Three Shaving Related Products You Regretted Buying This Year

O.K. everyone loves to talk about what they love in products but lets discuss purchasing mistakes.

What three (and please limit it to three / no dishonorable mention) products for shaving did you buy last year that you wish you had not bought and briefly mention why? Keep it clean please.

I will start.

1. The Futur Clone - For $30 this razor seemed to have some potential until I tried to head shave with it. I found that the pinning mechanism was not quite good enough to hold blades in place. Each new blade seemed to expose a slightly differing amount of exposure and even at the lowest setting. This causes the razor to bite the skin surface where it has any irregularities (such as certain portions of the head). The head cap also has a bad habit of completely removing while attempting an adjustment because of the loose fitting pins. After a fourth use with two mild blades this razor was removed from the rotation.

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2. The Weishi Plastic TTO razor - I bought this as a testing item to compare against other Weishi which tend to be mild products. After one attempted use, this product was quickly removed from the rotation. The bad tolerances on this razor caused a warp to occur on the edge of a blade causing cuts. The gap was also large causing it to be extremely aggressive. This was a bad combination.

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3. The Sunbeam Hot Pot - I like to use a hot pot than run the water from the sink (it wastes water) when I shave. My old hot pot died and I had to replace it with a new one. I bought the Sunbeam and within 1 week the non stick coating proved that it was indeed non stick, to its heating plate. It was too cheap of a unit to drive a distance to the store I bought it from to hassle with a return, so a replacement (stainless) is on order.

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What are your three shaving related products that you bought this year that did not work for you?​

 

I only have

1)Fatip- It didnt meet my standards. the blade was hard to center. It would move in different directions causing uneven blade exposure. Then going against the grain I would get nicks. luckily i recouped all my costs (bought used).

2) Parker synthetic brush- $25 is way too much for this junk. Coming from a much cheaper Tweezerman, I was completely underwhelmed. It almost scared me off synthetics completely.

 

You are not alone on the Parker Synthetic.

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/parker-brush-a-cautionary-tale.28248/

 

I just wish i would have read your review before i bought it- it was before i knew about these forums.

 

1. Gillette Silver Blues - all the reviews I found rated this as the hottest blade going - sharp as a Feather, but smoother. I find it is smoother than most other Gillettes, but nothing special. As for sharp - about equivalent to an Israeli Personna. OK, but nothing special.

2. Gillette Red Tip - rough with every blade I try in it. Maybe I got a bad one, but I don't see any damage. I've also rarely used a razor that needed the angle to be so absolutely precise in order to work.

Obviously very YMMV observations, since these are both much loved products in shaving land!

 

Cadet Robusto open comb. Looks pretty and I like the handle, but open combs and I just don't seem to get along.
Brut Dominant. I liked it at first, now it's just meh. I'll finish up the bottle since it's not bad, but it won't be restocked.
Barbasol with Lanolin. I love the scent of regular Barbasol, but this stuff doesn't cut it for me.

 

1.) Classic shaving soap. Even though they were only .99 cents, I have 9 worthless pucks I couldn't give away.

2.)Mans face stuff moustache wax. It was rather greasy not a great hold at all. Smell overpowering.

3.) Anything Cedarwood, got some aftershave and soap nor a fan at all

 

I traded for some lab blues and I don't much care for them. They are alright, but nothing special.

 

1. I also purchased the Weishi plastic razor, two in fact. One for me and one to PIF. The first time I unscrewed mine it fell apart, never used it. I made sure the person receiving the PIF knew this too, LOL.
2. A Burma shaving brush. Just wasn't to my liking. There are a ton better lower end boar bristle brushes with much better quality IMO.
3. Arko shave stick. It's such a polarizing soap on the forums I just HAD to try. I just don't get it, the smell is "off" and it dries the heck out of my face. People enjoy this stuff but I'd rather buy VDH at that price point.
Great thread idea!

 

That Kansas City Cream. That stuff was not good at all. Couldn't get a good lather out of it no matter what, and I bought one of each scent too. Bad purchase. Also the Rooney brush I bought prior to the re-knot that GDC did for me. That was a pretty expensive brush and I was extremely underwhelmed with the performance. Too early to tell but I also picked up a Fattip recently and got diced up a little on the first and only attempt to shave with it. Reminded me of my first ever shave with a DE which was about a year ago.

 

No regrets this year on shave-related purchases, but then again, I was really restrained. My three *favorite* purchases were all shave soaps: GMS Lime, HGM* Cavandish, and SRD Opus X.

* How to Grow a Moustache

 

I don't think I've had any this year. Of course I owe that to all of you who have and warned me. Next year, I'll try to take one for the team a little more often.

 

Truefitt & Hill Preshave Oil. Works FANTASTIC every single time, and doesn't need a lot to work, however at $30 for 60ml, it's too much, Trumpers Skin Food or Myrsol Emulsion is much more economically priced.

Rocky Mountain Soap Co shave bar. I couldn't lather this stuff with Boar, Badger, Synthetic, Water, Glycerine, Hope or Prayers.

Trumpers Rose SC. Scent and lather is outstanding. Too much dye, even my boars have a pink hue for 4 shaves after one use of this stuff; I can't even begin to fathom how brave some guys are using Super or HMW knots with this cream.

 

Jean Marc Copacabana Aftershave. Lots of alcohol and glycerin in it, so it leaves skin nice and moisturized, smell was a bit strange at first, but than I started to like it, masculine with a touch of vanilla, and my girl liked it A LOT. Very inexpensive stuff (2$ for 150ml glass bottle), but it left my skin very, very bitter. I don't put AS on my lips, but even they felt bitter. Do I need to say kisses were excluded that day?

That's only thing I regret. Not so sure about Danidom boar brush I have, it isn't bad, works nicely and wasn't expensive, but maybe I should waited for some tome more, and got some little Semogue, or so.. Also bought some blades that didn't cut at all, but didn't mind that

 

Yea that kansas city garbage I I actually threw it out josh after u sent it to me because I would have felt bad giving it away. Worked great as a paper weight though lol

 

I am now becoming glad I missed out on that.

 

Yes be glad. The lather was like the consistency of honey at best and never got any better no matter how much water or soap u added. So frustrating after the raving review by one of our members. Id like to find the maker and shave him with a plastic weishi while blindfolded

 

Hahaha. Sorry I gave you that junk. At least we can both enjoy the good products a bit more now.

 

1. My first puck of Williams soap...never again
2. LEA Sensitive shaving cream...burned the crap out of my face
3. Bic razor blades...like shaving with the top of a can that's been removed with a can opener. No matter what razor I use.

 

Astra SP blades and Shea Moisture Pre-shave oil didn't work out for me. I don't regret them because they were cheap and I learned something.