2023 Shaving Acquisitions Thread

Bicep123 said:
Aliexpress (I know, I spend a lot of time on there), had their 828 - 'Afterschool' sale recently and I picked up a few things on special. The Yaqi vector homage (is it a 'clone'? The head looks sufficiently different to the vector to me) has two variants, the Remus (matt) and Romulus (polished). Both the same price ($92). I got the matt version because I just wanted something different (too many polished razors). Imagine my surprise to discover that it came loaded up with a blade already (almost cut myself). Convenient? Chinese made blade of unknown origin was terrible to shave with. Very tuggy and scrapy. Not sure if that was the blade or the razor though. I should buy some AC blades, but in the meantime, I need to dig around and find some of those Nikky Proshave blades I picked up a while back.

I also picked up Yaqi's Carbon Shaving inspired 'web' Sentinel. I think the gap is .90mm? I haven't shaved with it yet, but I have a feeling that the cut outs in the top cap is going to be a gimmicky hindrance. I can imagine it getting clogged up pretty quickly.

I finally got a DSCosmetic A2S knot brush. This is supposed to be like a gen 4.5, as came after the T4 with improvements, but isn't a gen 5. It feels softer but more dense than the standard T4. It's like the T4, but better. I think this is my favourite synthetic DSC knot moving forward. If another one comes up on sale, I'll probably pick it up too.

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I was going to buy the Romulus at the same time and another razor but its getting hard to part with my money and having other expenses has not helped. I have heard that the Remus/Romulus fits the Schick blades far better than the Vector too.

I have noticed that Aliexpress have some oddly similar looking SE blades to the Feather blades. They might even actually be rebadged feather blades.

Our dollar is trash. I don't think its going to be going up any time soon. Maybe this time next year if we are lucky but I wouldn't count on it.
 
Bicep123 said:
The DSC G7 is basically their gen 5, and it doesn't outperform other gen 5 knots such as Oumo. You can think of this A2S as an improved version of the T4 (gen 4) and I like it better than my other Oumo synths. I'll be buying more of this knot as it becomes available.
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IMO the AP Shave Co G5C and Titanium knots are far superior to the DSC G7 that I have. The G7 produces a metric shitload of lather in no time, but the AP knots feel much nicer on the skin.
 
Rusty Bridges said:
...I have heard that the Remus/Romulus fits the Schick blades far better than the Vector too.

I have noticed that Aliexpress have some oddly similar looking SE blades to the Feather blades. They might even actually be rebadged feather blades.
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If you can score an older Vector, you're unlikely to have any problem with the Schick blades. The genuine Feather, KAI and Schick blades have fairly distinctive styles of hole punching through the blades. If the blades are on AliExpress, they almost certainly will not be rebadged Feathers, much more likely a cheap knockoff. I have seen blades there that claim to be KAI PINKs, but there are mistakes on the packaging and the slots in the blades are different. It's like they put a lot of effort into being dishonest, but at the same time not enough. It's pitiful really.
 
Gargravarr said:
If you can score an older Vector, you're unlikely to have any problem with the Schick blades. The genuine Feather, KAI and Schick blades have fairly distinctive styles of hole punching through the blades. If the blades are on AliExpress, they almost certainly will not be rebadged Feathers, much more likely a cheap knockoff. I have seen blades there that claim to be KAI PINKs, but there are mistakes on the packaging and the slots in the blades are different. It's like they put a lot of effort into being dishonest, but at the same time not enough. It's pitiful really.
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There’s another Japanese AC style SE blade on the market

FYI … https://connaughtshaving.com/pro24.html

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Gargravarr said:
If you can score an older Vector, you're unlikely to have any problem with the Schick blades. The genuine Feather, KAI and Schick blades have fairly distinctive styles of hole punching through the blades. If the blades are on AliExpress, they almost certainly will not be rebadged Feathers, much more likely a cheap knockoff. I have seen blades there that claim to be KAI PINKs, but there are mistakes on the packaging and the slots in the blades are different. It's like they put a lot of effort into being dishonest, but at the same time not enough. It's pitiful really.
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One Vector is probably enough for me. It would be nice if the one I had was one of the older batches but it is what it is I guess. I am having way too much fun with other razors right now to be honest. You are are likely correct because I know feather has some strict control on their products. They are more than likely knockoffs. They appear to have gone to some extra effort from just a glance. There are likely a lot more tells if we had them in our hands and could compare.
Hahaha, I think your last sentence pretty much sums up a lot of things. It's actually funny. lol

Here is a link to the blades I was referring to: (the first few seconds of the video just bothers me. First time I looked at it)
www.aliexpress.com

6.96AU $ 50% OFF|RIRON 15pcs/Box Men's High end Feather Razor Sharp Blades| | - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com

Nonetheless I might pick up the Romulus one day if they go on sale again and I can afford it.

