Double Edge Razors
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First Impression - Blackbird Lite
TLDR - super smooth razor, decent feedback, not the most efficient.
Just finished my first shave with this brand new Blackbird lite that I received today. Purchased it from the official site with my own Freedom dollars.
I am a big big fan of the original blackbird, so I have been curious about this one for a while. Our resident hater at the sub, u/jeffm5431 has been praising this razor for a while.
Wizamets have always worked well for me with the original blackbird, so I decided to with one as my blade for today's shave. I had a few days growth, and my last shave was a 2 pass shave with a straight razor, so I had quite a bit of beard growth today. Now onto the shave.
During my first pass, the sense I had was this - this bb lite is a very smooth razor - no sense of tugging or pulling or any resistance. But it is also not very efficient. I was going through my usual strokes and I could see lots of beard being left on my face. Especially under the nose/ above upper lip - as if I didn't even shave.
Second pass (mostly across the grain) didn't change my mind either - extremely smooth razor, even while going through some of my trouble areas, I didn't feel any resistance, blade chatter or discomfort. I also felt like I will need two more passes after my second pass. I did not have a close shave at that point.
Third pass (mostly against the grain) - I had some difficulty getting rid of the beard under my nose and on parts of my neck where whiskers lie flat on my skin. I really needed to go to town and do quite a bit of buffing to get a close shave under my nose. Even then I can feel a bit of whiskers if I run my finger against the grain. Nothing visible or noticeable, but not BBS. Similar story for part of my neck as well.
But the razor was super super comfortable going ATG - absolutely no tugging, no signs of discomfort. I noticed that I had to ride the cap a bit more than usual to get a close shave. I was also thinking about trying one of the more 'muh sharper' blades like Feather/Kai in my next shaves.
Alum resulted in zero feedback - very very nice. Now, after about 10-15 minutes of my shave - I don't feel any tenderness or see any redness on my skin. So I can confidently say that the razor was very good to my skin.
I would say this razor felt as aggressive as it really is - which is not really aggressive. Not much blade feel. So I didn't use too much or too little pressure to compensate. This is a feature I look for in DE razors.
I have used Wolfman WR1 0.80 and Razorock Gamechanger 0.84 recently. I would say BB Lite is milder than both of those.
Anyway, this was my first impression. So far, happy about my purchase.