Asylum RX razor

Morning Folks - 1st look and shave of the Asylum RX SE Razor.

It should be noted that I am in NO way affiliated with BullGoose, nor is this an official endorsement or recommendation on behalf B&B, just a client.

Since I do not spend much time here in the SE fora, a bit about me. I have been traditional shaving most of my adult life (now 52) and have a fairly extensive collection of DE's, and straight razors, and for the better part of the last year I have been shaving exclusively with straights and the Feather DX Kamisori. Also, my 1st experience with an SE was not very good, so this review is based on limited experience with SE razors.

As mentioned earlier the fit, finish of this razor is outstanding, the tolerances and fitment are top notch with no noticeable gaps, unfit parts, etc. I do not have calipers, nor a scale, so I will not be reviewing weight I will leave that to the Engineers, LOL

The balance of this razor is also very nice, just below the neck taper, and feels very good in the hand. It was designed to take the Feather Pro-Blade or equivalent, however due to fitment the Pro-Guard blade will not work.

I loaded a fresh Feather Pro and prepared the lather. This razor does like a bit thinner wetter lather, as the safety bar, which is small, but effective, and the overall head shape does lend to he razor building up excess lather rather quickly, so it does require rinsing often during the shave for best performance. Which to me was no big deal.

The maneuverability of this razor is amazing, and the best way I can put it is this: The is like shaving with a straight razor with DE ergonomics.

The safety bar allows the shave to be very much like the Feather Artist Club SS, pushing the skin, thus stretching it ahead of the blade, however during the shave the feedback is nice and resonates through the handle, all the while knowing you have a Feather straight blade doing the work. It does not have the inherit danger that the Feather DX version has due to blade exposure, so technique with this razor does not gave to be perfect. This razor shaves like a straight.

The benefit is that you can get into those places that with a straight, you much do interesting contortions to achieve BBS. This allows great buffing for any clean-up, although with a 3-pass shave not much was required, other than a tad bit in the Adam's Apple area.

The balance also allows to hold this razor very lightly in the hand, the weight does the work, and the shaver can just concentrate on removing lather with a light touch. You may find yourself wondering if this razor is working, but rest assured it is.

Without reservations I can honestly say this razor gave me the best shave I have ever had, from any shaving system. This in itself, in my world is a feat, as I am a BBS chaser, and I never expected to have this razor give me a shave even approaching a straight shave. This was the BEST shave I have EVER had. Period!

When you are post rinse, drying your face, and it feel literally like glass, and even a slight reflection from the skin, you know it is good. No irritation, absolutely no feedback from aftershave, and just smooth, smooth, smooth.

Will it replace straight shaving for me NO WAY, however it will be in the rotation. Yes it is that good.

It is $230.00 and I was lucky enough to be lurking on the website when it went live. Is it worth it. Well that is subjective and only you can answer that, for me however, NO doubt a definite YES! The machining is perfect the matte finish is great and the knurling on the handle will not allow this razor to slip, and frankly feels like an extension of you arm.

A great shaver!

This was m set-up for the shave:



Summary ( 1-10 scale )

Price: 8 ( it is an expensive razor so cost justification is up to you )
Fit & Finish: 10
Build Quality: 10
Performance: 10
Balance: 10
Blade loading: 7 ( does require you to be careful as the tongue & grove tolerances are so tight )
Ease of use: 9 ( would not recommend to a beginning shaver)

PROS: Fit & Finish, Shave Results, heft, balance, Overall Look
CONS: Price (again subjective ), Blade loading 9 just need to be careful, need to rinse often

This was only my 1st dance with the RX, however I can only expect the more comfortable I become with this razor, it will become like 2nd nature. Would I recommend. ABSOLUTELY.


Hope this help those of you that are wondering

I was not home when they became available, nor will I stay on my computer all the time hoping for one, although I do hope to eventually acquire one.

