Been looking on YouTube at this guy who's posted a number of reviews for blades, creams, soaps and razors and I'm finding it very difficult to get an honest comparison. I don't mean to sound cynical but everything that this guy reviews he seems to say the same thing. "It's a great shave" and he seems to love everything he reviews making it hard to compare one against the other. Even when he does a comparison review he will sign off by saying..."But they're both great blades and I recommend trying them both" etc. So far I haven't yet found anything that this guy reviews that he doesn't seem to like making me rather cynical over whether it's an honest review or whether he gets sent free products on the promise of giving them all a shining review. What do you think?
The possibility that he gets greased because he has a good YouTube channel cannot be ruled out but the truth is...he is usually playing around with high quality stuff to start with. Keep in mind that an experienced "traditional" wet shaver knows how to make adjustments to his shaving routine accordingly. For example he will know when a soap needs more or less water, the texture of it will let him know if it would be good for face lathering etc... The variables will be familiar to him.
He didn't like an injector, but then again that was just an item loaned to him. He did one video where he just said awesome fifty times...
Well, I'm not bragging at all I promise, but I can take a franken-razor with a no name blade and eek out a DFS. DFS is the standard I measure good by. Anything else is just frosting on an already good cake. I know many of us here are like that to where we find it hard to recall our last bad shave simply due to knowing what we're doing. Maybe this dude is like that? Experienced enough to where he can take what he is given and use it well enough to think it is a great shave. It could be that he would need almost faulty equipment to get a bad shave? As for the injector, perhaps he hasn't used them enough to be proficient? I am just tossing out possibilities; I haven't watched a minute of his videos. I do well enough on my own to where a review does little for me and when I'm curious, I hit TSD for info.
I learned a lot from his videos, particularly about soaps and lathering. I wasn't so interested in his recommendations as much as just watching his process and learning more about technique.
Very well stated. I agree 100%. I'm glad I don't have to shave and be video recorded at the same time. To be fair, we all have idiosyncrasies. I think he does a good job, and I have learned a few things watching his videos.
I agree with you too Charlie..I think he does a good job and I learned some things watching him in the beginning and also gained some reassurance on things I was uncertain about.
He mentioned in one video he is doing his residency, I know they aren't making bank yet, but I doubt he needs to hussle free stuff to shill. I've learned a good bit from his videos. Now some of the links he has to products look a little wonkey - so maybe kickbacks on sales?
Apologies but I wasn't badmouthibg the guy. I like his videos but without much comparisons and everything he uses being classed as "as good shave" it doesn't really give me much to go on. When everything reviewed is great it leaves me feeling just as confused.
I disagree. I watched most of his videos and I think his reviews are pretty good. For instance he has a base Line he compares his blades with. For him he judges against the personna Blues. For his soaps, I think he gave accurate reviews on tabac and proraso green soaps. He stated both of them were not slick. I agree as I own both. I can't get slickness out of those two soaps. But as usually stated on this forum .. Your mileage may vary... Ymmv
I've seen him give some less than stellar comments about particular blades on occasion, and he's even commented on some scents he didn't particularly enjoy. But he admits to having a light beard and sensitive skin. With the light beard, I think he's more likely to get along fine with more products. You have to look at his yearly pick videos to see which products really stood out for him, which is the case for most wet shavers. I really like The Clean Shaver. His reviews seem to be much more honest than most. The Shaving Evangelist can be good, but Chris is a little TOO honest sometimes.
I just thought it a little odd because when I've seen him review Derby Extra blades he really seems to think they're a good blade yet most other reviews I've seen say they don't like them. Friends have told me to stay away from them and personally having tried them myself they are my least liked blade of all that I've tried with the Gillette 7.o'clock a close 2nd to last. In fact I disliked it so much that I threw it out mid shave and swapped it for another blade. Funny how he seems to think it is a good product yet most other reviews I've seen say it's not so good down to the downright stay away at all costs.
Yet then he goes on to say how good they still are and how many positives the product has and insists we give them a try. I can't think of anything that he doesn't actually like which suggests he seems to get along fine with everything he uses which is not the experience which most of us have. Most wet shavers all have products that stand out as the best and some that we just can't get along with but when everything he reviews is all good I find it hard to make a decision based on what he says. I find Busta's (shavebusta) reviews to be a lot more decisive and can tell a lot more easily which ones perform better or worse than others and he's not afraid to say which Ives he prefers and which Ives he doesn't like which is more helpful than just saying nice and good for everything.
One crappy product to one may be the ultimate to another. YMMV and all that. I just received a puck of soap from another member who didn't like the lather. I haven't used any other soap since receiving it
Lol to each their own .. Personally I can't stand bustashave. So I don't watch him. I've 2-3 of his videos and stopped.
I'll stick up for him on that one. Blades are highly subjective. While Derbys tend to get a bad rap (I don't like them myself) there are a lot of shavers out there that love them. I just participated in a thread on another forum where a member used one for the entire month of February and said even at the end of the month he was getting some of his best shaves ever. A couple of cautions here. First, you are referring to MOST of us. There are exceptions. I have seen input from plenty of shavers on the forums that can use any blade they pick up with more or less equal results. It's not the norm, but it's not rare either. My guess is that Nick is one of those types of shavers. The second is with regard to basing your decisions on the opinion of others. Over the two years I have been doing this, the one thing I've learned is that YMMV is real. If you select products to try based solely on the opinions of others, you are likely to both be disappointed quite often, as well as miss out on some products that might work really well for you. It's fine that you prefer Busta's review style, but he is telling you what works for him. It's not absolute. Just because Busta likes Blade A and not Blade B, doesn't mean that Blade A performs better than Blade B for all shavers all the time.
