H&S P076 316SS DC Passaround – New Standard in SS Artisanal Razors at a Bargain Price

I've done 1 head and 1 face shave with the straight bar, and 1 each with the open comb.  I've got a couple of shaves left before posting my final thoughts, but I'll say I'm pleasantly surprised with everything.  I wasn't sure if the razor would have the efficiency I like, and the scent descriptions on the WK software didn't quite line up with what I like.  But I've enjoyed everything so far.

I was able to get a few more shaves in before sending the package on.  I plan to create a video review of the P076, and possibly one on the Vor V as well, but here's my summary for you guys.

Software:

• All of the Wholly Kaw products performed very well, although I still prefer soaps to creams when it comes to performance.  I can't seem to figure out how to keep the air out of my cream lathers, and that held true with the WK.
  
• The soaps were on par with some of my favorite soap performers.  I know many people believe that Wholly Kaw stands alone, but I just don't agree.  It's a great soap, but there are quite a few others out there that are just as good.
  
• The Vor V was my personal favorite scent of the 3, Dulci Tobacco a close second.  The Valentynka was nice, it just didn't blow me away.
  
• The aftershave toner made my skin feel a bit sticky when I first applied it, but it dried down nicely and my skin felt great after about 10 or 15 minutes.
  

The P076

• I would say it's just a touch below my ATT H1 in terms of efficiency.  Quite a bit less blade feel, though.
  
• If someone is looking for a super efficient razor with minimal blade feel, this might be my new recommendation for them moving forward.  I was surprised how well it worked for me.
  
• It still didn't give me quite as close of a shave as I like on my head.  I don't shave against the grain on my head, and I typically do a single WTG or XTG pass.  I went XTG with this razor.  With a fresh Perma Sharp blade, it came pretty close to my ATT H1.  Once the blade got a shave or two on it, the results suffered.
  
• The polish is certainly beautiful.  Best I've ever seen.
  
• I still don't care for the handle length.  I prefer 85mm max.  It wasn't a total distraction, but I think I would have liked it more with a shorter handle.
  

Apologies folk, we have had another setback causing delay on this passaround: last user had family emergency then USPS misshipped the damn package.  Life is full of contingencies.  We are in touch with USPS to retrieve this and will follow up as soon as status known. 

We truly do reside in a third world nation where even the simple task of delivering a package between metropolitan areas is beyond the capability of our best and brightest government officials...perhaps we should have offered a bribe....

As much as I like to criticize the government, the USPS technically is an "independent agency," which means it is self-funded. According to its website, it "is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation: 160 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations."

i know that does nothing to alleviate the frustration of temporarily losing track of a very valuable item in its care/responsibility. i hope things work out quickly so that this dang razor can be enjoyed by the rest of the shavers on the iist!

Not a conspiracy rightie nor even on right but if you believe the USPS isn't gov't, you are sadly mistaken.

Bellieve me, I fully understand. I also acknowledge that I have at times received far better service from USPS over some well-known premium private delivery services.

I must once again apologize for the lateness of this review. Life has been coming at me fast the last 4 months, with no indications of a slowdown.

I want to start by saying that I really appreciate DanLaw organizing these passarounds of the H&S razors. At this point, I have been able to try out all of the different material versions of the P076. I am going to copy some snippets from my most recent Cu P076 review, as I believe it will give context, and my experience this time was fairly similar.

A little background on my recent shaving habits and my skin. I received my Wolfman WR2 1.15 SB back in mid-May, and I’ve been using it almost exclusively since then. I shave every other day. It took a couple of weeks for me to dial it in, but now I’m getting pretty smooth/efficient shaves. I have been wetshaving with a DE for about two and a half years, so I would consider myself pretty new at this. I have in that time tried out quite a few razors, and so far my preferences lean to mild/mid aggressive. I *think* that I have somewhat sensitive skin, as I’m typically only able to shave every other day without getting a decent amount of irritation after a few days.

Wholly Kaw soaps:

I have tried a few samples of WK in the Siero base prior to this, and these performed the same as those samples. The WK scents that I have encountered have not been my favorites. Of these two, I would say my preference leaned towards Vor V, although I go back and forth on whether I really like it or not… one day I would sniff and really be impressed, another it would just not tickle my fancy. Valentynka is definitely not one I would purchase.
Performance-wise, the Siero base is upper tier. It is a great base, but for me doesn’t quite perform as well as a few others that I use regularly. That’s not to take away from the high-level of this soap base, though… it is definitely top notch.

Wholly Kaw cream:

The Dulci Tobacco cream that was included with this pass around is unlike any cream that I have used. Updating the packaging from this pre-production container was a good move, as the cream seemed to have melted a bit in the hot southern Alabama weather. I had to scrape a large portion off the inside of the lid, and replace it into the container. The scent is very sweet to me, and I had a hard time picking up the tobacco. Maybe this is more tobacco flower? I left the lid off for a couple of days as Dan had suggested, but still got a mostly sweet scent with just a hint of tobacco. That’s not to say that I didn’t like the scent, as this was by far my favorite of the three. Performance-wise for me, the cream did not match the soaps. I had a hard time getting a good lather with the cream, and it just wasn’t as slick for me as the soaps. This could easily be user error, as I’m not nearly as used to lathering creams these days.

Wholly Kaw AS, Balm, and Toner:

The AS that paired with the Vor V soap had a nice scent, and as Dan pointed out, a little bit more fruity note. The AS performance was very good, up there with other top end after shaves. I used the Bare Naked balm on a couple of the shaves where I experienced some irritation. It did a good job of calming the irritation, but most balms are just not for me. I have VERY oily skin, and almost every balm that I’ve ever tried adds to that issue rather than helping with it. This balm was no different. I believe it would work well for anyone with dry to normal skin. The toner, on the other hand, is the star of these three products. I actually prefer a toner to most aftershaves (Ethos Skin Food Splash being the exception.) Lucky Tiger is the toner that I use often, and the Bare Naked toner from WK performs as well or better.