What I cannot understand is why no pre orders. If Phil had required a pre order, possibly, and I have no problem with a modest non refundable deposit, he would have a much better idea of how many to produce for guaranteed sales.

I ordered a special run of a standard fountain pen last April and paid in full up front, knowing delivery was supposed to be this Sept, which was in reality the first week of October.

jkingrph said:

I was not home when they became available, nor will I stay on my computer all the time hoping for one, although I do hope to eventually acquire one.

What I cannot understand is why no pre orders. If Phil had required a pre order, possibly, and I have no problem with a modest non refundable deposit, he would have a much better idea of how many to produce for guaranteed sales.

I ordered a special run of a standard fountain pen last April and paid in full up front, knowing delivery was supposed to be this Sept, which was in reality the first week of October.

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Jeff, I don't know on that, I would PM Phil, as I am sure there are reasons

skypsyd said:

Jeff, I don't know on that, I would PM Phil, as I am sure there are reasons

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Dave, I also don't know and it really does not matter. Phil made his decision and I respect that and we all will have to live with it.

Not that this is the case for this razor but often the first run of a new product is done on a smaller scale to allow corrections to various processes or materials and may even result in the selection production plant. Sometimes this means the first run, although it may appear identical to future runs, has minor differences in material or tolerances. If you look back into the vintage Gillette line you can see that some years or production locations are favored because they are somehow different/better than others.

From the little following I did on this razor's production development I don't think they left a lot of room for issues to crop up, they planned, modeled and tested this razor to the highest level possible. This doesn't mean they couldn't decide to make a change or be forced to make a change based on production specs. I am sure a new "full run" is fast underway at the moment and this beauty will be available for Christmas. IF my future Bingle buddy is reading this, I would be ok getting one for Christmas.

It has been awhile since I looked at prices but the price of a top model Feather DX isn't too different from this specimen. It's a bit out of my league but its not insane.

Thanks for the review Dave ...you generally tell it like it is so I think this will help others know more about what they are getting into (or missing)

I also don't understand why no preorder with deposit. I work and I can't park on the website for the whole day to catch one. It's something like these people who sleeps in sleepbags near Apple stores for 3 days to get new iphone. The razor is marked out of stock, so I left my email for notification, but I clearly realize that ifand when I get one, it will be sold out again. No intention to whine it's just a razor after all. Just don't understand the business logic.

Review above was great but I am interested how Asylum in comparisson with ATT SE is it Much Better if it's better at all. Regarding design, when I read in review 'one solid block of metal' it sounds impressive, but isn't Se Bamboo is pretty much the same?

q345 said:

I also don't understand why no preorder with deposit. I work and I can't park on the website for the whole day to catch one. It's something like these people who sleeps in sleepbags near Apple stores for 3 days to get new iphone. The razor is marked out of stock, so I left my email for notification, but I clearly realize that ifand when I get one, it will be sold out again. No intention to whine it's just a razor after all. Just don't understand the business logic.

Review above was great but I am interested how Asylum in comparisson with ATT SE is it Much Better if it's better at all. Regarding design, when I read in review 'one solid block of metal' it sounds impressive, but isn't Se Bamboo is pretty much the same?

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Maybe someone who has tried both can chime in here.

Again, as to ordering, I do not know, as I am just a lucky customer that was in the right place at the right time, as this was only my review of my experience with this razor. I would again, encourage members with questions to PM Phil for reasoning.

q345 said:

I also don't understand why no preorder with deposit. I work and I can't park on the website for the whole day to catch one. It's something like these people who sleeps in sleepbags near Apple stores for 3 days to get new iphone. The razor is marked out of stock, so I left my email for notification, but I clearly realize that ifand when I get one, it will be sold out again. No intention to whine it's just a razor after all. Just don't understand the business logic.

Review above was great but I am interested how Asylum in comparisson with ATT SE is it Much Better if it's better at all. Regarding design, when I read in review 'one solid block of metal' it sounds impressive, but isn't Se Bamboo is pretty much the same?

