did anybody here make good experiences with a weishi?

[zatoichi]

Gents,

I pulled out my Weishi DE yesterday. It was my first metal DE (my first DE ever being the Wilkinson classic) and I did not remember it fondly. Actually, I bougth it as an "Becker ERBE Solingen" razor, it was only later that I discovered that it has nothing to do with Solingen but it is mere the location of the company that distributes it with their own name and that it is in fact made in China. Boy, was I angry when I finished the shave, torn up and bleeding all over.
The razor has got uneven blade exposure, is composed of quite thin metal and makes a metallic sound when I shake it, so something must be loose inside. Overall, I am not pleased with it`s quality and had to hold myself not to thrash it directly after the shave. I shave with DEs for more than one year now and I always get great shaves with my Gillettes.
Has anybody encountered the same problem with Weishis or is it just me?

[Aevum]

alot of people think solingen is a company, there might be a company called solingen, but its also a german city known for its steel and metal works, alot of european shaving and metal manufacutrers have set up shop there, gillette, wilkinson, dovo, manufacture there,

so expect alot of european manufactured razors and blades to have solingen written somewhere on them,

theres a review of the weishi in the review section, but in the end, its a cheap chinese knock off of gillette non ajustables from the 50´s,
parker also makes gillette knock offs, their not very good, but you can shave with them under some conditions, i put my Parker 96R next to my Superadjustable, and started laughting, the colors, shapes, everything was the same except for the missing ajustment knob, the longer handle and the cheap head on the parker.

like putting a popstation nexto to a PSP

[arcman]

I believe Mantic likes his Weishi, Leisureguy, too (http://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2007/09/06/shea-and-weishi/).

It could be a YMMV thing, although you can't rule out quality control issues, either.

[zatoichi]

Solingen is not a company, Solingen is a town.
The company carries the town in it`s name to show that they are located in Solingen. It is some kind of advertisement, because products from Solingen are well known for their quality.
Unfortunatly, this company seems to have started putting Weishi razors into cardbord-boxes with their company`s name on and selling them under their own brand name.
I got already suspicious that there was no "Germany" on the razor itself.

So beware of this company, if you want to get Germany quality.

Such companies are really ruining the reputation of Solingen-products :mad: .

[arcman]

How much was it?
I mean, usually if you're buying imported goods and they're not from China, you know this because you feel it in the wallet. :biggrin:

90% of the cheap stuff we get these days is imported from China (cheap labor, ahoy!). I know at least one online vendor sells Weishi DE's for twenty bucks, or even less if you get 'em in bulk.

[zatoichi]

It was a little bit more than 20 Euro, which is already quite a bold price, if you consider that you can get a Merkur here in Germany (not the HD, a simpler one) for about 20 Euro.
Still, I was unexperienced about DEs then and liked the Butterfly mechanism when I saw it in the internet.
And finally, I thougth that with German quality, you can`t be wrong.

[Aevum]

thats the funny part, for the price of a parker or a weishi you have a feather popular,

one is chinese, one is indian, and one is japanese, which one would you buy ?

[Belegnole]

As we have a fondness for a style of shaving that is not as popular I have noticed a couple of things. First there are differing viewpoints on almost all of the differing components making up the shave. Second that YMMV...lol. Third that Quality from ALL the razor companies is suspect. Merkur a favorite (I own two soon to be 4...5.) of many casts many of their razors/parts. Their casting and finishing technique would get me fired. Still they are not doing what I do, and most of the clickers are found before we get them. Any knock-off of a Gillette is considered inferior, with some limited exceptions. The Weishi being one of the largest current Gillette knock-offs has had some fans and many detractors. I believe that the actually have recently done some updates on their razor to improve them.

[zatoichi]

thats the funny part, for the price of a parker or a weishi you have a feather popular,

one is chinese, one is indian, and one is japanese, which one would you buy ?

The Japanese, of course, though not the Feather popular but rather the feather travel razor that looks like a copy of the tech. It seems to be difficult to find in Europe, unfortunatly.
If Weishi could improve their quality, it would really be great. I have seen those Weishis that come in a blue case with a mirror, and they look gorgeous!

[Belegnole]

I've been temped on the Weishis, but just not enough.....yet. RAD may bite me and I'll end up with one.."just because".

[MotoMike]

I think through Giovanni, you can get them in a blister pack for $13 bucks each.

http://www.razorandbrush.com/chrome.html

They look sweet. Not a carbon copy of the SS but, the similarity can't be denied.

If you have watched Chinese industrial complex, you will have to admit that they are no longer making only junk at fire sale prices. True there is a lot of that going on, but now they are buying all the tooling from Germany, US, Japan to produce the things that Germany, US and Japan want to buy. They can produce a copy of a Swiss watch that watch makers must view to tell it is a copy. They have produced parts that somehow make it into the US automakers parts bins undetected. I sort of see it like the Japanese were viewed when I was a kid. Cheap stuff cheap. Then it changed and Japan now is revered for producing quality products. I think that evolution is happening in China, good or bad, it is happening.