Yep, you are right they are the KAI knockoffs.
 
So all of my 'bits and bobs' from Aliexpress arrived. Whenever I needed to add $5-10 to an order to get it over the minimum spend line, I'd add one of these to my order.

I picked up the Baili v.2 tech (BT191), so, this is the cast zamak version, more solidly built than the BT131. The brass handle alone is worth that, and may be the only thing that survives. I can already see pitting in the plating on the baseplate. I expect it to corrode over time. Interesting to see how it shaves compared to the stamped version. Blade exposure looks minimal.

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The Jifuli aluminium razor comes up on my feed often. It's a two piece, with the base plate 'fixed' to the handle. Very thin head post (maybe 2mm?). Came with a tuck of RZR Iguetta blades, which I was curious to try. I don't know about the razor, but the packaging is A+ for a $12 razor.

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Also blades of unknown quality.

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The Flydear is interesting. Supposedly made in Korea. I want to see how it compares to the Dorco ST300.

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Bicep123 said:
So all of my 'bits and bobs' from Aliexpress arrived. Whenever I needed to add $5-10 to an order to get it over the minimum spend line, I'd add one of these to my order.

I picked up the Baili v.2 tech (BT191), so, this is the cast zamak version, more solidly built than the BT131. The brass handle alone is worth that, and may be the only thing that survives. I can already see pitting in the plating on the baseplate. I expect it to corrode over time. Interesting to see how it shaves compared to the stamped version. Blade exposure looks minimal.

WMpgXm5.jpg

Fi5Erli.jpg

RSDskoI.jpg


The Jifuli aluminium razor comes up on my feed often. It's a two piece, with the base plate 'fixed' to the handle. Very thin head post (maybe 2mm?). Came with a tuck of RZR Iguetta blades, which I was curious to try. I don't know about the razor, but the packaging is A+ for a $12 razor.

oOdTzrm.jpg

8yXMNB3.jpg

6jkxbO2.jpg

UkCh6TV.jpg


Also blades of unknown quality.

AWVWVcV.jpg


The Flydear is interesting. Supposedly made in Korea. I want to see how it compares to the Dorco ST300.

AVQvBtw.jpg
Click to expand...
I have that Jifuli razor, and I got it for less than $8 shipped.. its mild and efficient enough... that chunky head makes is a bit of a pain above the lip and under the nose.
 
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ZENITH Horse hair extra soft shaving brush black resin handle 506N XS

"The horse is not harmed in the process, making horse hair brushes a friendly and sustainable alternative to boar or badger" comes @Gargravarr approved :)

Handle in elegant black resin colour
Handle: 57mm
Loft: 51mm
Knot diameter: 27mm
Made in Italy

Went for the short handle. Makes it the perfect size for face lathering.. cant wait for it to get here
 
I've owned a couple of horse hair brushes and didn't enjoy them. They did the job and leathered nicely but for some inexplicable reason I couldn't get past the fact that it was horse hair I was rubbing across my face 🤷‍♂️
 
Nanook said:
I've owned a couple of horse hair brushes and didn't enjoy them. They did the job and leathered nicely but for some inexplicable reason I couldn't get past the fact that it was horse hair I was rubbing across my face 🤷‍♂️
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If I can put pig on my face won't have any issue with horse.. I did quite a bit of research and found some horse to be terrible with a rough scritchy feel and others requiring combing after each use to not tangle, but the zenith extra soft was supposed to require neither and some having an extremely long break in period (including the zenith 50/50) but apparently the zenith 'extra soft' has none of these issues and produces an excellent lather in no time.

We'll I hope so anyway, well soon find out
 
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