I have been DE shaving since February 2013 & have amassed a collection of about 50 DE razors, both contemporary & vintage. At the end of September I acquired my first SE razor, a polished B2 Mongoose. I have now used the Mongoose for the whole of October & it has been a “game changer” for me, being both my smoothest shaving & my closest shaving razor.
My Mongoose purchase was for the head only, which was fine with me, as the Mongoose handles look a big too big for my liking. I have a several spare stainless steel handles, but finally settled on my thin (13mm) UFO Tornado, which Rafael made as a “special” for me a year, or so back. The Tornado best matches the highly polished finish of the Mongoose & it also felt the best balanced. With the Tornado attached, the balance point is where the knurling ends at the neck of the handle, which I would describe as being neutral balance, i.e. not head heavy, or handle heavy.
For blades, I bought a pack of Feather Professional Supers. At the time of my purchase, I did not realise that these were the most aggressive blades that fit the Mongoose. I had used Feathers in my DE razors without too much drama & I figured that as these blades were “Super”, they would be superior to the non-super Feather Professional blades. As it happens, I think I made the right choice as I find the Supers to be very forgiving, yet very efficient.
My only slight gripe is that I don’t get the number of shaves out of the Feather Supers that other shavers have reported they achieve. The most shaves I have got from a blade is 11, but this 11[SUP]th[/SUP] shave was quite tuggy & the blade had lost a lot of efficiency. In fact I had to re-lather & do a 4[SUP]th[/SUP] pass with my Weber PH. I start seeing deterioration in shave quality on the 8[SUP]th[/SUP] shave, after an excellent 7[SUP]th[/SUP] shave, so I bin my blades after shave 7. I bin DE blades after only 3 shaves, but they are a lot cheaper.
The Mongoose did not require much adjustment of my DE razor technique & was very intuitive to use. The correct angle was easy to find & from my first shave, I obtained excellent results. During my first shave, on the initial WTG pass, I did experience some slight tugging, but the XTG & ATG passes were super smooth. I think my WTG strokes were too short & I now use longer stokes & the WTG pass is also super smooth. It did however take me two shaves before I stopped flipping the razor head to use the other, nonexistent, blade edge!
I shave daily & the Mongoose is a perfect “daily driver”, as is so well behaved. I can throw it about my face, without much fear of personal injury. Other razors that provide a similar close shave, such as my ATT H2, require much more concentration on my part. The Mongoose performs well on the problem areas of my face, which are my lower neck, where skipping blades cause ingrown hairs & my upper lip, where my beard growth is at its most dense. My Mongoose is also the perfect razor for shaving under my nostrils, as the blade goes right to the side edges of the razor head & there are no blade tabs to cause nicks, so I can poke the corner of the head right inside my nostrils & cut every bristle.
Since my Mongoose purchase, I have already acquired two more SE razors, a Gem MM OC & an Ever Ready Streamline Jewel. I am a weak man, but my Mongoose was looking a bit lonely! These vintage SE razors are similar in proportions to my DE razors, whereas the Mongoose still seems like a bit of a giant, making even my Tradere look a bit small by comparison.
My Mongoose
Tradere, Mongoose & BBS-1
Ever Ready Streamline, Mongoose & Gem MM OC
My Mongoose purchase was for the head only, which was fine with me, as the Mongoose handles look a big too big for my liking. I have a several spare stainless steel handles, but finally settled on my thin (13mm) UFO Tornado, which Rafael made as a “special” for me a year, or so back. The Tornado best matches the highly polished finish of the Mongoose & it also felt the best balanced. With the Tornado attached, the balance point is where the knurling ends at the neck of the handle, which I would describe as being neutral balance, i.e. not head heavy, or handle heavy.
For blades, I bought a pack of Feather Professional Supers. At the time of my purchase, I did not realise that these were the most aggressive blades that fit the Mongoose. I had used Feathers in my DE razors without too much drama & I figured that as these blades were “Super”, they would be superior to the non-super Feather Professional blades. As it happens, I think I made the right choice as I find the Supers to be very forgiving, yet very efficient.
My only slight gripe is that I don’t get the number of shaves out of the Feather Supers that other shavers have reported they achieve. The most shaves I have got from a blade is 11, but this 11[SUP]th[/SUP] shave was quite tuggy & the blade had lost a lot of efficiency. In fact I had to re-lather & do a 4[SUP]th[/SUP] pass with my Weber PH. I start seeing deterioration in shave quality on the 8[SUP]th[/SUP] shave, after an excellent 7[SUP]th[/SUP] shave, so I bin my blades after shave 7. I bin DE blades after only 3 shaves, but they are a lot cheaper.
The Mongoose did not require much adjustment of my DE razor technique & was very intuitive to use. The correct angle was easy to find & from my first shave, I obtained excellent results. During my first shave, on the initial WTG pass, I did experience some slight tugging, but the XTG & ATG passes were super smooth. I think my WTG strokes were too short & I now use longer stokes & the WTG pass is also super smooth. It did however take me two shaves before I stopped flipping the razor head to use the other, nonexistent, blade edge!
I shave daily & the Mongoose is a perfect “daily driver”, as is so well behaved. I can throw it about my face, without much fear of personal injury. Other razors that provide a similar close shave, such as my ATT H2, require much more concentration on my part. The Mongoose performs well on the problem areas of my face, which are my lower neck, where skipping blades cause ingrown hairs & my upper lip, where my beard growth is at its most dense. My Mongoose is also the perfect razor for shaving under my nostrils, as the blade goes right to the side edges of the razor head & there are no blade tabs to cause nicks, so I can poke the corner of the head right inside my nostrils & cut every bristle.
Since my Mongoose purchase, I have already acquired two more SE razors, a Gem MM OC & an Ever Ready Streamline Jewel. I am a weak man, but my Mongoose was looking a bit lonely! These vintage SE razors are similar in proportions to my DE razors, whereas the Mongoose still seems like a bit of a giant, making even my Tradere look a bit small by comparison.
My Mongoose
Tradere, Mongoose & BBS-1
Ever Ready Streamline, Mongoose & Gem MM OC
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