metric you mention that we use as a guide is sometimes flawed.
What I'm trying to say is that the numbers don't always equate to what is expected of the performance we desire.
I discovered this by trying those tons of razors I've mentioned. In the end, my favorites don't even match each other in terms of specifications. But they all do what I like in a shave. Weird but true!
Anyways, that's been my experience in a nutshell!

 

[sidpost]

The perspective is much appreciated! Thank you.

I personally just can't get a good shave out of the .68 timeless. If I stick to a 3-pass shave and no touchup I'm not irritated, but no where near smooth. The .95 is almost there as far as perfect for me but I don't like the amount of touchup needed. The only other razor I've had is a 34C. Perhaps I'm chasing the wrong metric in more exposure = less passes for me, but it's the only variable I've been able to see a clear difference in for my face.

You might want to consider the Edwin Jagger 3one6 or Muhle Rocca for DE options.

For what I see from your posts, a SE razor is what I would suggest. A Schick Injector or an AC variant like a Yaqi Excalibur are relatively cheap and provide an awesome shave for my face and whiskers. For the Excalibur, get the high polish shiny chrome version and pair it with the handle of your choice; the matte version and that skinny handle didn't work that well for me.

 

[JAHE]

Reviving the thread... plate III.
So nice.

Plate III meets a sweetspot for me in terms of efficiency, blade feel and smoothness.

 

[RJB42]

I also really like the III plate. I've been bouncing between the II, III, and IV plate the past couple weeks with two different blades - the Nacet and the Dorco ST300 (HQ).

I originally thought the III plate was a bit harsher than the II plate, but at the time I had been experimenting with the ST300 blades and they're definitely not as sharp as the Nacet blades (but very smooth feeling). I think the increased exposure of the III plate made the duller blade "catch" on hairs and that was what was making it feel rough. With my usual blades (Nacet) I don't notice this and it's a nice shave which is definitely more efficient than the II plate by a noticeable degree.

The IV plate is also quite enjoyable with the Nacet blades and also a step up in efficiency. With both the III and IV (IV more so), more attention needs to be given to prevent damage and it's not as mindless as the II plate.

When I bought this, I was on the bent of needing more exposure than my Timeless .95 (0.05 mm exposure), and the #1 plate has that exposure. Has anyone tried the #1 plate and. kept it? I left it off my order, but wonder if it would perhaps be interesting given that it has half the gap of the Timeless. I could see it still requiring the number of passes I did with the Timeless, but it being a gentler experience due to the reduced gap.

Another question for those who have tried both the GreenCult 2.0 and the Blackbird - which one do you like better, and why? The Blackbird was what I was looking at till I ran into this thread a couple months ago, and it I decided to try this one first. I'm quite happy with it so far, but wonder a bit how I would have liked the Blackbird.

 

[gdawg55]

Reviving the thread... plate III.
So nice.

View attachment 1708901

Plate III meets a sweetspot for me in terms of efficiency, blade feel and smoothness.

I prefer plate III as well. I don’t use mine as often as other razors but it does shave well. I’ve gotten used to Ti razors and the GC feels massive and heavy.

 

[deafficianado]

Reviving the thread... plate III.
So nice.

View attachment 1708901

Plate III meets a sweetspot for me in terms of efficiency, blade feel and smoothness.

Count me in with the plate III preferred category. Just the right balance of blade feel, comfort, and efficiency.

I prefer plate III as well. I don’t use mine as often as other razors but it does shave well. I’ve gotten used to Ti razors and the GC feels massive and heavy.

I agree. The design of this razor head not being lean and in stainless adds in weight. This razor in titanium or aluminum would be great.

 

[old_pine]

Another question for those who have tried both the GreenCult 2.0 and the Blackbird - which one do you like better, and why? The Blackbird was what I was looking at till I ran into this thread a couple months ago, and it I decided to try this one first. I'm quite happy with it so far, but wonder a bit how I would have liked the Blackbird.

I've tried both and they're different in most ways but similar in the "blade feel" department for me. Full disclosure, I didn't really like either one of them but here goes: The GC2.0 is really a great value but it is certainly heavy where as the BB is a work of art and wonderfully balanced. The GC felt like it would do best at neutral/steep angles whereas the BB I could never quite figure out the angle. The GC was certainly more forgiving as I was prone to just let the weight fall sometimes and that would give me more pressure than I needed but no worries (Plate 2) and the BB felt like if I wasn't going super super light it could bite me. No here is an interesting difference: the blade clamping on the GC was far firmer than on the BB. Why does that matter for me? Because I tend to shave every day and when I needed to remove that coarse stubble, I felt like I needed the "firmer" hold on the blade to drive it steadily. Sometimes the BB felt like it would just chatter when going XTG or ATG BUT again I didn't like it and I know that plenty of folks have great success with it going XTG and ATG. Gap and Exposure (GC Plate 2) certainly did feel similar between the two. All in all, my only complaint with the GC was the weight - my daily driver is a Yates 921 with an H plate for reference and while I could certainly see the value in both the GC and the BB... I just couldn't get them to jive how I like. Hope that helps and as always, YMMV!

