Another hello from Ballarat.

ambaal

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2020
Location
Ballarat, Vic
Not sure what's wrong with this town, but lots of people seem to suddenly want to talk about shaving. :)

I'm 38 (probably) dude from Ballarat, not really new to wet shaving at all, and have a horrible case of shaving stuff acquisition syndrome. Big fan of DE razors, shavettes, AC shavettes and of course straight ones. Very prone to modding chinese straight razors (GD66 WTF) and probably have way more than anyone should. Long time resident of a particular forum with badger face on the icon, and that's probably it.


Anyway, I'm glad there is a community here in Aus too, and glad I've found it.
 
Welcome to P&C @ambaal - great to have you here (y)

Please tell us more about your favourite setup...razor/brush/soap/blade...
 
Well, it's a bit hard to tell - i do have about 5 razors sitting in queue to be tested. :)

Favorite adjustable razor is fairly unusual - Vikings Blade Emperor Meiji. I know they are dodgy as a company (in fact at some stage I got both Baili 179 and VB Chieftain just to prove it - which failed because chinese people lost my 179 in shipping somewhere, so i still have brand new VB Chieftain waiting for it chinese brethen to arrive), but that razor is amazing. Probably original 1.95 fatboy is amazing too, but they are damn expensive. Won't lie, bought it on looks alone, but it turned out to be a damn great shaver. Won't recommend it though, untill VB sorted quality control issues 100%.
Mine was good, but reports are very mixed.

Non-adjustable favorite one is Muhle R41. Just love it, keep coming back to. Currently waiting on Rocca to arrive in attempt to de-throne it. Really like Rockwells 6s too.

Straights - I do have a low tier DOVO (which i mostly use for reference tbh), and, don't know, 10 chinese of various types? 20? Really like to mod them, recently they upped their steel game and despite very spotty QC generally steel is pretty good.

Last shave was with YAQI Grill - damn that thing is mean. Really liked it too, but need more time to think why. For some reason I'm really excited about pretty much all YAQI razors, can't wait for their adjustable - damn thing looks suspiciously like Gibbs/Ambassador.
Last acquisiton was Razorock GC JAWS, haven't tried it yet.

To be honest, i think i'm done with getting new razors - only one I really want is Blackland Blackbird. Don't know why. And YAQI adjustable of course.

Blade-wise i'm big fan of BIC, Polsilver (which i'm running out), Red/Blue platinum personas - generally sharper edge of spectrum as i do have very coarse beard that grows in all directions and horizontally in places. Yet, still have heaps of blades i didn't try yet. Seen as how many razors i have, testing each razor with each blade so far looks like endless process.

Soap - favorite is Mitchell's wool, which sometimes get replaced by Tabac. Got a puck of Razorock green yesterday from Peter at vshod, one shave looks fairly promising. I do use some clear non-foaming gels with shavettes and straight razor, mostly due to being able to see what i'm cutting. They also glide really well with gels for some reason.

Brush - never really bothered too much with those, used 'almost-real-badger' top badger for ages, recently discovered YAQI range and so far really happy with a synthetic from them. Damn those YAQI brushes are huge though.
 
welcome to P&C @ambaal

i also have the R41 and love it, along with the JAWS. Have you tried any yaqi synthetic brushes? i have a few and these are great, good price too. Also have a two band badger and silvertip badger both in yaqi, preference goes to the 2-band yaqi for sure.

u sure you dont want/need a wolfman razor?
 
welcome to P&C @ambaal

u sure you dont want/need a wolfman razor?

Nope. I have one expensive razor, Rex Ambassador, which has kinda satisfied my curiosity in upper price range of razors.

As far as wolfman goes, several things bothers me:

1. All wolfman related discussions on forums are incredibly boring. :)
2. I can get entire stainless Razorock range for a price of one (well at least all those that i don't have already) and that would be much more variety/fun
3. I don't know what feature of wolfman is desirable for me. Craftmanship-wise, it's not going to be more perfect than Ambassador. In fact, the razor i'm most amazed with finish and how it looks and feels like is Rockwell 6s. :)

So no, i don't want one and i'm glad for it.
 
Nope. I have one expensive razor, Rex Ambassador, which has kinda satisfied my curiosity in upper price range of razors.

As far as wolfman goes, several things bothers me:

1. All wolfman related discussions on forums are incredibly boring. :)
2. I can get entire stainless Razorock range for a price of one (well at least all those that i don't have already) and that would be much more variety/fun
3. I don't know what feature of wolfman is desirable for me. Craftmanship-wise, it's not going to be more perfect than Ambassador. In fact, the razor i'm most amazed with finish and how it looks and feels like is Rockwell 6s. :)

So no, i don't want one and i'm glad for it.

Glad to welcome another 6s fan 👍🏾
I’ve decided that the 6s is my forever razor, despite the best efforts of this forum to ‘enable’ me....
 
Glad to welcome another 6s fan 👍🏾
I’ve decided that the 6s is my forever razor, despite the best efforts of this forum to ‘enable’ me....

Well it is a damn nice razor. Rockwell really hit a spot with that one.