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Pre-orders present a host of problems. It more than triples the work and greatly increases the chance of screwing something up. I would have to contact each person and see if they are still interested, issue an invoice, wait for the invoice to be paid and then manually enter all of the shipping information. I am a one man shop and sell over 1000 items besides the Rx razor. Using the automated website is far more efficient and accurate.

BullGoose said:

Pre-orders present a host of problems. It more than triples the work and greatly increases the chance of screwing something up. I would have to contact each person and see if they are still interested, issue an invoice, wait for the invoice to be paid and then manually enter all of the shipping information. I am a one man shop and sell over 1000 items besides the Rx razor. Using the automated website is far more efficient and accurate.

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Why not then, a pre order with 100% payment at time of order? I did that with my fountain pen, from like you a reputable vendor. It took six months, but I got it when they became available with no problems on my end.

jkingrph said:

Why not then, a pre order with 100% payment at time of order? I did that with my fountain pen, from like you a reputable vendor. It took six months, but I got it when they became available with no problems on my end.

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I think this is going nowhere. Phil is a sole proprietor trying to run a small business and has more knowledge of what works for him than anyone else. Leave it at that. It is totally unfair to compare his practices to others. He constantly answered the question of pre-orders many times and it has always been NO. In the case of the RX, he faced many challenges and delays as this was a big venture taking many years to get to this point. You may not like his policy or practice, but accept the fact that he did what was best for himself and his customers with the release of this razor.

It's his business and he has full rights to run it as he see fit, especially since he is doing it alone.
I hope notifications will work that time, so I'll have a fair chance for second batch whenever and if it comes. (If not, it's a luxury item, not food or medicine )

gvw755 said:

I think this is going nowhere. Phil is a sole proprietor trying to run a small business and has more knowledge of what works for him than anyone else. Leave it at that. It is totally unfair to compare his practices to others. He constantly answered the question of pre-orders many times and it has always been NO. In the case of the RX, he faced many challenges and delays as this was a big venture taking many years to get to this point. You may not like his policy or practice, but accept the fact that he did what was best for himself and his customers with the release of this razor.

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Had the 2nd dance the RX today, and was even better than the 1st. It is well worth the wait gents, and price IMHO. Also even though I have never shaved with the other SE's mentioned, that use the feather style blades, but looking at the head profiles I would have to say this would be more maneuverable, in all instances, all based on the design aspects. As it is not a blocky head and fits seamlessly together with the tongue and grove so this head is very thin profile wise and is not much bigger than the blade itself.

Here was today's SOTD.

They are available for purchase again.

4:31 pm PDT: email received.

4:34 pm PDT: order placed.



--Bob

Went to take a shower to get ready for work tomorrow, Looked at e mails and went to site, and already sold out,

If i used a razor other than a straight I think this would be a good choice, it looks very nice.

I managed to snag one this time. Better be magnificent......most expensive razor I've ever purchased.

Indeed, got an email 16:31, and placed order about 10 min later, surprised they were not sold out in seconds. Got order confirmation, hope will be shipped soon.

jkingrph said:

Why not then, a pre order with 100% payment at time of order? I did that with my fountain pen, from like you a reputable vendor. It took six months, but I got it when they became available with no problems on my end.

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I really do not like collecting money before I have a product to send. I am not passing judgement on those who do but, it makes me uncomfortable. Also...when an order is placed it immediately gets downloaded in my shipping software. I could not let those orders sit for six months; it would definitely cause multiple screw-ups. It just messes up the flow.

There should be more razors in about a week.

My Asylum order has been placed, I was in the right place at the right time for once. I went to the Bullgoose site to find some information about the Asylum & was very surprised that they weren't out of stock.

I am am hoping that the Asylum gets here quicker than the last razor I ordered from the US, which took 4 weeks to arrive, after it was mis-directed to the Philippines. I also hope that the bandits from UK customs don't their hands my Asylum & I avoid paying a hefty ransom for its return to me!!