Paradigm Salient Test Drive

Great Dave, looking forward to your review!

Tuesday September 5, 2023
Razor: Paradigm Shaveware Salient
Blade: Wizamet
Brush: Graydog Cocobolo/Synbad
Soap: London Razors "Coffee and Contemplation"
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: London Razors "Coffee and Contemplation" Splash
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,765
https://youtu.be/s6_27q1qngs

Tuesday September 5, 2023
Razor: Paradigm Shaveware Salient
Blade: Wizamet
Brush: Graydog Cocobolo/Synbad
Soap: London Razors "Coffee and Contemplation"
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: London Razors "Coffee and Contemplation" Splash
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,765
https://youtu.be/s6_27q1qngs

Sounds promising Dave and I’ll add you have your technique down to a science and your awareness to not use pressure can play a big part in the end results.  I’m looking forward to taking it for a spin and thanks for your insight on the razor. 

Frank

Tuesday September 5, 2023
Razor: Paradigm Shaveware Salient
Blade: Wizamet
Brush: Graydog Cocobolo/Synbad
Soap: London Razors "Coffee and Contemplation"
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: London Razors "Coffee and Contemplation" Splash
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,765
https://youtu.be/s6_27q1qngs

Sounds promising Dave and I’ll add you have your technique down to a science and your awareness to not use pressure can play a big part in the end results.  I’m looking forward to taking it for a spin and thanks for your insight on the razor. 

Frank

I think you'll enjoy it Frank !

Back to the list:

Dave in KY -KY razor 
Marhos24  -MI
rocket  -CO - after Dragonsbeard
Dragonsbeard  -NY - next to get razor
keto   -MO
jbreakfield -AL
RayClem -IL
Lesser -NY

dtownvino -PA - completed

Calm_Shaver - NY - self purchase remove 

The shipping order will be determined near the completion of each shave.  The list is not in order. 

Thanks guys!

Mike

The video review by Dave in KY 
https://youtu.be/s6_27q1qngs

My apologies for thread-crashing, but given the title of this thread, and for future web searches, I feel this is the best place for me to post.

Having spent almost three weeks shaving daily with the Salient, I offer the following:

Paradigm Lineup Position: Its position in the Paradigm lineup is between the Ti II and Diamondback. For those wanting some blade feel, like me, the Salient is a better shaving experience than the Diamondback with a smooth/efficient rating.

Blade: I would advise loading the blade that is the smoothest for you. I tried every blade from my harshest to the mildest.

Shaving Angle: Ride the top cap to start with, should you have several days worth of beard growth for the initial passes. Daily shaving: ride the safety bar for sensitive areas (i.e. around the Adam’s apple; ride the area between the safety bar and top cap for the majority of shaving.

Handle: It’s a bit on the shorter side and those with large hands might not find it agreeable because of its length…or not. Since the bottom part of the handle is tapered, there is little worry of it slipping from your hand. Overall, I really like the handle for its shaving feel.

Recommended Shaver: I would easily advise a beginner to the experienced shaver to purchase the Salient. If you are a beginner who has sought out shaving forums to learn more about wetshaving, and you are looking for a razor made of the more premium materials to either start with or upgrade to—then this razor is for you. The Salient is a "buy" in my book with no regrets.

Category: Daily shaver.

Pros: The blade/head geometry that Paradigm has always done and continues to do so well. Stainless steel. Great handle feel. Price.

Future Wishes: A longer top cap threaded stud. A machined depression for a plastic/nylon washer between the head and the handle.

Closing Note: When I received this razor I thought to myself that it would be better in a machined finish, and then I saw that Calm_Shaver requested, and received said razor in brushed finish, I am sure of it.

Well the razor just arrived at my door and thank you Dave in KY for the awesome packing job as the razor arrived as new.  So first impressions. The razor has a classic Wolfman HR7 vibe to it which I have mixed feeling on. I personally love the look of the WR1 with the HR7 handle in mirror polished but I like it on a Wolfman. So I like the looks of the razor a lot but I also love the look of all the Paradigm razors that came before this one that had their easily recognizable Art Deco designs.  Just my take on the looks. The finish looks really good as this is high polished. Fit and finish seem to be very good without a in depth inspection. 

