OneBlade Unboxing [Picture Heavy]

Darkbulb

Darkbulb

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California
The OneBlade
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Ok, so unboxing threads and videos are super-geeky..but,well, that hasn't stopped me before so here is one of the OneBlade razor I just received :D

I took advantage of last week's offer to get the razor and 30 blades for about $190 shipped.
Normally, this is a $300 razor so I must admit the expectations were pretty high on what I would be receiving.

Inside the box from FedEx were three pieces. One postcard with some general information welcoming you to OneBlade, a box with the 30 Feather razor blades - and a very neatly wrapped box containing the razor. The unique serial number of the razor is hand-written on the paper and it's all tied together with a piece of string and metal medallion sporting the OneBlade logo.

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Inside the box w/ the razor blades:
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String with the metal medallion holding the package together:
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Further unwrapping reveals a very nice leather box. I am not an expert as far as leather goes but this looked and felt very impressive. Nice stitching and leather grain.

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Opening up the leather box revealed some more instructional pieces of paper about loading/unloading the blade, etc - all done extremely tastefully with nice printing on good paper stock.

Digging a bit further....we finally strike gold steel!
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So before I proceed.
Does one need all - or any - of the above?
Fancy paper, luxurious leather boxes, metal medallions, etc.
No of course not. It will obviously not matter two months from now - or two days even - when you pick up the razor to shave one morning. Most of it will probably even be misplaced/lost and what truly matters is how the razor feels against your face that morning. BUT - what it does give you is an experience and an impression. I had great fun unboxing this razor and go through all the eye candy and the extreme attention to details that has been applied here. It is hand down the most impressive packaging I've ever seen as far as any shaving equipment goes. Did I need it? No. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely.

Anyroad....back to the razor....

There it finally was in all it's stainless steel glory:
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First impressions picking it up and razturbating a bit:
- Nice weight and incredibly solid feeling,
- Any moving piece like the pivoting head moves silky smooth,
- An absolute fingerprint magnet

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The stand is also surprisingly heavy - it honestly feels like a solid piece of steel when picking it up.
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Next up is to actually shave with this thing...
It's a weekend and my religion laziness doesn't allow me to shave on the weekends so it will have to wait until next week when it will compete with the Shavette from IBC for lather-time.

In short recap: Best un-boxing experience ever that really sets you up with quite some expectation on performance. In lack of better words there was an air of decadence so thick you could cut it with whatever jewel encrusted knife that happened to be closest.

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Fergiebilly said:
Lovely Pics ...Its a darn fine looking razor an all...I must say...Great review..o_O

Billy
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Thanks Billy. It'll be a tough decision come Monday morning if I'm gonna spend the week with the OneBlade or the IBC Shavette.
I'm thinking I'll go with the OneBlade just in case I loathe it and need to take them up on their 30 day MBG :D

Oh...and there are some...very, very unconfirmed rumours that we might see an even lower price point (lower than the $190) of this razor model in 2016....
 
Darkbulb said:
Thanks Billy. It'll be a tough decision come Monday morning if I'm gonna spend the week with the OneBlade or the IBC Shavette.
I'm thinking I'll go with the OneBlade just in case I loathe it and need to take them up on their 30 day MBG :D

Oh...and there are some...very, very unconfirmed rumours that we might see an even lower price point (lower than the $190) of this razor model in 2016....
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Look forward to the Shave Report...:D

Billy
 
nick_s said:
I'm still not taken on the handle personally. Not sure I'd find it particularly comfortable and grippy to use, I'd be interested to hear your findings :)
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Yeah its one of those things you can't really tell until you've used it for a full shave or two...so I'll refrain from commenting on how comfy it is until later in the week :)
 
Shave Report - Day 1​

This morning it was finally time to try out the OneBlade.
Being at home today - and lazy as the extreme rain didn't encourage me to step outside - I didn't shave until late in the afternoon so the razor had almost over three days of stubble to deal with.

Loaded up a fresh blade w/out any issues. Simply insert it from the back of the head and push it through until it clicks in place. Double-checked that it was leaning against - and not on top of - the blade stoppers and it was.

Picked out a New Forest brush, some T&H soap and a bottle of Floid Blue as fun candidates for the afternoon shave.

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Lathered up some soap (man, I love New Forest brushes...) and put razor-to-face for the first time. Would it be a keeper on a shelf? Would it be sent back? Would I love it?

First stroke felt odd, adjusted the angle just a tiny bit and it all fell into place. Once dialed in (literally w/in two strokes) the razor shaved and let me tell you - it shaved well.
It's not an aggressive razor but it's not as 'mild' as say a PAL injector, Wilkinson Sticky and/or Gillette Blue Tip - it has a bite to it but it is very well controlled.
As I was completing my first pass (WTG) I noticed that it was more audible than I thought it would be. I like that as it can sometimes help dial in an angle more accurately.

My two trouble-spots (under the nose and under the chin) were both very closely shaved after the first pass.
There was never any risk of blood letting but the result was a very close firs-pass shave.

I went back in for a second, and last, pass (ATG) and the same feelings as during the first pass - nice audible shave, close and efficient.

As I rinsed off my face with some cold water and splashed on some Floid Blue my felt was indeed very closely shaved and no irritations or discomfort.

