Yaqi Sentinel

Thanks -- I have read those reviews on Ali before when looking at the Sentinel. I usually take Ali reviews with the same amount of grains of salt as I do with Amazon reviews, lol. Most are not written in English and their translator is bad. I laugh at some of the words used.

I'm not sure if I have seen any Youtube vids, though, on the Sentinel -- but I'll look. As you know, you need to find the guys who don't like EVERYTHING, lol.

I like the reviews from the "Mikeys" of the shaving world -- for those who know what I'm talking about.

 

Thanks.

I'm not big on polishes -- I've found the polishing on DSCosmetics to be fine, for example. I haven't bought anything non-zamak from Yaqi yet. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that Yaqi SS and DSCosmetics SS are made in the same factory on the same machines, with the same polishers.

I just might wait til they have it on their list in a live sale. Last week's live sale didn't have it.

 

I know this is not the Sentinel razor but I just bought a Yaqi "SLOPE" 316 slant razor torsion type, about 4 weeks ago . It works well and very compact with a Yaqi "Chippendale" Darwin type looking handle. I used it 6 consecutive days while testing and rate it excellent for my shaving needs with a Kai extra wide blade. Good combination or razor and blade gives a little extra blade feel if any one is interested in this razor.

Have some great shaves!

 

DE SOTD, Wednesday, March 22nd 2023- Testing my new Yaqi Sentinel 1.50 mm 316 SS razor with a Yaqi Chippendale Darwin looking handle.

Razor : Yaqi Sentinel 316 SS polished 1.50mm with a Yaqi Chippendale Darwin looking handle- Mfg 2023>, mild to tame mid range for 1st impressions, Machining seems fairly accurate but not perfect and finish is very polished & adequate. The razor when shaving did not seem overly aggressive or threatening and once comfortable with using the Sentinel I settled in for my normal routine and I did a little more buffing on troubled spots than usual (Chin jaw area).
When I tested with my USB microscope prior to use it did show some blade deflection that means positive blade exposure using a pin across the safety bar and lip of top cap with blade installed but not a lot on the other side. When shaving the shave seemed accurate when flipped 180 degrees with very similar audio feedback. Installing and removing a blade is very easy on this style of head design IMO.
Most of the parts & areas I measured with my digital Vernier where reasonably accurate as good as my eyes could witness and the blade gap with my feeler gauge was good enough for my shaving needs, they could of over polished certain areas possibly but also good enough for my shaving needs. (A interesting looking razor IMO)
I used a steep approach (riding the bar) and shallow approach of (ridding the cap) and either one works because you will end up with similar angles for more a neutral angle approach it seems with good audio feedback to help guide a person also as the shave progresses.
I bought mine on the trending sale and it was priced right to take a chance to see how this similar looking Personna BBS-0, LASSC BBS-1 or Wolfman W2 looking razor design performs and there is merit to what I experienced when using for 1st use & from others who have used the Sentinel also and who have mentioned their experiences .
It seems affordable for most folks and not sure how they make any money at their sale prices + delivered . I used a fresh GSB blade 1st use and it worked well as a combination of blade & razor. I will use a Kai SS extra wide blade for more blade feel in the Sentinel on about 3rd or 4th shave to see how it performs also.
Blade : Gillette silver Blue (1) Sharp & smoooth with reasonable longevity. Top Tier blade.
Soap : Razorock XXX Fresco slightly mentholated , nice XXX clean scent with a slight cooling effect that is enjoyable with excellent lather qualities.
Brush : Yaqi "lucky dice" 26mm brown whiskers Fan knot, excellent lather generator, heavenly cloud like soft tips, gentle splay scrubber + excellent lather painter.
Pre shave : (Dedicated Cashmere synthetic)Brush wash whole face with CeraVe hand bar cleanser with a dollop of clear Aloe Vera on the cleaned beard area.
Prep : Cold water rinse after each pass of 2 + pickups. WTG + ATG + pickups.
Post shave : Razorock XXX fresco with witch hazel + a dollop of CeraVe moisturizing lotion(scentless)
Results : CCS,DFS,BbS + no irritation + no weepers= excellent shave with my Yaqi Sentinel razor(24hrs growth) with a GSB blade.




Have some great shaves!

