ikon Razors

I had the 102 slant and traded it for the X3.  I wasn't a fan of the 102 myself - the shaves felt harsh to me.  The X3 isn't bad, but it doesn't shave all that close.

I sometimes wonder if lemons find their way in - for those that don't like the 102 the criticism is overwhelmingly that its too mild so when I hear of your experience I wonder if something was off on yours that made it harsh.  If you get the chance to try a different 102 at some point I'd be curious to hear if you have the same experience.  I'd suggest buying another one but that would just be madness.  Imagine buying a razor that isn't cheap, finding you don't like it and buying another one to make sure its not a lemon.  Yeah, no.

maybe sometime in the future I'll revisit the 102, but for now, I'm moving on.

I'm still trying to find the best razor for me to help tame my issues with irritation and ingrowns. the ingrowns have been mostly resolved so now it's mostly a quest to tame the irritation entirely.

I had the 102 slant and traded it for the X3.  I wasn't a fan of the 102 myself - the shaves felt harsh to me.  The X3 isn't bad, but it doesn't shave all that close.

I sometimes wonder if lemons find their way in - for those that don't like the 102 the criticism is overwhelmingly that its too mild so when I hear of your experience I wonder if something was off on yours that made it harsh.  If you get the chance to try a different 102 at some point I'd be curious to hear if you have the same experience.  I'd suggest buying another one but that would just be madness.  Imagine buying a razor that isn't cheap, finding you don't like it and buying another one to make sure its not a lemon.  Yeah, no.

maybe sometime in the future I'll revisit the 102, but for now, I'm moving on.

I'm still trying to find the best razor for me to help tame my issues with irritation and ingrowns.  the ingrowns have been mostly resolved so now it's mostly a quest to tame the irritation entirely.  

I hear you, do you do the alum block after your rinse? I find that it really helps calm any potential irritation. My routine post-shave is warm facecloth, warm rinse, alum block, cold rinse, pat dry, super hazel, aftershave. I don't always do the alum block anymore, only when I've had a rough one.

I sometimes wonder if lemons find their way in - for those that don't like the 102 the criticism is overwhelmingly that its too mild so when I hear of your experience I wonder if something was off on yours that made it harsh.  If you get the chance to try a different 102 at some point I'd be curious to hear if you have the same experience.  I'd suggest buying another one but that would just be madness.  Imagine buying a razor that isn't cheap, finding you don't like it and buying another one to make sure its not a lemon.  Yeah, no.

maybe sometime in the future I'll revisit the 102, but for now, I'm moving on.

I'm still trying to find the best razor for me to help tame my issues with irritation and ingrowns.  the ingrowns have been mostly resolved so now it's mostly a quest to tame the irritation entirely.  

I hear you, do you do the alum block after your rinse?  I find that it really helps calm any potential irritation.  My routine post-shave is warm facecloth, warm rinse, alum block, cold rinse, pat dry, super hazel, aftershave.  I don't always do the alum block anymore, only when I've had a rough one.

I used to use alum a few years back. it makes my face feel like it's on fire for a bit so I stopped using it entirely.

I fall into the mild razor/sharp blade combo. Recently I have found my Blackbird and Wolfman standard to be too harsh as daily shavers. I just don't find them smooth and comfortable. They certainly shave close and are beauties.

The Ikon X3 with a new (or 2nd use at most) Voskhod or Super Iridium is wonderful for me. I get the same results from the Merkur 45 and the fantastic RR Baby Smooth. One thing they all have in common is a strong torque in the case of the X3 slant or extreme blade bend in the 45, Baby Smooth or even the Progress/Variant. Very little to no blade 'chatter.'

The key for me is a fresh sharp blade in the X3. Heaven.

