Again - big thanks to
@alfredus for this pass around - great opportunity to try this.
A big disclaimer here - this is my first injector. I have a couple but have not used, was going to do so when the Travelling Box came back - this got here before that injector did!
First impressions - Stylish.
Seriously. Well packed in a tasteful and not garish way. The razor itself is minimalist and I would say 'uber cool' in look - reminds me of many Scandinavian designs.
The underside is not quite as attractive - but functional and you can ignore it most of the time. The irritating hand cut slot I've ignored completely.
The second thing you notice is the weight - this is a hefty beast! Initially in the hand it feels good, solid. In use, however, I felt the weight was unhelpful and it seemed a little unbalanced to me.
I've been using since Monday, four days now and teamed it the last two days with this combination -
I've kept using the 'Three Dot' most aggressive base plate - after using it I couldn't contemplate using anything less aggressive.
As I said the weight in use I found a little off-putting, the balance didn't feel right to me. Maybe this is tied up with the whole angle/injector v DE thing but but the end it simply felt heavy, not solid and hefty.
I don't think I had any trouble finding the angle - but certainly had trouble keeping the angle. In some areas of my face this was easy and I got a smooth, close shave. In others I obviously didn't - so there were lots of patches to go back over. Even towards the end of my time with her this was the case. Certainly in the first couple of days there were patches that took 3 - 4 passes to get done satisfactorily.
This may well be a result of my bad technique, first injector and all. I do suspect, however, that the 'window' for a close shave is pretty small. What I mean is that the angle for a close shave with this might be 15 degrees +/- 5 degrees whereas with a DE is seems like, say, 30 degrees +/- 10 degrees. If this hypothesis is true time and use, leading to better technique, will overcome that and it will become more instinctive. I'm not sure though whether I would use it so regularly, almost exclusively, to get that result.
Certainly if the 'Three Dot' plate is the most aggressive then I would have to say this is a mild razor. I didn't bother with the One or Two Dot plates, but frankly would have preferred the Three Dot as being the mid range for aggression rather than the upper limit.
Overall Summary
Could I use this every day for the rest of my life? Yes. I wouldn't though, there are other razors I prefer
Could I use this as part of a regular rotation of razors? Yes. I'm not sure that I would though as without the regular use I think you would get the learning curve issue again on technique. I'm always going to use DEs at different times, I have too many DE blades to waste, and that would interfere with the good results on this. I suspect I would reach for this as part of a rotation and have second thoughts ... [the different blades probably play a part here too]
Will some people find this their one and only razor? Yes. I think that is very possible - but not for me.
