Exclusive: A hands-on, first look at The Blackland razor

Haha I've been watching it constantly(with mute). Working it into a Kickstarter update now. Got the soap rerouted so I should be shaving with it by Weds night. I'll let you know if it smells like a shanty town boredello burning down.

By the way, if I ever get into the soap business I'm naming a soap Shanty Town Bordello. Or my band.

 

Guess who just got some shaving soap? I'll take some photos and do a little writeup later, but it is some delicious stuff! Very pleased.

 

@PLANofMAN, boxes are being laser-engraved today and should ship to me by the end of the week . So come next Monday or Tues I should have photos of those for you guys. It's all coming together!

 

Okay I took some photos, but I'll edit and post them tomorrow. Lathered the soap up a few times so I can write a little review/description of it. Mind you that my nose is far from developed. I also didn't make this soap so I'd like to think I'm not terribly biased, given the circumstances.

First things first. The packaging is greatly improved. Local Gent used to have crummy paper labels and a tin lid. They've done away with both and switched to a waterproof label and plastic lid. Both are huge improvements. I designed the label on this and while I'm a terrible graphic designer I think it turned out alright.

Upon opening the soap the first thing I got was lavender. At first that's all I picked up and I worried that Rob had overdone it and made a very feminine floral soap. There was some smoke and pine in the background, but it was barely detectable. But then I brought it to a lather and all that smoky pine jumped to the foreground while the lavender faded to a sweet mellow note peeking through occasionally. To be honest, I'm not sure what amber smells like so I don't know if I detect it or not. The scent profile is really quite nice with neither the smoke, pine, nor lavender coming on too strong and all play excellently together. It was very interesting to notice the transformation the scent took and it's something I hadn't experienced before to such a degree.

While the soap is technically a hard soap, I found it be on the softer side which made for easy loading. I had no trouble bringing it to a thick, creamy, and slick lather in no time with a 24mm synthetic.

Overall, I'm very pleased and glad I ordered a few extra to keep in my den.

 

Yeah....sometimes I worry about all of us......

 

I used to think shaving was masculine. Now I realize it's just a way for guys to have soft skin and play with perfume.

 

Gone are the days of;
"Brah, what does it smell like?"
"Like soap dude. Now let's go shoot something"

 

Maybe that will be my next review.

 

Soap soap soap soap soap.



150 soaps. Now I have about half as many as you guys.


Looks like soap.


Works like soap.


And there you have it. Soap.

 

Are they still available for pre-order?

 

Yes sir! The link is in my signature. So far we are still on time to ship in December and US customers should receive their orders before the holidays, assuming no unforeseen delays. Feel free to PM or email me (shane@blacklandrazors.com) if you have any questions.

 

All the info you are sharing with is getting me really stoked... looking forward to a blackbird Christmas day shave

 

@ShaneS You may have mentioned it in the past but I can't recall - how many razors are in this initial production run?

 

250 including Kickstarter razors. About 350 handles.

 

I'm looking forward to a Blackbird Christmas Shave as well.

 

Thanks for your order, Mark! I appreciate it. If things keep going the way they are we'll all be enjoying a merry Blackbird Christmas.

The handles began running yesterday and I got the first sample in. Looks excellent and matches the new base plates perfectly. Should have a video of that production early next week.

 

Gratz on the progress - it's great to see a Kickstarter moving along so well and with so much transparency into what goes on behind the scenes.

Not to divert your attention from the razor - which obviously is your priority at this time - but did you ever decide on if you were proceeding with those inexpensive Blackbird brush handles?

 

I haven't yet been able to make them of consistent quality so they're on the back burner. I underestimated the difficulty and overestimated my skill, like I tend to do. That also got started during a lull, but now that things are ramping up and coming to a head, I can't afford to divert my attention. I REALLY want to be the rare Kickstarter project that gets backers the product they were expecting on time.

When things settle down I'll revisit it and figure out the best way to proceed. I still use the brush every day and love it.

 

Mine is ordered. I'm so freaking stoked!