I shave with mine way less than i should (and i also have unopened 6c for some reason), but no matter how weird it seems, i often get it out just to look at it and sort of feel it. I don't think i do that with any other razor.
 
Nope. I have one expensive razor, Rex Ambassador, which has kinda satisfied my curiosity in upper price range of razors.

As far as wolfman goes, several things bothers me:

1. All wolfman related discussions on forums are incredibly boring. :)
2. I can get entire stainless Razorock range for a price of one (well at least all those that i don't have already) and that would be much more variety/fun
3. I don't know what feature of wolfman is desirable for me. Craftmanship-wise, it's not going to be more perfect than Ambassador. In fact, the razor i'm most amazed with finish and how it looks and feels like is Rockwell 6s. :)

So no, i don't want one and i'm glad for it.

I love this one...ask @StratMan about it :D

So as someone who has (and enjoys) the Rex and loves all his Wolfman variations (BBS-1, WR1, Guerrilla, WR2) how can I be of service ;)

Seriously I truly believe that James makes the best razors out there - not only because his superb craftsmanship - but actually because of the perfect designs.

Don't believe me? Have you ever shaved with one? Have you ever actually seen one in person?

I understand the point if you say they are too expensive - completely understand. I also understand your point, if you say they are a pain to get...although ATM it is "only" a 6 month wait and if you put your name down now I would guess you will have one before Christmas.

But please don't compare them to the complete RazoRock range, the 6s or to be honest anything else out there.

I bought my first 2 before the big hype - even got the BBS-1 bellow cost - trust me, they are fantastic.

Will they change your life? Probably not. Will they add lots of enjoyment to your shaves? Absolutely....so maybe they would change your life :D :D :D
 
I love this one...ask @StratMan about it :D

So as someone who has (and enjoys) the Rex and loves all his Wolfman variations (BBS-1, WR1, Guerrilla, WR2) how can I be of service ;)

Seriously I truly believe that James makes the best razors out there - not only because his superb craftsmanship - but actually because of the perfect designs.

Don't believe me? Have you ever shaved with one? Have you ever actually seen one in person?

I understand the point if you say they are too expensive - completely understand. I also understand your point, if you say they are a pain to get...although ATM it is "only" a 6 month wait and if you put your name down now I would guess you will have one before Christmas.

But please don't compare them to the complete RazoRock range, the 6s or to be honest anything else out there.

I bought my first 2 before the big hype - even got the BBS-1 bellow cost - trust me, they are fantastic.

Will they change your life? Probably not. Will they add lots of enjoyment to your shaves? Absolutely....so maybe they would change your life :D:D:D

Enablers are nothing if not persistent 😂
 
Welcome @ambaal, sounds like you have plenty of knowledge and experience to share.
+1 enabling points for offering @Andrew_N a loan of the 6c and some blades (y)(y)
 
... have a horrible case of shaving stuff acquisition syndrome. ... have way more than anyone should. ...

Welcome mate, I think I love you already ...

...

As far as wolfman goes, several things bothers me:

1. All wolfman related discussions on forums are incredibly boring. :)
....

Yep, definitely got a little bromance happening - preach it!

...
Brush - never really bothered too much with those,...

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: - I know somebody here who can "help" with that, oh, wait, he has already wasted his first opportunity talking about razors ...
 
Nope. I have one expensive razor, Rex Ambassador, which has kinda satisfied my curiosity in upper price range of razors.

As far as wolfman goes, several things bothers me:

1. All wolfman related discussions on forums are incredibly boring. :)
2. I can get entire stainless Razorock range for a price of one (well at least all those that i don't have already) and that would be much more variety/fun
3. I don't know what feature of wolfman is desirable for me. Craftmanship-wise, it's not going to be more perfect than Ambassador. In fact, the razor i'm most amazed with finish and how it looks and feels like is Rockwell 6s. :)

So no, i don't want one and i'm glad for it.

I love this one...ask @StratMan about it :D


totally understand your point @ambaal, i own the RR JAWS and this is an amazing razor, its quite smooth and very efficient and excellent price for a SS razor. Another RR razor worth considering is the SS Lupo, it is supposed to be quite similar to the WR1 wolfman but at a quarter of the price..

I also own a rockwell 6C, and at one stage i remember sitting with @alfredus at an adelaide meet up trying to convince him it was one of the best razors out there, which is honestly what i thought at the time. I remember him asking me the same questions..

anyway a long story short, a hardware travel box with an amazing range of both modern and vintage razors got passed around australia to anyone that wanted to participate.. A wolfman WR1 was part of this hardware box. I went into this to not only try some new razors but to also PROVE the wolfman was overrated.

well after the first shave, i was completely and totally hooked.. nothing i had previously used felt both great in my hand/face and gorgeous to look at.., i was ready to go and buy one only to find out a wolf was unobtainium, unless i threw ridiculous amounts of money at it.

wasnt gonna do that, so resided to the fact i would never own a wolf... out of nowhere the new order system came and I ended up with a WR2. I still use my other razors as i like to enjoy a different experience but if i had to pick just one, it would be the WR2 without a thought
 
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