so i bought a EJ 89 and loved it until i started thinking I wanted a razor that would cut more hair in fewer passes so i bought one of the r41 heads and used it for a while and about a week into that I started thinking something between the two razors would be spot on for me. We all know the r41 is a very cool razor but it asks for so much attention to give you a good shave and I am a "thinker". I love to solve the questions of the universe when I am shaving. Since just about every razor made falls between the EJ89 and r41, I had some reading to do. I found a few posts that said as of late, the Parker company was making a very nice razor for a modest price so I bought the 26c. first shave was just weird for me, that heavy handle is almost 4" long and when i hold the razor near the head it seemed to lift the head from my face. I changed out the handle for the one on the Jagger 89 and now it started to feel more like a nice razor. Tried a few different blades for a few days, Derby, Astra, just no love. Today I dropped a crystal in the razor, whipped a nice lather with my cella and went for a quick shave due to my not having time first thing this morning and it has been two days. One pass WTG and a clean up. I am totally astonished how smooth my face feels after this shave. the best part is that I have zero irritation, I splashed on some porasso green aftershave and it felt cooling, zero burn. I thought the Crystals were a no go until today and I was just about ready to give the Parker to a friend but not now, I have to do this again tomorrow just to make sure it is real.
Different combinations can yield different results. Good for you sticking it out. Got the right combination.
It is good to hear you got your razor to work! Crystal is a blade I should try at some point. Comparing to Astra, do you consider Crystal sharper or duller?
at this point i am not sure i can answer that question about the Astras, I want to love them but I can't seem to get a beed on them. I don't think Crystals are smoother, most of the times i used the crystals they seemed kind of rough so getting a smooth shave was a bit of a surprise, a welcome surprise due to I purchased 100 of them. my gut says they are sharper than the Astras but some others may say different. Crystals are not Fethers but I don't like the feel of feathers either.
The older I am getting, the more coarse beard I get. First my favorite blade was Voskhod. They are so smooth. Then they began tugging, so I switched to PolSilver and GSB. They felt nice and good until one day they also begun to tug. Now I am only using Feather blades as they are the only blades I have not tugging. I get some minor irritation from them that I do not get from other blades. I wonder if Crystal would fill that gap by being sharper than Astra/GSB/Polsilver but smoother than Feather.
OH! you mean the ultimate blade! let me know when you find it. haha. smooth is much preferred to sharp.
shaved again today even though i did not need it. it has only been about 20 hours. I still really like the feel of this Parker head and I am so glad the Crystals have a home. excellent shave with mild irritation but that is due to it is to soon to shave at all. Today I got a Maggard M8 in the mail, Holy Hell this thing is heavy and big, I totally under estimated the true meaning of 150g. I plan to give it a try tomorrow but really it just seems heavier than necessary, I like to feel the tools I am using in my hand through the handle and this is just to big, fat and heave to give good feed back from the head but tomorrow will tell. I am sure I will be looking into a M1 handle at some point. short handles just seem to feel right to me.
