Twig & Thorn Passaround Review – An Outstanding Body Razor at a Bargain Price

Final Thoughts on Twig and Thorn


I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the Twig and Thorn. Both provided a week worth of easy, comfortable, BBS shaves. They worked particularly well on the chin area compared to other DE razors. Not once did they draw blood. Most important for me, the Thorn provides me with a longer lasting head shave than the 3-blade Leaf. The Leaf still beats the Thorn for speed and ease of use on the dome.

As I was gathering my thoughts, it occurred to me that a blade would lose efficiency twice as quickly as normal. Duh! Of course it does; it is half a blade. I used the Astra SP, Nacet, and Leaf blades. I do not detect significant difference in blade performance.

The razors are well designed. Fit and finish is very good. Mechanical parts work well and feel solid. Weight is not too heavy, not too light. I like the unique design. The handle, although fat bottomed, is not at all awkward or uncomfortable. The razor balances well. 

My only suggestion to Leaf is to extend the grooves or add knurling to the smooth middle section of the handle. My hand naturally wanted to hold the razor on the middle section, but it is too smooth and slick. I had to dry both my hands and razor with each rinsing.

Thank you very much to DanLaw and Leaf Shave for allowing me to try these two excellent razors.

Wonderful review, Eric. And funny photo with that blade stamped "I am not plastic!" I will look at your other posts, in case you already addressed this, but how would you compare them to an injector?

Thanks Eric. Primary difference is in blade life: much longer blade life with injector blades. Efficiency, comfort, and ease of use are similar. Weight of the Thorn is heavier, and handle feel is very different. Angle on an injector is guided by the head, not so with the Twig/Thorn. There is very little blade feel on the Twig, so I had to pay more attention to angle. Thorn was so efficient, it was very easy to tell when blade was cutting.

Thanks Eric. Primary difference is in blade life: much longer blade life with injector blades. Efficiency, comfort, and ease of use are similar. Weight of the Thorn is heavier, and handle feel is very different. Angle on an injector is guided by the head, not so with the Twig/Thorn. There is very little blade feel on the Twig, so I had to pay more attention to angle. Thorn was so efficient, it was very easy to tell when blade was cutting.

Perfect! Thanks so much for writing this out for me, and hopefully others as well.

Twig and Thorn have arrived! 
Thorn is on the left and Twig is on the right. 


Both have half of a new Personna Platinum Chrome blade. Hope I can sleep, given the anticipation of the morning's shave tomorrow! Thanks to DanLaw for curating the passaround and Leaf for providing the razors.

Twig razor, first shave


For the first pass, the Twig handled the right side of my face and the Thorn did the left. Then I decided to use only the Thorn, sorry, I meant the Twig, in order to get an idea of longevity of the results. Between shaves posted here and abroad, I realized, again, the truth of every man's whiskers and routine produce different results! 

First impressions: easy to find the right angle, and then very intuitive to keep it. Audible, but with a different sound to my ears. And I didn't find the handle slippery. For the latter, I think Eric (ewk) must have softer water than me. I add a pinch of citric acid to prevent massive soap scum build up (meaning, I still get some scum!). My experience with soft water has been that smooth objects can be very slippery in soapy water. Hence my idea that my water is "harder" than Eric's. 

Like others have written, this was an easy shave, no drama, no nicks, no irritation! IF BASED ONLY ON THIS MORNING, I would buy the set! 

Tomorrow will be the Thorn, with the other half of the Israeli Red. After that, I am not sure if I'll continue to alternate, switch blades, or just go a couple of days in a row with each. But I am very pleased with this morning's shave and am looking forward to a week of Shaving Science!

Twig razor, first shave


For the first pass, the Twig handled the right side of my face and the Thorn did the left. Then I decided to use only the Thorn, in order to get an idea of longevity of the results. Between shaves posted here and abroad, I realized, again, the truth of every man's whiskers and routine produce different results! 

First impressions: easy to find the right angle, and then very intuitive to keep it. Audible, but with a different sound to my ears. And I didn't find the handle slippery. For the latter, I think Eric (ewk) must have softer water than me. I add a pinch of citric acid to prevent massive soap scum build up (meaning, I still get some scum!). My experience with soft water has been that smooth objects can be very slippery in soapy water. Hence my idea that my water is "harder" than Eric's. 

Like others have written, this was an easy shave, no drama, no nicks, no irritation! IF BASED ONLY ON THIS MORNING, I would buy the set! 

Tomorrow will be the Thorn, with the other half of the Israeli Red. After that, I am not sure if I'll continue to alternate, switch blades, or just go a couple of days in a row with each. But I am very pleased with this morning's shave and am looking forward to a week of Shaving Science!

Just want clarity as I imagine it can get confusing between the two. You said you used the Thorn for rest of this shave but are using the Thorn tomorrow to compare ? Which razor do today's comments refer to? If I'm mixed up, my apologies.