The razor also has good balance with just a very slight touch of a handle heavy razor at the very bottom. Overall it feels good in hand and I’ll have to say for $120 Razor I’m impressed. Will that change when I take it on its maiden voyage we will see. Tomorrow I’ll have two full days growth so I’ll have my first shave with it then. 

The next shave I do with it will be an old fashioned Shave Off like I used to do vs my Diamondback which currently is one of my absolute favorite razors in my den. 

So thank you dtownvino Mike for doing the pass around and I’m looking forward to taking this for a spin. 

I'll add a THANKS to Mike dtownvino for taking it on himself to sponsor this pass around. I thanked him on video but failed to do so in the thread. What a generous guy !

Looking foward to Franks Dragonsbeard thoughts !!

Dave in KY  and Dragonsbeard very happy we could do this.

Frank, maybe we can get a showdown between the Diamondback and the Salient to go with Dave’s fantastic video?

Have a good night all!

Mike

Ok so today I had my first Shave with the Paradigm and I did a 3 pass shave going WTG, XTG and ATG. I loaded a Polsilver Blue blade in the razor as it’s one of my favorites and I always have good results when using any of my Paradigm razors I’ve owned, still own or have rolled through my den since the first Ti 1 came out.  Without going over the appearance of the razor again as nothing has changed there as I mentioned in my first post since receiving the razor.


So I will say based on both some of the early review but more so on Dave in KY s review which I didn’t go into this first shave with any apprehension or worries. I’ve had my fair share of shaving with very efficient, effective or as some may call aggressive razors so this one I figured would not be something I couldn’t use my normal technique with. 

 WTG pass.  As I normally do on a first Shave with a brand new razor I built a very dense lather and that worked out great. 
The pass went really well and the razor easily took down a good deal of my two and a half days growth. I did my normal skin stretching but I wasn’t very aggressive with that as I didn’t feel I needed it as I would if I were using a very aggressive Razor like the Ikon Tek for example. The razor does have some blade feel depending on the angle but not a lot in my opinion and yes it does smooth out even more when riding the cap or the straight bar. I pretty much used my normal angle but did on occasion ride the SB around my mouth right near my lips. I wanted to do what I called a reverse WTG pass as I feel I could have got very close to a CCS with a few areas even being DFS. The razor is surprisingly effective without being aggressive IMO. 

XTG went very well and the only place I rode the SB was again near my nose and lips just to make sure I didn’t give myself a nick with this new to me razor. I was near the end of this pass that I had an idea. As I mentioned I feel the razor is ever so slightly handle heavy and not really an issue at all but my own curiosity came into play here to I decided to grab one of my Ti handles and try it out to see how the razor felt with less weight in the handle. Well I should have tried more than one as the first one I tried which was a Stork Ti would not screw all the way up the threads so instead of trying the Tibam or my Wolfman Ti handle I just left  the stock handle on for the ATG pass and it wasn’t until after the Shave was all done that I thought about trying another Ti handle and low and behold the Tibam fit perfectly and without shaving with this combo I really liked the way it felt in hand and I’m thinking this may improve the maneuverability on the razor which  is pretty good as is. I will try it in one of my Shaves with this razor but not in the next shave as that’s when I’m doing the “Shave Off “ between the Diamondback and this razor and since the DB has a SS handle I think it’s only fair to keep them both as they come out the box.

ATG pass was pretty much as expected and for me there was nothing to worry about. Just use no pressure and stretch the skin and take 2 inch short strokes. I finished the pass and rinsed and I was liking the results was a shave that was about 90% entry level BBS on most of my face and the other more troublesome spots were a solid DFS.  At this point I’m thinking this could be a daily driver and I’ll test those assumptions in one of my shaves with this razor.
Overall I’m very pleased with the razor and the first Shave I got from it.  So this short journey with this razor has started off in a very positive way. Of course everyone has different skin and you may not agree with my experience I had with the razor.  I will say congrats to Andrew and I’m glad you’re back in the business of making razors again.  I think for the price of this razor I'd call it a good buy.  

NOTE: Andrew if you read this review I have a special request and it may never happen but just a little bug in your ear. My favorite Paradigm razor of all I have owned/used is the Ti 1 and for me it has perfect balance so what I’d like to see is that razor duplicated only add a second milder baseplate for those that thought it was too aggressive ( I never did )  but for me it would be a daily driver with the milder plate on it and the normal more efficient plate would be for when I’ve got a few days growth.

Again thanks a lot for the pass around Mike. dtownvino