Prep: Face wash with Simple face wash
Pre: Bart’s Pre-Shave
Razor: Tatara Masamune SB (Masamune top cap)
Blade: Gillette 7 o’clock – yellow (1)
Brush: Muhle R89 - Hexagon (Forest Green) -Synthetic
S Cream: ES – Fragrance Free
Post: ES – Fragrance Free ASB
Tatara Passaround comes with all possible accessories so you can create different combinations of blade exposure and/or blade gap.
In a world (shaving world that is) of variables reigned by YMMV acronym, my opinion should not matter much. And so it shouldn't because it is my personal experience and yours will be no doubt different.
I owed a Tatara Masamune in bare SS so taking receipt of the passaround goodies box came to no surprise in terms of presentation.
Minimalistic cork made casing with a white (ivory) card sleeve protecting the contents from falling out. Extra accessories housed in little card boxes matching the sleeve's provenance. I remember when receiving my example from Tatara the outer black paper carefully wrapping the box with it's folds kept in place by what looked like a wax seal. As I'm sure many of you Tatara owners can attest the unboxing experience does not disappoint.
And the same follows with the contents. The reason why I added my name to the list was purely because of choice of materials. Titanium that this. A metal that when used in the razor world I believe it's done so not because of necessity but rather lavishness. An option of build material you always have to pay a premium cost for. Yes justified by the extra cost of the metal itself but also I think the 'inflated' price tag so that it 'feels' premium.
'I've got it in Titanium' a phrase said with a slight sense of snobbery.
Given the fact that I used the stainless steel version to no surprise when picking it out of the box that was my reference point. And again to no surprise the first characteristic to stand out was the weight or should I better say the lack of it. It is light! Not aluminium light but noticeably lighter than its SS sibling. The website states around 55% lighter so impossible not to notice.
Having said that for me it is usable light. And that is because I'm not a fan of light razors. Hone 15A been and gone for that reason (and the suction of course
@Boycie83 is the expert to explain this), Razorock Blackhawk V2 and Henson followed suit for the same reason. All aluminium, all too light. Talking about Henson I also tried the Ti version through the generosity of the members here and found that also to be way too light, the same I found with a Carbon Ti during its fleeting stay in my den.
Tatara feels different. And talking about the feeling that is the second characteristic to notice. It's not as rough to touch as the SS version. Don't get me wrong the SS version has a level of finish miles apart from what could be classed as industrial (yes Rockwell, I'm thinking of you) but call me picky, my skin didn't like it. Titanium feels different, smoother, silkier whatever word you want to use it just feels better to hold and to use.
So let's talk about the shave.
Hence there are two top caps giving different levels of exposure my thought was to start low and incrementally move to the next more aggressive configuration either because of blade exposure increase or blade gap.
And this leads me perfectly into specs for the numerophiles out here
Masamune top cap with a masamune solid bar translates into a negative exposure of -0.13mm and a blade gap of 0.63mm. But numbers are nothing without put into a context. My daily driver now for the last few months DE89, has a positive exposure of +0.06mm and blade gap 0.71mm.
Specs say Masamune will be a milder shave. And again as I'm sure many of you confirm spec sheets are one thing and real life use is another.
Did it feel milder? No it didn't. Quite the contrary I would say.
Was it unpleasantly aggressive? No it wasn't.
A lovely autopilot shave with great results. All throughout I felt as if it will improve with subsequent attempts but tomorrow I shall increase the exposure by changing to the Nodachi top cap and see how that feels in comparison. I'm going by first impressions here.