 

[RJB42]

I've tried both and they're different in most ways but similar in the "blade feel" department for me. Full disclosure, I didn't really like either one of them but here goes: The GC2.0 is really a great value but it is certainly heavy where as the BB is a work of art and wonderfully balanced. The GC felt like it would do best at neutral/steep angles whereas the BB I could never quite figure out the angle. The GC was certainly more forgiving as I was prone to just let the weight fall sometimes and that would give me more pressure than I needed but no worries (Plate 2) and the BB felt like if I wasn't going super super light it could bite me. No here is an interesting difference: the blade clamping on the GC was far firmer than on the BB. Why does that matter for me? Because I tend to shave every day and when I needed to remove that coarse stubble, I felt like I needed the "firmer" hold on the blade to drive it steadily. Sometimes the BB felt like it would just chatter when going XTG or ATG BUT again I didn't like it and I know that plenty of folks have great success with it going XTG and ATG. Gap and Exposure (GC Plate 2) certainly did feel similar between the two. All in all, my only complaint with the GC was the weight - my daily driver is a Yates 921 with an H plate for reference and while I could certainly see the value in both the GC and the BB... I just couldn't get them to jive how I like. Hope that helps and as always, YMMV!

Awesome comparison - thank you. The clamping relative to the two was an interesting analysis.

 

[LRod]

I've since sold both of my 2.0's!
I ended up keeping my 1.1's (2 of them).
In the end I found it to be a better razor for me.
It shaves exactly like the level II 2.0 (same specs.) and seems more balanced.
I'm typically not a "long handle" guy but the 1.1's longer handle is really special.
It just works!

 

[Iridian]

I've since sold both of my 2.0's!
I ended up keeping my 1.1's (2 of them).
In the end I found it to be a better razor for me.
It shaves exactly like the level II 2.0 (same specs.) and seems more balanced.
I'm typically not a "long handle" guy but the 1.1's longer handle is really special.
It just works!

I could have written that. I didn't get along with the handle of the GC 2.0 ever, like the original handle way more.
I also loved the machined finish of the GC 1.0 head WAY more than the dull bead blast of the 2.0, no matter if they call it "satin", it just wasn't my thing. It shaved fine, but I don't love it.

 

[JAHE]

I wonder what happened to Greencult's approach of offering open comb plates... they were announced to be offered for spring 2023. Unfortunately, Gteencult went sort of silent on this...?!

As per the handle, I guess it boils down to personal preferences. No doubt about this, the razor is a HEAVY beast, but the head/handle proportion is balanced (to me, at least).

If anything I'd likely prefer a rounded top cap. But the default prism shaped one doesn't overly annoy me. There you have it, preferences.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I sold both my Green Cult 2.0s as well..... but only because I had the Blutt BR-1 in both 0.86 and 1.20 blade gaps.

I know this is heresy to some of you, but I put a Timeless Titanium Crown handle on the Green Cult 2.0 and it made a world of difference.... I do the same with the Blutt BR-1 and quite a few other razors. It cuts off around an ounce compared to the OEM handles. Now, it does shift the balance to the razor head, away from the handle. I prefer that but it's a personal choice, obviously... you always have to add the beloved "YMMV".

 

[Multum in parvo]

I sold both my Green Cult 2.0s as well..... but only because I had the Blutt BR-1 in both 0.86 and 1.20 blade gaps.

I know this is heresy to some of you, but I put a Timeless Titanium Crown handle on the Green Cult 2.0 and it made a world of difference.... I do the same with the Blutt BR-1 and quite a few other razors. It cuts off around an ounce compared to the OEM handles. Now, it does shift the balance to the razor head, away from the handle. I prefer that but it's a personal choice, obviously... you always have to add the beloved "YMMV".

I have the original GC and switched the unwieldy boat anchor of a stock handle to a RR two piece Halo - still heavy but much nicer to shave with.

 

[Beto Salatini]

I wonder what happened to Greencult's approach of offering open comb plates... they were announced to be offered for spring 2023. Unfortunately, Gteencult went sort of silent on this...?!

As per the handle, I guess it boils down to personal preferences. No doubt about this, the razor is a HEAVY beast, but the head/handle proportion is balanced (to me, at least).

If anything I'd likely prefer a rounded top cap. But the default prism shaped one doesn't overly annoy me. There you have it, preferences.

Hello my dear friend!

I just saw this post on the Greencult Razors Instagram profile. I think the OC will be released soon.

razors | bath + kitchen supplies on Instagram: "I know many of you guys have been waiting for a long time. Thank you so much for your support and patience. 🙏🏼 As a family business doing so many things simultaneously has made 2023 an intense year for

56 likes, 9 comments - greencult.euSeptember 12, 2023 on : "I know many of you guys have been waiting for a long time. Thank you so much for your support and patience. 🙏🏼 As a family business...".

www.instagram.com

Have a great end to your Sunday!

Cheers!

 

[Shave Souffle]

Great to see Open Comb plates.

 

[Guido75]

Great find @Beto Salatini - what I find equally interesting is the shine from the cap at the very end of the clip. Somebody appears to have ignored their own beads blast and polished it.

Looking forward to these plates!

 

[tomas1870]

I was able to buy old stock v 1.0 very cheap, it will come next week. Curios how does it shave. Will see

 

[Beto Salatini]

Great find @Beto Salatini - what I find equally interesting is the shine from the cap at the very end of the clip. Somebody appears to have ignored their own beads blast and polished it.

Looking forward to these plates!

Hello dear friend!
I read somewhere in the comments that they had two news, perhaps one is the launch of the OC plates and the other a polished version…

Cheers!