Flintstone65
Imagining solutions for imaginary problems
I’d like to introduce my Legion Extranjera, originally from Argentina. Please note that all pics are thumbnail sized but will expand to full-size if you click on them.
I am drawn to razors for a variety of reasons: they have a history, they are unusual in design or provenance or they just speak to me on a personal level. The Legion Extranjera (LE) ticks all of these boxes for me.
The information on the LE as a company is fairly sparse, especially for a non-spanish speaking razor researcher. Waits’ Compendium has a blurb:
And there is a very old B&B thread on the LE with a reference to the makers (i.e., the Sola family).
Legion Estranjera
As for unusual design -- the LE is indeed a rare bird, at least in my experience. The top cap is an open comb, but the bottom plate is a fairly large safety bar with lather holes. My initial thought was that this is a “Frankenrazor”, however the parts have the same coloration/plating, and I feel fairly certain that this razor was likely produced this way. That said, I’ve never seen another LE like this in pictures, and I can’t recall seeing this OC top cap setup with a safety bar before either.
Then there is the name and insignia/brand. Legion Extranjera (translation Foreign Legion), and of course the brand mark is a fairly-detailed picture of a Foreign Legion soldier. You can see the rifle, hat and even hands…pretty intricate work. [insert pics]
While the design and graphics caught my eye, what really sealed the deal for me is that it is an Argentinian razor. One of the most extraordinary people I have had the pleasure of knowing was from Argentina, and so this razor has a personal connection for me.
But how does it shave? Crazy close with almost no blade feel. The razor has a large blade gap, but very little blade exposure -- I’m doing this all visually, no quantitative measurements taken.
So the razor feels rather mild, but it will absolutely bite. It also seems like side is more aggressive than the other....but not so much so that I can state that definitively.
I started with a brand new Voskhod blade and by riding the cap (that is my modus operandi with a new razor) and it cut nice and smoothly, but if I rode the cap just a little too much, I managed to feel the sharp teeth of the top cap….so there is a bit of a sweet spot. The cutting angle can be varied more than most of my DE’s, but there’s a place where the shave is ultra-smooth and the cutting-efficiency is very-high. This is one of those razors that seems to excel with more facial hair growth versus less:
The Sola brothers produced many “Gillette-Like” razors in Argentina, and apparently ran a thriving blade production company to hold Gillette back from taking over the market for several decades. Does anyone else have a Legion Extranjera? How does it shave for you?
I am drawn to razors for a variety of reasons: they have a history, they are unusual in design or provenance or they just speak to me on a personal level. The Legion Extranjera (LE) ticks all of these boxes for me.
The information on the LE as a company is fairly sparse, especially for a non-spanish speaking razor researcher. Waits’ Compendium has a blurb:
And there is a very old B&B thread on the LE with a reference to the makers (i.e., the Sola family).
Legion Estranjera
As for unusual design -- the LE is indeed a rare bird, at least in my experience. The top cap is an open comb, but the bottom plate is a fairly large safety bar with lather holes. My initial thought was that this is a “Frankenrazor”, however the parts have the same coloration/plating, and I feel fairly certain that this razor was likely produced this way. That said, I’ve never seen another LE like this in pictures, and I can’t recall seeing this OC top cap setup with a safety bar before either.
Then there is the name and insignia/brand. Legion Extranjera (translation Foreign Legion), and of course the brand mark is a fairly-detailed picture of a Foreign Legion soldier. You can see the rifle, hat and even hands…pretty intricate work. [insert pics]
While the design and graphics caught my eye, what really sealed the deal for me is that it is an Argentinian razor. One of the most extraordinary people I have had the pleasure of knowing was from Argentina, and so this razor has a personal connection for me.
But how does it shave? Crazy close with almost no blade feel. The razor has a large blade gap, but very little blade exposure -- I’m doing this all visually, no quantitative measurements taken.
So the razor feels rather mild, but it will absolutely bite. It also seems like side is more aggressive than the other....but not so much so that I can state that definitively.
I started with a brand new Voskhod blade and by riding the cap (that is my modus operandi with a new razor) and it cut nice and smoothly, but if I rode the cap just a little too much, I managed to feel the sharp teeth of the top cap….so there is a bit of a sweet spot. The cutting angle can be varied more than most of my DE’s, but there’s a place where the shave is ultra-smooth and the cutting-efficiency is very-high. This is one of those razors that seems to excel with more facial hair growth versus less:
- My first shave was with at least 40 hours of growth, and after 2 passes I was glassy-smooth. I usually need an injector or Micromatic OC to get that smooth that quickly. I did a spot touch-up and then marveled for hours and hours afterward about how long the shave lasted. No blood, no irritation, but my face felt “tingly”.
- My second shave was with only 30 hours of growth -- and there wasn’t much growth given the first shave -- and that took 3 passes. During this shave I was trying all sorts of techniques and I managed a nick and a bleeder. I also over-shaved by doing that full-on 3rd pass, so I had a little bit of neck irritation. I checked an hour after the shave and the irritation was gone, and the nick and bleeder was easily addressed with an alum block. The shave itself was extremely close….so much so that I didn’t need a shave 36 hours later (which is when I had planned my next shave) and I’m now going to be waiting another day for a shave. Now I’m not saying I was stubble free after 36 hours, but given the efficiency of the razor, and it’s preference for longer growth, I decided to wait a bit.
The Sola brothers produced many “Gillette-Like” razors in Argentina, and apparently ran a thriving blade production company to hold Gillette back from taking over the market for several decades. Does anyone else have a Legion Extranjera? How does it shave for you?