 

DE SOTD, Thursday, March 23rd 2023, Day 2 testing the my new Sentinel 1.5mm razor.

Razor : Yaqi Sentinel 1.5mm polished 316 SS with a Yaqi "Chippendale" polished 316L SS Darwin looking handle- Mfg 2022>, mild range, interesting design that makes installing and removing reasonably easier IMO. Very attractive looking razor also when polished, I seem to buff slightly more with this razor.
Tomorrow I will try a KAI blade extra wide blade to see where it makes it's mark for aggression and efficiency's. The blade can be felt sometimes when plunked down to heavily on the start of a stroke recklessly but never seems to rupture my skin barrier which is real good for half asleep shaving in morning drowsiness IMO, (Could be gap size that comes into play that creates a slight skin increase bump closer to blade when razor is plunked to heavily at start of stroke?. )
The shave went well with no drama and was mostly a carefree shave using my regular routine for a excellent shave.
Blade : Gillette silver blue (2) sharp & smoooth with reasonable longevity. Top tier blade.
Soap : Razorock XXX Fresco, nice clean XXX scent with a light menthol cooling boost with excellent lather qualities.
Brush : Yaqi "mysterious space" 24mm Timberwolf synthetic knot, Excellent lather generator, cloud like soft tips, nice splay scrubber + excellent lather painter.
Pre shave : (Dedicated Cashmere synthetic)Brush wash whole face with CeraVe hand bar cleanser with a dollop of clear Aloe Vera on the cleaned beard area.
Prep : Cold water rinse after each pass of 2 + pickups. WTG + ATG + pickups.
Post shave : Razorock XXX Fresco splash with witch hazel + a dollop of CeraVe moisturizing lotion(scentless).
Results :CCS,DFS,BbS + no irritation + no weepers= excellent shave with my new Yaqi Sentinel 316 polished razor with a GSB blade.



Have some great shaves!

 

Yaqi Sentinel stainless steel razor head.
Homelike Shaving Voevoda stainless steel handle.
Feather blade (4).
Yaqi 24mm two band badger brush.
Tabac shave soap.
Time Razor shave bowl.
American Tobacco by Andy Hilfiger cologne.

First run with the Yaqi Sentinel head. The fit and finish on this head is excellent and impressive for the price point. The blade alignment is spot on.

The 1.50mm gap is a little intimidating but proved to not be. The angle is easy to find and even with a Feather blade it never felt like it was going to bite. Three very smooth passes with no blood loss. The head is very efficient and smooth. I'm very please with this addition to the den.

Happy Thursday everyone!

 

Looks like you enjoyed figuring out your new razor, it performs OK IMO also. Nothing overly aggressive with the Sentinel with a regular blade has been my findings also.
Tomorrow I will try a KAI SS extra wide blade in my Yaqi Sentinel razor.

 

Looking forward to your results with the Kai. I was really surprised with the Feather this morning. I thought it was going to be a blood letting but it turned out to be a nice shave. The 1.5mm blade gap is very deceiving.....it just does not act like an aggressive razor.

 

Well folks I learned something new today while loading the Kai SS blade in my Yaqi Sentinel razor for tomorrows shave I noticed it seemed sloppy for blade alignment and thought I had better do some investigating & thought I would share this because I did recommend using a Kai blade not knowing this issue.
Kai SS blade is not the best choice because of alignment problems that could arise from the way the blade is made. Of all my 60 + razors the Yaqi Sentinel and other similar razors with this 4 corner without the additional blade alignment guides built in design would not be a wise choice for using the Kai SS Blade in the the Yaqi Sentinel razor.
Kai for what ever reason made the tabs narrower than a standard Gillette blade, why they did this is unknown to myself? I do know Kai blade works with my 60 + other razors that have locating pins and locating riser grooves for blade alignment but the Sentinel is different because it lacks the these common blade alignment physical guides instead Yaqi Sentinel uses just a 4 tab corner alignment post system like a few other similar design competitors . Using standard DE blades a person will not have any blade alignment issues because there is hardly any clearances!
I'm still going ahead with using the Kai SS blade but with just visual alignment by bumping the edges of slightly tightened blade with a paper blade tuck box the best I can & then tighten properly and this is not ideal but things happen. I will use a steep approach (riding the bar because the razor will have slightly more blade exposure.
( photo below was taken with my USB microscope and it will explain it better than myself hopefully.)