Speaking of flaws, as soon as I loaded a blade into mine (the 102) I noticed something off. I should've taken a picture before I fixed it. There was a tiny wave in the blade on one side like there was something on the underside of the top cap that was pushing it down. Sure enough upon disassembly, there was a small bump protruding down. It was either a flaw in the casting mold or the previous owner dropped it and caused the dent. There was no other evidence of a drop on the top cap or anywhere else on the razor so I'll go with the casting flaw theory. At any rate, I gently took a file to it and it's good as new. No more wavy blade.

I had the 102 slant and traded it for the X3.  I wasn't a fan of the 102 myself - the shaves felt harsh to me.  The X3 isn't bad, but it doesn't shave all that close.

I sometimes wonder if lemons find their way in - for those that don't like the 102 the criticism is overwhelmingly that its too mild so when I hear of your experience I wonder if something was off on yours that made it harsh.  If you get the chance to try a different 102 at some point I'd be curious to hear if you have the same experience.  I'd suggest buying another one but that would just be madness.  Imagine buying a razor that isn't cheap, finding you don't like it and buying another one to make sure its not a lemon.  Yeah, no.

maybe sometime in the future I'll revisit the 102, but for now, I'm moving on.

I'm still trying to find the best razor for me to help tame my issues with irritation and ingrowns.  the ingrowns have been mostly resolved so now it's mostly a quest to tame the irritation entirely.  

Just curious andrewjs18 ,have you tried a SE,specifically the general?

Guys, after reading this I have to ask, is iKon known for poor quality control? I ask because of not only what I have read here but because I have three iKons. The first two I purchased because I saved a fair bit of money because they had very minor cosmetic flaws (that I could not even see) but did not affect the shave and the third was a gift with a known blade placement flaw that, if one knows what to look for and how to adjust it, can be corrected. So, overall, are iKon products quality control plagued or not?

wyze0ne on further thought I can add GSBs, Viking's Sword, Israeli Reds, Rapira Platinum Lux, Gillette Platinum.....actually I've yet to find a blade that doesn't work with the 102.

Guys, after reading this I have to ask, is iKon known for poor quality control?  I ask because of not only what I have read here but because I have three iKons.  The first two I purchased because I saved a fair bit of money because they had very minor cosmetic flaws (that I could not even see) but did not affect the shave and the third was a gift with a known blade placement flaw that, if one knows what to look for and how to adjust it, can be corrected.  So, overall, are iKon products quality control plagued or not?

Freddy , I don't think so. Its possibly a case of you hear all the bad experiences because people are angry but the happy, satisfied shavers are just smiling and shaving and having a great day, nothing to grip about and only a small percentage of satisfied customers post about their positive experiences compared to the dissatisfied folks. Thats my take and I may be wrong but I've got 5 ikons, 6 if you count the 102 I bought my son and there hasn't been a single problem.

Some companies have a policy not to sell their seconds because it can give the impression that their products aren't top quality to have defects on the market. The third razor you mentioned I assume is that single blade razor. I don't know about bringing a flawed product to market, seems like a poor decision to me. Even if its sold cheap with a clear disclaimer about the flaw people will still gripe about it as if they'd paid full price or, as your doing here, drawing inferences about the overall quality of the company and frankly, I don't blame you. Thats why I don't think a company ought to sell seconds at any price, they should be scrapped. The risk to the reputation is greater in my opinion that whatever profit /loss minimization achieved by selling the second.

maybe sometime in the future I'll revisit the 102, but for now, I'm moving on.

I'm still trying to find the best razor for me to help tame my issues with irritation and ingrowns.  the ingrowns have been mostly resolved so now it's mostly a quest to tame the irritation entirely.  

I hear you, do you do the alum block after your rinse?  I find that it really helps calm any potential irritation.  My routine post-shave is warm facecloth, warm rinse, alum block, cold rinse, pat dry, super hazel, aftershave.  I don't always do the alum block anymore, only when I've had a rough one.

I used to use alum a few years back.  it makes my face feel like it's on fire for a bit so I stopped using it entirely.

I guess you probably already know that you are a sensitive guy