CarbonShavingCo. New company & razor in the works....

Carbon Razor review:

Receiving this razor have me a newfound respect for the imaginative and unique product packaging. The canister was well thought out and graphics and artwork were catchy. The burlap sack was a nice touch as well. While I am not one to make a purchase based on packaging alone - it was a nice touch IMO and set me off on the right foot on the razor.

Once in hand I noticed a few details of the razor right away. The design was very reminiscent of a pre-war tech. The polish was also better than anticipated. The cap and baseplate fit together tightly with no slop in any direction. The blade was very firmly grappled by the design and the resulting reveal was consistent on both ends. The handle is where this razor really shined for me. Never have a I seen a handle be so perfectly designed for a head. For me and my large hands - this handle was perfect. The thicker parts were in just the right spot for me and the void in the middle was perfect for XTG and S-N passes. It was so strikingly in balance with the head it became a natural extension of my hand which is where all well designed razors should be.

As far as the total package its a light and nimble SS razor - which is NOT easy to come about. Coming from using Titanium WR2 heads almost exclusively I appreciated the fact that a SS razor could be so light. That said I will be handing money over for Ti as soon as they will offer it haha.

The shave - This is a wonderfully blade forward, yet very mild daily driver of a razor. I used this for 5 consecutive days I believe with a wizamet blade and had no signs of over doing it, no irritation, redness or anything of the sort. I could use this razor indefinitely daily and be quite set and happy. Some may find the shave a bit mild, or may find that the skinny safety bar may feel a bit harsh but I found it efficient enough and quite comfortable.

Look everyone here knows there are now a LOT of really nice and well made stainless steel DE razors out there. It seemed like not long ago that you could choose from timeless, blackland and wolfman. Now there are 5-8 more razors out there that are all really nice. Where I think this shaver shines is with the minimalist design, the smooth yet blade forward shave, and their total packaging. A wonderful opening offering from this company. Looking forward to see what Carbon has in store for us in the future (Titanium Please!!!)

I received the west coast razor today. I can tell that the handle will not work for me because it’s a longer than I like. I hold razors at the bottom of the handle with 2 fingers, so I don’t use anything more than 80 mm. I will use it as intended for my first shave, but I will use other handles the rest of my shaves. I like the weight of the razor and it locks the blade in tight with little to no flex. Just looking at the blade in the razor, I will be surprised if I don’t like this razor. I like enough blade feel to know where the blade is without being super aggressive and it looks like that’s what I’ll get. I’ll know for sure tomorrow.

new updated list:

East:
andrewjs18 (Pennsylvania)
Asafiev (Pennsylvania)
shaveSymptomatic (Florida)
gregcss (Virginia)
Shavemd (Ohio) * removed per user's request
ANG69 (Massachusetts) * removed per user's request
Nh wet shaver (New Hampshire)
Hardrock (North Carolina)
dmiller622 (Tennessee) * removed due to rudeness
vadim (Maryland)
MarsEnglish (New Jersey)
Dragonsbeard (New York)
w_mcnabb (Texas)

West:
TheHunter (Arizona)
HoosierShave (Indiana)
gvw755 (Washington State)
Captainjonny (Washington State)
Einar (Wisconsin)
Kehole (California)
Dayman (Georgia)
jmudrick (California)
Oasisdave (California)
bobmsp (Minnesota)
draebeard (Washington)
IanG153 (California) * removed at user's request

done, bobmsp. Also added draebeard to the west coast list.

I’ve shaved with the cx twice now and I have really enjoyed the shaves. It provides a smooth, close shave and good audible feedback.  I would say the efficiency is close to the Blackbird. The only sting I’ve received from the alum block is on a tricky spot on my neck, but no lingering irritation. There is not much blade feel with a shallow angle, but you feel it more as the angle gets steeper. My first shave was with the original handle and it was ok, but the handle wasn’t to my liking. I prefer a 3 in handle, but I will say I liked the length of it better than the 85mm length handles that a lot if razors come with. To me it’s too long to hold near the bottom with 2 fingers like I like to do, but too short to hold with 3 fingers. This handle was comfortable with a 3 finger grip, but I like to hold my razors in a head heavy location instead of a balanced location like the cx is set up for. I included a picture with the blade in to show the exposure.