Regards,

Mike

[Roman414]

Exactly, Motomike. Time was, "made in Japan" meant inferior junk, but no more. I see the same thing happening with at least some Chinese products. Like musical intruments. They are making midrange violins now that can easily hold their own, quality-wise, with European models selling for two or three times as much. That wasn't true even five or six years ago. I don't know about Weishi razors, but that gold-and-chrome one is a good-looking razor!

[Aevum]

the funny part, the parket is made in india, the weishi is made in china, but the feather popular is NOT made in japan, there has been much talk about the feather popular being the treet starline DE razor, so, i might have to retract from my earlier post, becuase my expiriances with products from the treet corporation have been quite bad,

[dickenscpa]

I picked up a Weishi the week before Thanksgiving. I'm a str8t razor guy, but needed a backup for many different reasons. I intended on buying a Merkur from a local shop. All he had in stock was the slant for $54.95. I assumed the regular would be similar in price, but he took forever to get them restocked. I finally saw them on display yesterday. I'd been trying to get one since the end of September. He had a long handle for $38.95 and a short handle for $41.95.

While I was waiting I picked the Weishi up at an e-bay store called Gourmet Rose. He had about 100 of them and I think still has about 40 left, for a Buy Now of $16.11. Figure I couldn't lose much and I've been very tickled with it. I was not happy with the Dorco blades that came with it. 'Course that's more of a personal preference. However, the Dollar General Made in Israel blades in this razor has done me very well. No complaints and the quality on mine is just fine.

I'm fairly new to DE's so I couldn't come to a conclusion on what model Merkur he was selling nor could he. I do know a good wet shave in terms of closeness, lack of irritation and ingrowns. The Weishi isn't very aggressive, but a decent blade for an individual's beard and I get a good shave with two passes everywhere except a few small places that require three. I can't do the BBS thing for my beard because of the ingrowns. With a str8t or DE, I'm getting a presentable shave that lasts a good portion of the day and an irritation and ingrown free neck. All I ask for.

I have been able to convert my secretary's husband off of disposable Bics and my little brother off of electric due to that $16.11 price. My brother is very happy so far. His beard obviously resembles mine and his irritation has dramatically reduced going to a DE as opposed to cartridges and electric, in less than two weeks. Sec.'s husband, I don't know yet, it's part of his Christmas.

[Aevum]

carefull with the secretary... :)

[dickenscpa]

carefull with the secretary... :)

LOL! You ought to see my secretary. I purposely hire completely undesirable women for two reasons 1) Ugly women work better without all the guys in the company hanging around their desk and 2) My wife gives them one look and never has to give it a thought again.:wink2:

Ever heard the song, "If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make and ugly women your wife."

Also the song, "Older women, make better lovers."

I of course wanted a young beautiful wife, but for ladies on my staff I merged those two songs and came up with "ugly and old women make good workers." Served me well for 15 years!LOL!

[zatoichi]

@dickenscpa: How is the quality of the box that comes with the razors? Will it fall apart after a short time or is it a solid box for travelling?

[dickenscpa]

@dickenscpa: How is the quality of the box that comes with the razors? Will it fall apart after a short time or is it a solid box for travelling?

It's OK, I'm not a traveler myself so it would be fine for me taking the tribe cross-country twice a year. A real traveler I could see it failing. There's a mirror in the lid portion and a decent knock would probably dislodge it.

The hinge mechanism is basically two plastic male studs pointing inward on the bottom. The top has two female pieces that receive them. It's a better hinge system than say the plastic shell case you get with a Braun electric. You could probably get a look see at one of those. It has a hinge that's basically a thinner part that's flexible. After so many opens/closes they sever.

The case itself is fairly thick, but I think for any serious travel I'd go ahead and remove the mirror on my terms as opposed to opening in the hotel and digging shards of glass from my hand. Other than that the only stand out weak point is the way it latches. Really doesn't take much to open it. I can see it opening on its own easily. As a matter of fact, it has come open in my shaving bag, that's inside my gym bag, going 2 miles to the gym. I keep a rubber band around it.

I can post some close up pics of it if you like. No problem, I'm not doing anything constructive any way. Barely a step above watching TV in my boxers while eating Cheetos!LOL!:lol:

[jpweston]

<YMMV>

I've found the Weishi I have to just be OK. It was the first DE razor I used, so initially, I had no basis of comparison. Now that I have tried many other razors, the Weishi does not get a lot of use.

However, I must say that I was inspired by guenron's SOTDs (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showpost.php?p=375172&postcount=3) which make use of the Weishi/Feather combo. Last week, I dusted off the Weishi and popped in a fresh Feather. The combo was a success for me, so I am looking to work in the Weishi whenever I use a Feather blade.