The razor:

This 316 SS P076 is a more utilitarian design aesthetic than the other P076 models that were passed around, and I like it. That’s not to say that I didn’t like the others, but there’s something about the simplicity of this handle design that is very appealing to me. I much prefer longer handles, and this one is a good length for me. The knurling on the handle is fairly aggressive, it actually reminds me of knurling on an Olympic weightlifting bar. (It could be toned down a bit, although it was fine with me during use). The head is that same beautifully polished, perfect fit and finish that I now expect from H&S. The packaging from H&S is also very impressive, much better than I’ve seen from other high-end razors.

I only used the SB side (don’t typically get along at all with OC), I used a couple of different blades (Nacet, Wizamet), and got fairly similar results with all three. This handle design does change the handling a bit, and also the shave experience to a certain degree. This razor is very efficient. Much like the copper version, I was able to get ok shaves, but in the end they were all a little bit harsh. I do think I got slightly better shaves with the 316 than with the Cu. That said, the ATG passes were definitely not as smooth as I would like, and I ended up with a bit of irritation on all of my shaves, although not as many weepers as with the Cu. This could possibly be attributed to me just getting a little better with technique required for the P076. I just can’t seem to get along with the positive blade exposure of this razor. As I stated, I’m fairly new to DE shaving in the grand scheme of things. I do have razors that I’ve cracked the code for me to use, but there have been quite a few (P076 being one) that I haven’t been able to use.

This is a great razor, and will give many individuals great shaves. I did get some good shaves when I tried the 17-4 version, so maybe the stars aligned and I hit the technique just right, or maybe that material works better for me. I don’t know that I’ll ever find out, though, as I’m not likely to spend the $$ to get one to continue the testing. 

Thanks again to DanLaw and Wholly Kaw for this pass around!

Bellieve me, I fully understand. I also acknowledge that I have at times received far better service from USPS over some well-known premium private delivery services.

*cough* Fedex *cough*

On a fun note I actually had them make delivery the first time they stated they would just recently, and in the correct spot this time. Their automatic system did say they weren't going to deliver that day, though. I think they knew I was browsing r/Fedex though and decided to deliver lest I mock them there.

Just shipped out the H&S P076 SS DC qnd Wholly Kaw products to the next in line. This razor pleasantly surprised me as I did not get along too well with the Cu version. Had half a mind of dripping out of the passaround but am glad I got to try this. It gave me much better shaves than what I got with the Cu. I had hit or miss results with the copper and getting the angle just right was a challenge. This seemed very comfotable to hold, weight and balance was excellent and of the 5 shaves I had, 3 were just outstanding. I fiund tge open comb side a bit too aggressive for me...all shaves gave excellent end results but one shave with the open comb and one other shave qitht the closed comb side left me feeling not so satisfied with a bit more alum burn than desired.

What I did realize is that i got thw best shaves with a milder blade. For me it was the wilkinson sword saloon pack blade that performed amazing. The Nacets give an excellent shave but I did have some alum burn when using it compared to no burn at all from the wilkinson sword.

All in all, this is a beautiful looking razor, vert well balanced and very efficient. Thanks Dan and Aji for allowing us to experience this beauty.

Wholly Kaw.
Great soaps .... easy to lather and good slickness. The Dolce tobacco was my favorite but it was not as slick as the other 2. Valentynka and Vor V peeformed similar but the scents are not for me. Not much left in the Dolce Tobacco when I got it but managed to get a couple of shave and leave some for a few more dolks to try. Cannot comment on the balm asnI never received it in the package.

Aftershaves were good...The Vor V had a nice cooling effect and the scent lasted for quite a while. Did not uae much of the Bare Naked toner...but did try it.

Thanks to H&S, Whilly Kaw and Dan again ... wonderful experience to be trying all these amazing products. Dolce Tobacco is on my list now to get.






Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

Just shipped out the H&S P076 SS DC qnd Wholly Kaw products to the next in line. This razor pleasantly surprised me as I did not get along too well with the Cu version. Had half a mind of dripping out of the passaround but am glad I got to try this. It gave me much better shaves than what I got with the Cu. I had hit or miss results with the copper and getting the angle just right was a challenge. This seemed very comfotable to hold, weight and balance was excellent and of the 5 shaves I had, 3 were just outstanding. I fiund tge open comb side a bit too aggressive for me...all shaves gave excellent end results but one shave with the open comb and one other shave qitht the closed comb side left me feeling not so satisfied with a bit more alum burn than desired.

What I did realize is that i got thw best shaves with a milder blade. For me it was the wilkinson sword saloon pack blade that performed amazing. The Nacets give an excellent shave but I did have some alum burn when using it compared to no burn at all from the wilkinson sword.

All in all, this is a beautiful looking razor, vert well balanced and very efficient. Thanks Dan and Aji for allowing us to experience this beauty.

Wholly Kaw.
Great soaps .... easy to lather and good slickness. The Dolce tobacco was my favorite but it was not as slick as the other 2. Valentynka and Vor V peeformed similar but the scents are not for me. Not much left in the Dolce Tobacco when I got it but managed to get a couple of shave and leave some for a few more dolks to try. Cannot comment on the balm asnI never received it in the package.

Aftershaves were good...The Vor V had a nice cooling effect and the scent lasted for quite a while. Did not uae much of the Bare Naked toner...but did try it.

Thanks to H&S, Whilly Kaw and Dan again ... wonderful experience to be trying all these amazing products. Dolce Tobacco is on my list now to get.






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Quite a few typos as I reread this...apologize

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