Review forthcoming. Next tester notified (vadim in Maryland) to send me his address. Thanks all.

I am using one (on loan from a wetshaving friend). Today was my second shave (24 hr growth), before that I shaved a 2.5+ days growth.

My short review - this is an excellent excellent razor, that is def in my top 5, very smooth and fairly efficient, best new (to me) razor I tried in 2019 (others - WR2 - 0.95, 1.15, Edwin Jagger 3ONE6, Weber DLC, PILS) without any doubt.

Surprisingly I didn't find the handle to be that weird while using. Sure it looks weird, but to me it didn't feel awkward. What I really like about this razor is the smooth feeling and the positive feedback. Let me explain - some razors (Paradigm Ti-II, and WR-2 to some extent) can be deceptive - they can be aggressive without feeling aggressive. Other razors (BlackBird for example) can be super aggressive feeling without being that much aggressive. Carbon is somewhere in the middle - it has adequate face feel, it isn't deceptively bite-y. You can feel the whiskers being cut - the feedback is easy to follow. ATG on my neck (which is usually the litmus test for me) was super smooth on both days (2.5+ and 1 day growth). Absolutely no tugging or pulling at all. I had to do some maneuvering to get a bbs on my chin where my beard is really dense, but got no irritation.

There are some razors with which I feel absolutely no irritation during shave, but when I apply alum or use an alcohol based aftershave, I get very noticeable and unpleasant feedback. Not in this case, I got zero to very little alum feedback after full 3 pass shaves.

I also like that this razor isn't super heavy or the head isn't awkwardly big.

I am definitely purchasing this razor, and with this handle. I will just wait and see if Carbon offers another of those discounts any time soon. After the initial release, I wasn't too keen on trying this razor for various reasons, but boy am I happy I changed my mind. Great Razor!!

thanks for reviews. it forces to wish this razor.

Firstly, (is that even a word) Kudos to Carbon for providing the razors for critique. I really think they stuck their neck out providing a product to a large group like this not really knowing what feedback they're going to get. I'm sure they've done their own testing and stuff but we could have easily thrown them under the bus and hurt their sales. I bet lots of people are basing their purchasing decision on feedback from this very pass around where many people may have just jumped in and bought it. I think that shows concern for the actual product performance instead of just trying to make a buck. I'll bet there watching this pretty close.
Anyway...really nice razor. Do I want one? Yes. Will I buy one? No. I own several razors and currently get real good shaves. It really comes down to the dollars for me. Vintage Gillettes are at the top of my rotation (I have vintage and modern razors buy the way) and the Carbon just could'nt de-throne them but it was fairly close. When I buy a razor I am really buying the shave itself. I'm a user, not a collector, but if I was looking for some bling or the latest new toy this Carbon would be a very nice addition.

The razor itself...super nice, great fitment, great finish, the blade is held very rigidly, smooth tight threads, very sleek head, good balance and weight, no worries with the blade tabs for me, very sexy razor overall except for the handle. Based on appearance alone the Ferrari head really outclasses the Ford handle. (No offense Ford guys) To me, that really pulls it way below the price point. A $250 dollar razor should look awesome all over. (think Timeless, they're pretty)

The shave...nice, medium aggression for my face, a few weepers I don't usually get but with more time and more blades who knows. Except for that, the end results were very similar to my current results, just a real nice shave but nothing to really put it over the top. Sorry. I do have a couple negatives. Performance wise, I do not like the handle because of the thin section in the middle. I like my other handles better. No biggie, just personal taste. Also, given my metalworking background, the logo and the identifying etching may be a concern in the long run, or maybe not. It can actually be rubbed off if any gung-ho polishers get aggressive with it. For example, I have actually buffed the large etched "Gillette" logos clean off the caps of the later techs before.

Overall I had a great experience and these comments are personal to me only, after all there is that popular saying, YMMV.
Thanks goes out to Carbon Shaving, the forum, and andrewjs18 for keeping up with it.

...I'm still in Asia so west coast razor will have to skip over me :-(

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