Now, it would be easy to just say that it's a great razor but I think that would be an easy 'out' for me so let's compare it to the King Cobra that I purchased just 1-2 weeks ago and have had three shaves with so far - and it's also a single edge razor.
As much as I love the King Cobra and the shave it gives me I will have to declare the OneBlade the 'winner' between the two. It's easier to navigate around my face and felt less prone to cut me while using it.

Is it the best SE razor I've ever used? This is where it gets tricky as I've only used this razor once so I'll save the final verdict on that until the end of the week to see if it can beat out some of my personal SE favorites such as the Schick Type O, Mongoose, Schick Paul Revere, GEM Damaskeene OC and Le Coq (hoe razor)...

The "bad":
The one thing that I didn't care for was how you unload the blade.
You pull it out of the same slot as you inserted it into and if you, like me, take out the blade of the razor every time you've used it I can see how inserting and replacing it may damange the edge of the blade as there is direct metal-to-blade edge contact when you pull it out. I feel that it's a near perfect design but with a flawed blade extraction.
I know that the site recommends using the blade just once but online most people seem to get four-or-so shaves out of the blade. I wonder if the people that get less than four shaves out of the blade are the people that take the blade out after every shave.

I'll try to use the same blade all week.

TL;DR:
Loved the razor, loved the shave but not sure if the blade extraction will damage the blade and shorten the life of the blades.
 
Fergiebilly said:
What a fantastic write up....I enjoyed that very much...I have the Oneblade coming to me on a Pass Around early next year & I am looking forward to it...:)
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Thanks!
I know how much you like SE/injector razors so I 'fear' that you may love this razor Billy :)
Next I'm curious to see how many shaves I can get out of a blade before it starts to feel dull.... We'll see this week I guess
 
Very nice write ups! Just like Billy I'm on that pass around and just like Billy I love my SE and injector razors, so I'll be reading your reviews with anticipation. I even dug out my Valet Autostrop razors. They take the same blades as the OneBlade, so it should be interesting to compare the blades side by side in two different razors...
 
Shave Report - Day #2​

Had another afternoon-shave so it was just about 24 hours since my previous shave.
The last time (first time using the razor) it had to deal with about three days of stubble...this time only a day so I was curious to see how/if the shave would feel any different.

I took out the blade after the last shave and rinsed both razor and blade so the first time I did was plopping the [same] blade back into the razor and off to the bathroom I went.

Lathered up some Muhle shaving soap (first time using it and really liked both performance and scent) with my Wolf Whiskers brush and started shaving.
First pass (WTG) I couldn't tell any difference as far as blade sharpness. It felt smooth against my skin and did a very nice job eliminating the stubble I had.

Second pass (ATG) I decided to tempt faith a bit. The razor feels almost 'fool-proof' in that you can't cut yourself even if you try...so..well...I tried a bit.
Going against the grain I applied quite a bit more pressure than I would ever do using a DE/SE razor and lo and behold the pivoting actually 'does something'. In a very, very subtle way it seemed to compensate for that additional pressure - which was especially noticeable when I pushed the razor a bit harder when I was on the jawline. Rather impressive.
Now, I wouldn't necessarily recomment tempting faith this way but I have to say it did a rather remarkable job saving me from myself.
(Don't take the above as if the razor is 'overly mild' and require 3-4 passes to get a clean/close shave - for the second time in a row two passes left me extremely close shaved).

I'm packing to head up to Lake Tahoe for a few days and this is the razor I'm bringing. Even if I wasn't in the middle of trying it out I actually thing I would have brought it anyway.
It's a very, very good razor.

(I am however bringing a spare blade as I still need to see if I can get three comfortable shaves out of it).

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Great review with good pics, must admit that the looks of the razor are growing on me. But, I really couldn't talk myself into spending that type of money on it. For the same price or less I got the polished Mongoose + a Jurgen Hempel ti handle. I maybe could have if they'd made it for the larger type blades, getting 10+ shaves and giving the Cobra a run for it's money. But thats just me, everyone to their own, and I'm glad to see that your enjoying the experience;)
 
Shave Report - Day #3​

As much as one can love an inanimate object I think I might love the OneBlade.

Third shave with it this morning and it was a sheer pleasure to use. The result, after my usual two passes, was one of the closest and smoothest I think I've experienced this year.
This was btw using the same blade for the third time so I have little qualms about using it for the fourth shave as well.

Razors and blades are as we all know, highly subjective but to me this has been a fantastic combination resulting in what might end up being my 'razor of the year'.

Is it all good then?
No, I still don't like how I extract the blade. Every time I do so (and I do it after every shave) I worry about damage it and that aspect/design of the razor feels a bit in contrast to how well thought out the rest of the razor is.
Also, I noticed that my razor's head has a slight 3mm-or-so 'play' allowing the head to move laterally a bit. Now, this doesn't effect the shave in any way of course but it's still something I noticed. On the upside - I contacted OneBlade both via email and Twitter and their CS came back to me w/in hours on both plat forms - on December 23rd - informing me that if I was in any way concerned they will have it taken in and inspected and repaired/replaced.

Anyway, very, very impressed and thrilled I was able to get one of these when the discount code applied. A very solid, efficient and enjoyable razor.

Merry Christmas to you all!!
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