Twig razor, first shave


For the first pass, the Twig handled the right side of my face and the Thorn did the left. Then I decided to use only the Thorn, in order to get an idea of longevity of the results. Between shaves posted here and abroad, I realized, again, the truth of every man's whiskers and routine produce different results! 

First impressions: easy to find the right angle, and then very intuitive to keep it. Audible, but with a different sound to my ears. And I didn't find the handle slippery. For the latter, I think Eric (ewk) must have softer water than me. I add a pinch of citric acid to prevent massive soap scum build up (meaning, I still get some scum!). My experience with soft water has been that smooth objects can be very slippery in soapy water. Hence my idea that my water is "harder" than Eric's. 

Like others have written, this was an easy shave, no drama, no nicks, no irritation! IF BASED ONLY ON THIS MORNING, I would buy the set! 

Tomorrow will be the Thorn, with the other half of the Israeli Red. After that, I am not sure if I'll continue to alternate, switch blades, or just go a couple of days in a row with each. But I am very pleased with this morning's shave and am looking forward to a week of Shaving Science!

Just want clarity as I imagine it can get confusing between the two. You said you used the Thorn for rest of this shave but are using the Thorn tomorrow to compare ? Which razor do today's comments refer to? If I'm mixed up, my apologies.

Sorry, I was rushing before work! I used the Twig today! Good catch!

Twig razor, first shave


For the first pass, the Twig handled the right side of my face and the Thorn did the left. Then I decided to use only the Thorn, in order to get an idea of longevity of the results. Between shaves posted here and abroad, I realized, again, the truth of every man's whiskers and routine produce different results! 

First impressions: easy to find the right angle, and then very intuitive to keep it. Audible, but with a different sound to my ears. And I didn't find the handle slippery. For the latter, I think Eric (ewk) must have softer water than me. I add a pinch of citric acid to prevent massive soap scum build up (meaning, I still get some scum!). My experience with soft water has been that smooth objects can be very slippery in soapy water. Hence my idea that my water is "harder" than Eric's. 

Like others have written, this was an easy shave, no drama, no nicks, no irritation! IF BASED ONLY ON THIS MORNING, I would buy the set! 

Tomorrow will be the Thorn, with the other half of the Israeli Red. After that, I am not sure if I'll continue to alternate, switch blades, or just go a couple of days in a row with each. But I am very pleased with this morning's shave and am looking forward to a week of Shaving Science!

Just want clarity as I imagine it can get confusing between the two. You said you used the Thorn for rest of this shave but are using the Thorn tomorrow to compare ? Which razor do today's comments refer to? If I'm mixed up, my apologies.

Sorry, I was rushing before work! I used the Twig today! Good catch!

No worries, just want to know as I'm following for your thoughts between the 2

Finally posting my thoughts on these razors after trying them in the pass around; sorry, I haven’t been spending too much time on the forum lately other than quick “drive-by” check-ins.

As others have said, I wasn’t sure what to expect with these, as I hadn’t done much research on them. Dan’s initial post definitely piqued my interest. First impression, nice design, a bit of heft, interesting mechanics to load the blade.

I tried the Twig first; I used a Wizamet blade. I found the balance of these razors to be a bit off-putting, with them being handle-heavy. Probably something I could adjust to over time, I’m sure. The handle could use more knurling of some sort, as it was very slippery when wet. Did a 3 pass shave, and was fairly impressed. Very smooth feeling, maybe not quite as efficient as I would want, and took a little bit of buffing to get as clean as I wanted. The buffing caused a very slight amount of burn when I was done. Second shave with the Twig was similar to the first, I was a bit more careful with the buffing, and didn’t get any razor burn, but also wasn’t quite as smooth a shave in all areas.

Next shave, I tried the Thorn (with a Wizamet blade); I only expected a small difference, but was surprised at how much more efficient the Thorn is. I wasn’t careful enough on this first shave with the Thorn, and wound up with some cuts and weepers. The shave itself was good, and my face was nice and smooth. I adjusted my technique on my next shave with the Thorn, and had better results. Still some weepers, but pretty minor.

One thing that I noticed with both razors (more so with the Thorn) was that I seemed to be getting a little bit of chatter at times. This is something that I am fairly sensitive to, and have noticed on other razors (even razors that most people love). I *think* that it could be attributed to the lightness of the head, combined with how the blade is held, but I’m not totally sure. It wasn’t a constant thing, so maybe some slight modification of technique could make a difference.

Overall I’m impressed with these razors, and like the innovative design. I can see them being great shavers for some, especially for the body or head. They won’t make me switch from the DE’s that I enjoy, but I can see them being enjoyed by many.

Thanks DanLaw for coordinating these pass arounds, I have tried many razor that I otherwise wouldn’t have, and that has enabled me to narrow down my preferences without spending nearly as much $$.

DanLaw still possible to join this passaround? Thx!