Henson Al13 Razor - From the Guys Who Brought You The ISS

I recently purchased the Henson AL13 (mild) in addition to my Henson Al13 Medium to use as a travel razor. While thus far I prefer the Medium for my face, I really like the Mild for shaving my head. I used it yesterday and had no blood or irritation. I will have to try it a few more times to see if it will replace my Leaf razor as my go to head shaving tool.

eric

I had another great head shave with the Alu13 Mild razor. It seems to be on track to surpass my Leaf razor as a head shaver.



Eric

I am glad to read that you prefer the Henson. I do not own a Leaf. I absolutely love the Henson as a head shaver. My preference is flipped: mild for the face and medium for upstairs.

How many different models are there? 
Is the Men's "Mild" the exact same as the Women's default?

2 Models is my understanding. The Men's Mild is the Women's default. Below is a copy and paste from Henson post #147 in this thread

"Sorry about the confusion on the Mild, Medium-Men's, Women's.

We are sorting out the labeling topic before we manufacture more.  Ideally we will move away from Men's and Women's...nobody like these terms as they are not inherently descriptive across the board.  With the L:001M(W)  L00:2M(W) and (dot) and no engraving, we have done this to a) keep the baseplates and topcaps in groups.  Our goal was to machine batches at a time...because it contained variables...and  having several dimensions as influential on the net resultant of exposure, made this a good idea to us.  Especially seeing as we are controlling the exposure to witin .0005". 
Dave in KY 
ajc347 

Women's = Mild
Mens = mild or medium
This option was added so men who would like Mild, would not have to select a women's razor to get that Smile


Lots explained:
1st batch
No engraving = (Men's)Medium  ---  back in the beginning it was only Men and Women to denote mild an medium...bad move)
One small dot = (women's) Mild

2nd batch
L00:1 M  = medium
L00:1 W  = mild

3rd batch 
L:002 M  = medium
L:002 W  = mild

Moving forward we aim to streamline the nomenclature crababble.
Especially because there likely be 2 more levels of aggression, thou, likely only available in the Titanium and Tungsten models.

Hope this clears things up.  lemme know if you have more unknowns."

Thanks for this post, didn't realize there was like some sort of marking to differentiate between the mild and the medium, would be nice if they could make it a little clearer as I didn't know until I stumbled across it o a vid by geofatboy then I googled it and found this post, many thanks again

Henson has new Stainless Steel DE blades on their site, in addition to Astra Superior Platinum. The new blades have been manufactured to Henson specifications. I have tried these blades, and IMHO they perform better than Astra in the Henson AL13 and TI22 razors (perform better= smoothness + sharpness).

have you tried the blades in any other razor?

Henson has new Stainless Steel DE blades on their site, in addition to Astra Superior Platinum. The new blades have been manufactured to Henson specifications. I have tried these blades, and IMHO they perform better than Astra in the Henson AL13 and TI22 razors (perform better= smoothness + sharpness).

I saw something about them. Supposedly, they're going to be available through Amazon eventually?

Good review and I think I may need to check them out eventually.

have you tried the blades in any other razor?

That's a good question. I'd love to know if they work as well with other razors, too. You definitely find some blades just don't work well in some razors.

have you tried the blades in any other razor?

Yes.  I have tried them in the aluminum RR Lupo, RR Gamechanger (.68), Gillette Tech ('51), and RR Stainless Lupo.  I wanted to use them in comparable razors, versus super premium or adjustable razors.  The new Henson RK blades are above average in the other razors I tried, but for some reason work best in the Henson razors.  For me, they are similar to Nacet, Gillette Rubie, and Wizamet.  They are not as sharp as Feather.  I typically only shave with a blade 2 times, with the exception of Nacet, Wizamet, and Feather.  I get 3 shaves from those 3 brands.  I only got 2 shaves from the new RK Henson blades.  I think that most people will find them "Mid Tier to Upper Middle Tier" blades.  IMHO, they are definitely not "junk tier" blades.  Apparently, RK is a respected brand in India, and popular over there.  I believe that people who use Henson razors will like them in their Henson.

You've got me sold
Going to order some up tonight. I would love if they did an AL-13 Aggressive!

Guess what?
Henson came out with an AL13 Aggressive this week. Unfortunately, they are only available to people who signed up on the latherhog youtube podcast.
I ordered one tonight. Henson is only producing them in the aircraft aluminum color. I would have preferred a color choice, but it is about the shave...not the color.
I love my Ti22 Aggressive, and will be happy to add the aluminum version to my collection. If you missed out, I believe these aggressive versions will appear in the buy/sell/trade sections of many forums. Also, it is likely that Henson will make them available if the sales volume for their mild and medium razors declines. Cash flow is king.