First shave with the Valet Razor PIF from @matwho

A couple of weeks ago I won a PIF from [MENTION=107938]matwho[/MENTION]. The thread is here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/484845-SE-Valet-PIF.

Here are some pics of the razor:


This morning I loaded it up with one of the included blades and gave it a try. The razor itself performed well. Loading the blade was not difficult. Shaving with it was easy enough. I like that it was easy to get under my nose with it. It was not hard to find a good angle with it and I only got two small nicks. However, the blade itself left quite a bit to be desired. It scraped, pulled, and dragged across my face. I only gave it one pass with a few touch-ups and even with that it gave me some serious razor burn. I want to like the razor, but I am going to have to find some blades that agree with my face if I am going to keep using it.

Thanks [MENTION=107938]matwho[/MENTION] for giving me the chance to try this razor out. It is an interesting design and a good quality razor. I just wish my face didn't disagree with the blade I used.

Those were not Gem blades. I don't remember what they were but I think most of the SE shavers recommend Gems.

matwho said:

Those were not Gem blades. I don't remember what they were but I think most of the SE shavers recommend Gems.

Click to expand...

Then I will pickup some GEM blades to give it another try.

You can buy a few of each from tryablade.com to see which work best for you. The ptfe (Teflon coated) were the smoothest and last a few more shaves for me than the regular Gem stainless or the blue star.

As others have mentioned, the Gem ptfe coated stainless steel blade, de-spined and with the corners clipped, works well in your razor.

You can also use the Feather FHS blade, which is a stainless steel blade that will fit with no modifications. This blade has received a lot of attention lately as it is the blade used in the OneBlade razor - but you can try it without dropping $300 on a OneBlade.

These blades may not last as long as the Gems, but some find them smoother.

They can be found at Bullgoose, Connaught Shaving, Razor Blades and More, Amazon, etc.

--Bob

Try quarking the blade the first time you use it. When I was primarily SE I found it made a big difference in the first shave.

Thanks for the suggestions [MENTION=99168]polishaver[/MENTION], [MENTION=85505]spidey9[/MENTION], and [MENTION=107721]RockyMountainWetShave[/MENTION]. I will definitely give your suggestions a try.