Your thoughts on OneBlade

I find myself inching toward buying one although I am not really sure why. I get great shaves from a DE and am not at all unsatisfied. SE razors on the other hand have not worked particularly well for me although my experience is limited. A Schick injector felt rough, the Cobra gave me a nice shave but I didn't get excited about it. The Mongoose head was too big and heavy and left me with irritation and weepers.
So am I better off just sticking with what I have or giving the OneBlade a try since there's really no risk. Has anyone here returned one?

I really don't know of anyone returning one, and very few have popped up for sale used, so this tells me most people are pretty satisfied. But still, YMMV, so there is certain to be someone who has returned it.

Anyway, your bad experiences with the Cobra and injector might have something to do with technique. SE's don't shave like DE's. Try keeping the head of the SE flat on the face, and work from there. The correct angle is already built into most SE's, so use it. Also, short, small strokes rather than longer strokes.

I very much doubt you'll have a rough shave with the OneBlade though. It is quite possibly the smoothest shaver out there.

if the price comes down below $200 (really, I'd need it to be closer to ~$100 before justifying it), I'll buy 1.

the fact that a GEM blade can be loaded into it and that it has a pivoting head is very exciting to me.

It is currently my favorite razor.  Loaded with a GEM = what I have been looking for in a razor.

It should be noted that I bought and sold my first One Blade. I was trying to use it like a DE, not using the pivot. Besides not the best shaves, I had specific problems under my nose and under my chin against the grain.

Under the nose is still not the easiest due to the large head, but using horizontal strokes in both directions, along with some nose pulling, has made it a lot better. Against the grain under the chin I found that the Feather blades were just not robust enough (thanks Brian!). GEM's make short work of this. I also need to ride the pivot, keeping the head flat. In general thats key to me as it gives the razor almost an added gear of smoothness.

Received my Craigslist find yesterday, and as all of the reviews say, it's a high quality piece of kit. I have a couple of days off so I'll have some nice two day growth for my first shave with it.

Justin

OK so I couldn't wait 2 days to try it out, so with 24 hours of growth, I set out on my first shave with the OneBlade. In a word, unexpected. I probably unfairly had low expectations for this razor, since I was left disappointed by other "high end" razors as compared to my Merkur 39c.

However, my first shave was smooth and delightful and I couldn't be more happy with the results. I actually tried to be more aggressive with this razor to try to engage the pivot mechanism, and although I will be refining my technique with this razor in the coming days, I was unable to cause irritation in my sensitive neck area. With The Hammer, I have to tip toe lightly through my neck area since I have coarse whiskers + overly sensitive skin and that often = blood and razor burn. The OneBlade handled the area with aplomb.

I'll likely use the blades only twice based on my skin sensitivity, and the nature of my work requires me to be clean shaven every day, so the coming week will be a true test of this razor's ability to meet my needs. I have a 7 day stretch coming up so I'll be shaving with the OneBlade everyday. I'll report back at the end of that period.

But early indications are that I may become a OBB... "oneblade believer."

Justin

OK so I couldn't wait 2 days to try it out, so with 24 hours of growth, I set out on my first shave with the OneBlade. In a word, unexpected. I probably unfairly had low expectations for this razor, since I was left disappointed by other "high end" razors as compared to my Merkur 39c.

However, my first shave was smooth and delightful and I couldn't be more happy with the results. I actually tried to be more aggressive with this razor to try to engage the pivot mechanism, and although I will be refining my technique with this razor in the coming days, I was unable to cause irritation in my sensitive neck area. With The Hammer, I have to tip toe lightly through my neck area since I have coarse whiskers + overly sensitive skin and that often = blood and razor burn. The OneBlade handled the area with aplomb.

I'll likely use the blades only twice based on my skin sensitivity, and the nature of my work requires me to be clean shaven every day, so the coming week will be a true test of this razor's ability to meet my needs. I have a 7 day stretch coming up so I'll be shaving with the OneBlade everyday. I'll report back at the end of that period.

But early indications are that I may become a OBB... "oneblade believer."

Justin

Hey Justin, glad that you had a good shave out of the gate. Like you, I was skeptical of the hype and only cautiously optimistic but the OB delivers. Look forward to your recap after a few more shaves. Enjoy!

Great to read that first report, JustinHEMI. I'm very much looking forward to mine arriving on Tuesday. Meantime I'm struggling to get used to this Mongoose, but the impending arrival of the OneBlade makes me think, is it worth the struggle? Sounds like this is a close but intuitive shaver.

I honestly wasn't even cautiously optimistic about the OneBlade like Kevin was. I flat out didn't want to like it. Now whenever I don't use it I ask myself why.

Glad to hear it did well initially and will look for your thoughts through this next week.

I actually tried to be more aggressive with this razor to try to engage the pivot mechanism,

Speaking of "the pivot mechanism", is it going to be imperative to keep the razor clean to a higher than normal degree to keep the mechanism operating properly? Will periodic lubrication be required? How is that thing constructed?

It sounds as though unless excessive force is used the mechanism doesn't come into play, making it a 'passive until needed feature'. Is that a fair description?