Twig SE

Hi,

My Twig arrived a week ago. I ordered directly from their website and went for the expedited DHL shipping, so it arrived within a week of ordering and there were no VAT or customs issues.

I opted for a Twig in chrome with matching stand. It really appealed in terms of design and the ability to stretch your DE blades further, and of course to have an endless choice of blades. I found loading a blade to be easy. Snap your blade in half, turn the handle and the top cap rises up and turns out of the way. Place it in the head, where a small magnet holds it securely, screw the head down again. I did give the handle and central stem a drop or two of Nano oil as it could have been a little smoother. That did the trick. It feels solidly built but that loading mechanism would likely not fare well if the razor were dropped when it was extended.

It shaved really well. It’s bottom heavy and sits well in the hand. The head is fixed at an accommodating 30° angle. I used a Voskhod to judge it’s aggression, which I'd place as slightly below medium, perhaps a touch below a Merkur 34C.

It is incredibly agile and seemed to make me speed up my shave. It feels like a cartridge razor in that regard, you can whip it around your face in no time. This would be a perfect “gateway” razor for people moving away from cartridges. The outstanding thing about this razor, thanks to the thin head, is that it is the easiest razor I’ve ever used to get up under my nose. It simply laughs at that challenge.

Yet it’s efficient. With the Voskhod, I was easily able to get a BBS shave, with no irritation or nicks. A smooth blade, like the Voskhod is perfect in this razor, although stubble did return within 24 hours, so I have had closer, longer lasting shaves. Next time I may pop in half a feather and see how that goes but the Twig does provide a very enjoyable experience.

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Having resolutely stuck to my guns on not liking multi-blade razors, and therefore not buying the Leaf razor (for me, not much point if only using a single blade all the time), I'm pleased that the Twig has come along. I have one on order in silver, and I'll probably have a few words to say when I've used it. At the moment, any razor of this type which is easier to load than the Focus already has a plus point.
 
The Twig (in silver) has arrived, and it looks a good piece of equipment. As @dkpw says, some lubricant on the moving parts helps, as it's a bit stiff to turn. It's a good weight, is well-made, the balance feels right, and loading it is a doddle. The head pivoting round at loading is an interesting feature, but it's easy enough to put a blade in, before it does so. The blade magnet holds it firmly.

As with other razors that depend on quite (relatively) complex threads and moving parts to operate as designed, I can see a couple of points where problems might arise (perhaps like the soap build-up in some adjustables), but I expect that thorough cleaning will obviate them.

The postman arrived rather late, and I'll be using this for the first time tomorrow. It'll therefore have a few more Desperate Dan bristles on which to show its mettle.

To be continued....
Edit:
Heavy glue spots/dots on the blade, facing towards the top cap, don't help, as they can pull the blade off the magnet. I guess only problematic if opening the razor to clean it out, during the blade's tenure. I really must stop playing around with this.
 
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For the first outing this morning, I used a Minora blade and Signature's "Coria" soap.

With a couple of days' growth, this cleaned up perfectly in two passes. It feels good in the hand, is an agile razor and the small head enables it to reach some of the trickier spots. The angle is quite easy to get right after a minute or two, although, to start, I was cautious about it digging in. Although it's a weighty thing for its size, the balance is more towards the handle, and it does need a bit more pressure to work properly, otherwise it will skip a bit. That being so, I tried the alum test in case of burn or irritation, but no problems there.

It's definitely an efficient razor, and, of my limited repertoire of Focus and Rocnel 1/2 DE razors, I'd place it at the top. It wins on ease of loading, and follows up with a very satisfactory performance. It does need swilling about quite often, as a thick soap like Coria builds up quickly, and the razor is skating and not cutting; a terrible incentive for wrongly applying excessive pressure.

Again, my old logistics problem arises. I always throw a DE blade after 3 consecutive days of use. Past experience shows that a halved DE blade edge gets about twice as much wear as a whole one. Given that a half blade over 3 days isn't in the mix, should I a) use a half blade over each day i.e. 2 days per blade b) use half for 2 days, and the other half for 2 days i.e. 4 days or c) get complicated, and use one half for 2 days and the other for 1 day i.e. 3 days for my "normal" turnover? Decisions, decisions.

Anyway, I like this razor.
 
Again, my old logistics problem arises. I always throw a DE blade after 3 consecutive days of use. Past experience shows that a halved DE blade edge gets about twice as much wear as a whole one. Given that a half blade over 3 days isn't in the mix, should I a) use a half blade over each day i.e. 2 days per blade b) use half for 2 days, and the other half for 2 days i.e. 4 days or c) get complicated, and use one half for 2 days and the other for 1 day i.e. 3 days for my "normal" turnover? Decisions, decisions.
I throw the half blade after 3 days......and to be honest.....in most cases I could definitely get at least another day.....and I nearly always do 3 pass shaves. I just feel greedy after 3 shaves......and 6 shaves is a good return for 1 DE
 
I throw the half blade after 3 days......and to be honest.....in most cases I could definitely get at least another day.....and I nearly always do 3 pass shaves. I just feel greedy after 3 shaves......and 6 shaves is a good return for 1 DE
I could try for 3 days on the half-blade again, but with the other razors I mentioned, the blade has always seemed past its best after 2 days. Of course, a lot depends on the blade. There are some which will definitely last for 3 days, if not longer, as their main purpose seems to be scraping soap off the face, and not shaving whiskers.

Let empiricism prevail. I shall try for 3 days.
 
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