I haven't noticed a problem with uneven blade exposure on my Weishi razor and it feels fairly well built. My biggest issue with it is that it's so tame. It doesn't take much lather to keep the razor from doing it's job.

</YMMV>

j.

[TimmyBoston]

I've not used one myself, but I've heard primarily very negative things about Welshi's. A good razor like an HD are very inexpensive considering that it will last a lifetime. If it were me, I'd spend a few more dollars and buy a quality product.

Good luck

[zatoichi]

Well, I think I have to attenuate my criticism of the Weishi. I tried mine again today and I was pleasantly surprised. It performed quite well, this time with a new Gillette blade. Last time was a Wilkinson blade that I had already used for some shaves. I also noticed that Wilkinson blades can pretend uneven blade exposure, as the swords of the company stick out just on one side of the blade, making this side looking more exposed than the other side, I could not find uneven blade exposure with the Gillette blade.
To make it short, Weishis are in my opinion not of equal quality than a superspeed but they are cheap and can be a good beginner`s razor or make a suitable cheap travel razor that can be replaced easily when being lost. I also like the texture of the handle which gives a good grip. Finally, I appreciate for every company that makes the selection of new made DEs bigger for us.

[Mojo88]

I recently returned to wet shaving a few months ago and the initial razor I purchased was a Weishi. The first shaves were what I remember when I started started shaving in the 70s. Those shaves were uninspiring to say the least, however I decided to stick with it and purchased a sampler blade pack. The use of a Crystal blade and better technique proved to be a winning combination. I have since purchased other DE razors but would recommend the Weishi for someone starting or for travel. Also many thanks to Kyle for his pre-shave prep. If you haven't tried it do youself a favor and give it a go.

[zatoichi]

It`s a nice razor. It took a while for me until I could appreciate it. It gives a good shave and what I like best is that it can be replaced easily if it gets lost/damaged as it is still made.
I suppose that if you should do a travel and you loose your razor in the hotel room, you will be glad if it was the Weishi rather than your grandfather`s razor.

[zatoichi]

Yes. Exactly. And, in the event I lose the Weishi I can feel reassured that when I buy another one I am supporting the glorious communist industrial superpower that is China!

:001_unsur

Well, one more won`t make a difference. Western countries made themselves completely dependent on Chinese production anyway... :blush:

[MooingLizard]

Well, one more won`t make a difference. Western countries made themselves completely dependent on Chinese production anyway... :blush:

And on China's purchases of our government debt (isn't it nice how they're loaning us money to fund our consumerist addictions to their manufactured goods?), but that's another issue altogether...:cool:

[zatoichi]

And on China's purchases of our government debt (isn't it nice how they're loaning us money to fund our consumerist addictions to their manufactured goods?), but that's another issue altogether...:cool:

Yep, they are playing the capitalistic game quite well :001_unsur

[Simpleminded Rob]

Weishi's are usually denigrated readily, but I honestly fail to find this justified and wonder whether the detractors have actually used one. I have no way of gauging Weishi quality over time & space, but the one I have looks and feels like a Superspeed and to me gives equivalent shaves. In contrast to others, I was actually impressed when I examined the Weishi and although I have never used the blue plastic box it came in, I can see that it would be a bonus for travel.

I prefer Merkurs (Progress especially) over both the old Gillettes and the Weishi, but I honestly cannot say that my Gillette Superspeed is superior to the Weishi. As a scientist, I must say this is anecdotal rather than experimental, because n=1 for each.

[brooklynlou]

Weishi's are usually denigrated readily, but I honestly fail to find this justified and wonder whether the detractors have actually used one. I have no way of gauging Weishi quality over time & space, but the one I have looks and feels like a Superspeed and to me gives equivalent shaves. In contrast to others, I was actually impressed when I examined the Weishi and although I have never used the blue plastic box it came in, I can see that it would be a bonus for travel.

I prefer Merkurs (Progress especially) over both the old Gillettes and the Weishi, but I honestly cannot say that my Gillette Superspeed is superior to the Weishi. As a scientist, I must say this is anecdotal rather than experimental, because n=1 for each.

You're right, the denigration is not justified. Weishi's are good little razors. :thumbup1:

They always give me a nice shave (used my chrome Weishi this morning ...). Its basically a heavier and slightly gentler variation of the Gillette SS.

I actually prefer them over the SS because of the extra weight. I can just let the weight of the Weishi do the work where with the SS, because they are so light, I have to apply a tiny smidge of pressure (which has caused me the occasional nick or two).

Another reason why they're great for travel is because of how unaggressive they are. If you don't know what the water is going to be like where you travel to, I'd rather take an extra pass with the Weishi, than one pass too many from some more aggressive razor.