Member
I received the pass around razors in the mail yesterday, and had a chance to fire up the M plate last night.
First impressions, looks-wise: I was not a fan of the long, thin handle. The finish is interesting; I didn’t love it, but I didn’t dislike it, either. The machining is really nice, and after putting a blade in, I could tell by how easily and securely the handle screwed on that this was a quality razor.
Now on to the first shave. I have to remind everybody that I principally use replaceable blade AC straight razors, and use DEs for certain tasks only. I start my shaves by squaring off the sideburns with a DE, then move to the straight for the rest of the first pass. At the end of the first pass I re-lather the area around the mouth and pick up stragglers with my DE. Occasionally, especially if I am in a real hurry, I will do the entire VanDyke area with the DE on the first pass.
I then lather up again and do the second pass, all with the straight except for the chin and mustache area, which I do entirely with a DE on the second pass, XTG toward the center of my face from both sides. I then check to see how I’ve done, and I usually add a little touch-up just under the jawline bilaterally with the DE. So, those are the tasks I usually assign to my DE, just so it’s clear. I don’t do full DE shaves, and haven’t since September of 2019, except when on vacation.
So, I started my shave the way I usually do. Lather was Wickham Club Cola. I tried to square off the sideburns like I always do but the razor wasn’t cutting hair. At all. So I adjusted the angle and kept trying. After a second I realized that the razor won’t shave unless you shave at a very steep angle (handle closer to the face, more like what you do with a cartridge razor). Once I figured that out it started the shave just fine.
For the sake of evaluating the razor more, I decided to do the entire VanDyke area with the Yates, even though I wasn’t in a hurry. Again, adjusting to the angle was kind of difficult. When I got to the densest areas on the chin from the outside of my lips down to my jaw, it was getting hung up and not going through very well (I had 48 hours’ growth and my beard is gray and coarse). The blade wasn’t new, and it wasn’t my favorite blade, so to make sure it wasn’t the blade, I opened up a fresh Polsilver SI and proceeded. It still seemed to have a little bit of trouble, more than I expect from, for example, my British flat-bottom New.
It did ok with the XTG pass in the chin/mustache area, although the angle it forces one to use was still really strange to me. For example, the angle you might take right beneath the nostril to get the hairs that are close to the nostril when using a Fatboy, but then thereafter you would “scoop” to a much shallower angle? With the Yates you just keep the initial angle the whole time! It’s really crazy. The clean-up along the jawline went pretty well, as I was getting more used to the angle.
Overall, though, although the razor is well built and looks great, it just feels like it is not for me. I know it is only one shave, and way too soon to write a razor off, but I just have a feeling that I am not going to be happy with any of these razor heads. The angle is just way too different for me. I like to ride the cap. It feels like there is no angle at which I could get a DE blade to attack my stubble the way I like them to.
I will try the Hybrid plate next, then the H and EH, and then pass these along. Thanks for the opportunity. Glad I didn’t spring for one of these without trying it first. It would have ended up on the B/S/T very quickly.
First impressions, looks-wise: I was not a fan of the long, thin handle. The finish is interesting; I didn’t love it, but I didn’t dislike it, either. The machining is really nice, and after putting a blade in, I could tell by how easily and securely the handle screwed on that this was a quality razor.
Now on to the first shave. I have to remind everybody that I principally use replaceable blade AC straight razors, and use DEs for certain tasks only. I start my shaves by squaring off the sideburns with a DE, then move to the straight for the rest of the first pass. At the end of the first pass I re-lather the area around the mouth and pick up stragglers with my DE. Occasionally, especially if I am in a real hurry, I will do the entire VanDyke area with the DE on the first pass.
I then lather up again and do the second pass, all with the straight except for the chin and mustache area, which I do entirely with a DE on the second pass, XTG toward the center of my face from both sides. I then check to see how I’ve done, and I usually add a little touch-up just under the jawline bilaterally with the DE. So, those are the tasks I usually assign to my DE, just so it’s clear. I don’t do full DE shaves, and haven’t since September of 2019, except when on vacation.
So, I started my shave the way I usually do. Lather was Wickham Club Cola. I tried to square off the sideburns like I always do but the razor wasn’t cutting hair. At all. So I adjusted the angle and kept trying. After a second I realized that the razor won’t shave unless you shave at a very steep angle (handle closer to the face, more like what you do with a cartridge razor). Once I figured that out it started the shave just fine.
For the sake of evaluating the razor more, I decided to do the entire VanDyke area with the Yates, even though I wasn’t in a hurry. Again, adjusting to the angle was kind of difficult. When I got to the densest areas on the chin from the outside of my lips down to my jaw, it was getting hung up and not going through very well (I had 48 hours’ growth and my beard is gray and coarse). The blade wasn’t new, and it wasn’t my favorite blade, so to make sure it wasn’t the blade, I opened up a fresh Polsilver SI and proceeded. It still seemed to have a little bit of trouble, more than I expect from, for example, my British flat-bottom New.
It did ok with the XTG pass in the chin/mustache area, although the angle it forces one to use was still really strange to me. For example, the angle you might take right beneath the nostril to get the hairs that are close to the nostril when using a Fatboy, but then thereafter you would “scoop” to a much shallower angle? With the Yates you just keep the initial angle the whole time! It’s really crazy. The clean-up along the jawline went pretty well, as I was getting more used to the angle.
Overall, though, although the razor is well built and looks great, it just feels like it is not for me. I know it is only one shave, and way too soon to write a razor off, but I just have a feeling that I am not going to be happy with any of these razor heads. The angle is just way too different for me. I like to ride the cap. It feels like there is no angle at which I could get a DE blade to attack my stubble the way I like them to.
I will try the Hybrid plate next, then the H and EH, and then pass these along. Thanks for the opportunity. Glad I didn’t spring for one of these without trying it first. It would have ended up on the B/S/T very quickly.
Love, peace, and harmony....maybe in the next world.....