Have some great shave!

 

DE SOTD, Friday March 24th 2023, Day 3 of Testing my new Yaqi Sentinel razor with Kai SS extra wide blade.

Razor : Yaqi Sentinel 1.5mm gap, polished 316L SS with a Yaqi "Chippendale" polished 316 SS Darwin looking handle-
Mfg 2022>, well built with excellent machining accuracy for standard blades and excellent finish QC for my shaving needs.
I wanted to try one of my favorite DE blades with the Kai SS blade extra wide blade and discovered that the Kai SS blade have less width on the blade tabs area than a standard Gillette blade(I'm not sure why Kai did this on the blade tabs?) so it affects the blade alignment on this style of blade alignment(4 corner posts only) & also similar design of competitors razors IMO.
So I did a visual blade reveal on both sides by gently bumping the blade edge with a paper tuck blade box until it looked acceptable and then tightened the blade down.
The Kai blade will align excellent with normal razors that have alignment posts or riser slots to center the blade evenly. That aside the blade worked great and produced a excellent shave with a little more blade exposure or reveal like I wanted with a Steep approach (riding the bar). The sweet spot angle also increased with this unique blade and it might be worth using for some folks who are willing to have to tweak the blade slightly possibly for alignment because of the narrower blade tabs.
The shave was excellent and mostly carefree shaving with excellent results for folks who like close shaves.
Blade : Kai SS, sharp & smooth with excellent longevity.
Soap : Yaqi Green, nice fresh scent with excellent lather qualities. Yaqi commissioned Master soap creations to make their soap & fragrance line of products.
Brush : Yaqi "Goblin" 24mm synthetic- excellent lather generator, cloud like soft tips, nice splay scrubber + excellent lather painter.
Pre shave : (Dedicated Cashmere synthetic)Brush wash whole face with CeraVe hand bar cleanser with a dollop of clear Aloe Vera on the cleaned beard area.
Prep : Cold water rinse after each pass of 2 + pickups. WTG + ATG + pickups.
Post shave : Yaqi Green splash with witch hazel + a dollop of CeraVe moisturizing lotion(scentless).
Results : CCS,DFS,BBs + no irritation + no weepers= Excellent shave with my Yaqi Sentinel razor with a Kai SS extra wide blade(with narrower blade tabs width than a standard Gillette blade I just discovered recently).


Have some great shaves!

 

DE SOTD, Saturday, March 25th 2023, Day 4 of testing my Yaqi Sentinel 1.5 mm gap 316 SS.

Razor : Yaqi Sentinel, 1.5mm, 316L stainless steel with a Yaqi Chippendale 316 SS Darwin looking handle.-Mfg 2022>, mild range, Well built with accurate machining and a nice polished finish. Today I used a Kai SS blade once again with excellent results(Kai has narrow tabs so you have to do a visual with this blade when installed.) The razor and blade was a good match and the results worked well IMO.
Blade : Kai SS extra wide, sharp and smooth with excellent longevity.
Soap : Yaqi Green- nice fresh scent with excellent lather qualities, Yaqi commissioned Master soap creations of S.A to make their line of soaps and aftershave.
Brush : Yaqi "Mountain lake" 2band badger, excellent lather generator, pillow like soft tips, very nice splay scrubber + great lather painter.
Pre shave : (Dedicated Cashmere synthetic)Brush wash whole face with CeraVe hand bar cleanser with a dollop of clear Aloe Vera on the cleaned beard area.
Prep : Cold water rinse after each pass of 2 + pickups. WTG + ATG + pickups.
Post shave : Yaqi Green AS with witch hazel + a dollop of CeraVe moisturizing lotion(scentless).
Results : or CCS,DFS,BBS + no irritation + no weepers= Excellent shave with my Yaqi Sentinel 316 SS with a Kai Extra wide blade.


Have some great shaves!

 

Yaqi Sentinel 1.5mm stainless steel head.
Homelike Shaving Voevoda stainless steel handle.
Astra SP blade (3).
Shore Shave Cool Water Mint Ribbon synthetic brush.
Lakewood Soap Company Smoky Mountain Rain soap (sample).
Timeless Razor shave bowl.
Scottish Antique by Andy Hilfiger cologne.

Awesome shave this morning with the Sentinel head. The Astra seems to be a nice match for the head.....very smooth and efficient. The Sentinel is a real impressive head and I feel Yaqi has knocked it out of the park with this one. It reminds me a lot of a Gamechanger shave but just a tad smoother.

 

DE SOTD, Thursday, April 13th 2023

Razor : Yaqi Sentinel polished 1.5mm gap, 316L SS + Yaqi polished Chippendale 316L SS Darwin looking handle- mild razor to tame mid range depending on blade used. Mfg 2022>, Very similar to the Personna BB0, BB1 & Wolf W2 razors, Machining and finish QC OK, top cap inside is machine finished. The alignment works excellent with Gillette standard sized blades with the 4 corner posts similar to Gillette tech razors. I used a Kai SS blade this morning and the Kai blade end tabs are narrower than a Standard Gillette blades (not sure why Kai made them narrower) so I had to make sure alignment was close enough for my morning shave. Kai works excellent in 99% of my razors but there are few it has to checked manually for now.
Blade : Kai SS (5) sharp & smoooth + excellent longevity. This blade is wider than a Gillette standard blades by 9/1000 of inch or .0045" per side, it gives a razor a boost with slightly more blade feel but nothing over the top of that spectrum. One of my favorite blades for mild razors.
Soap : Razorock XXX Fresco, nice XXX clean scent with a touch menthol + excellent lather qualities.
Brush : Yaqi "black marble" 24mm silvertip badger, excellent lather generator, heavenly pillow like soft tips, excellent gentle splay scrubber + great lather painter. This knot is High Density and blooms nicely on first cleaning, it is one of the nicest gentle scrubbers for a badger I have used!
Pre shave : (Dedicated Cashmere synthetic)Brush wash whole face with CeraVe hand bar cleanser with a dollop of clear Aloe Vera on the cleaned beard area.
Prep : Cold water rinse after each pass of 2 + pickups. WTG + ATG + pickups.
Post shave : Razorock XXX Fresco with slight menthol with witch hazel + a dollop of CeraVe moisturizing lotion(scentless).
Results : or CCS,DFS,BBs + no irritation + no weepers= Excellent shave this morning with my Yaqi Sentinel 1.5mm gap razor with a Kai SS extra wide blade.

Have some great shaves!

 

Yaqi Sentinel open comb.

 

Very interesting head, it should give a little better efficentcy and possibly a little more aggression. Yaqi is just pounding out new innovation every month with new products lately.

 

I really love the solid bar. This just brings it up a notch and it is a great looking head. I'm trying to resist.

 

DE SOTD, Tuesday, May 30th 2023

Razor : Yaqi TFC adjustable, 2 pc - Mfg 2021>, well thought out adjustable and it has a similar design as the 1930's French Gibbs adjustable but the Yaqi TFC takes regular Gillette blades where the Gibbs took proprietary blades. This little razor works very well and I received a excellent stellar shave this morning with no issues.
Blade : Personna red(2) sharp and smooth with great longevity. Top tier blade.
Soap : Ogallala Bayrum with sage and cedarwood, nice scent of Bayrum with excellent lather qualities.
Brush : Yaqi "Bali" 24mm 3band silvertip badger, heavenly pillow like soft tips, great splay scrubber + great lather painter.
Pre shave : (Dedicated Cashmere synthetic)Brush wash whole face with CeraVe hand bar cleanser with a dollop of clear Aloe Vera on the cleaned beard area.
Prep : Cold water rinse after each pass of 2 + pickups. WTG (3) + ATG(3) + pickups (4 setting)= excellence.
Post shave : Witch hazel beard wash + Ogallala Bayrum & Sandalwood:001_wub: + a dollop of CeraVe moisturizing lotion(scentless).
Results : or CCS,DFS,BBS + no irritation + no weepers=:a17: Excellent stellar shave with my Yaqi TFC adjustable with a Personna red blade.



Have some great shaves!

 

Yaqi Sentinel 1.5 SB. It was a good shave….

 

@PLANofMAN
Is this a duplicate topic?
https://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/ds-cosmetic-ax-yet-another-wolfman-knockoff-clone-copy.67200/