RazoRock BBS Safety Razor (STAINLESS STEEL)

Went all in and decided to see how the 2 Razorock razor stablemates compared to one another in terms of shave performance & feel. The BBS Stainless is the RR new kid on the block and I pulled out the Gamechanger .68-P SB to see how these two matched up. Decided to stay with the Tatra Platinum and just installed a fresh new blade In each to keep it even. Used the same soap from yesterday, the Stone Cottage Bayberry test formula which by the way, is an upgrade from their previous release. That’s for another thread. On with how these two performed.

Each razor took a side, BBS on the right & GC .68-P the left. And quite honestly, the shave from the two razors were nearly identical in feel. Blade feel is minimal and they are both muted sounding razors in comparison to those like a Blackbird, Timeless .95 or FatBoy/Slim from Gillette. Don’t get me wrong, they both give some audible feedback it’s just not very loud. But, they hum nicely. Again, it was a 2 pass affair with some slight touch ups from both parties and mostly in the same areas. A bit of a chin buff and a couple of extra strokes on each side of Sir Adam and they both left a BBS finish on their respective sides. Nothing to report on any minor mishaps nor any irritation. Just a real good, close and comfy shave. But, there are a couple of things that I did notice, not standout in force or obvious but, noticeably present throughout the whole shave. One is that I find them both having a narrow window of cutting angle or “sweet spot” as some would say and yet, I found it just a bit easier to maintain that angle with the BBS over the GC .68-P. Second, the BBS exhibits just a bit more smoothness or should I say, a softer feel on the skin during the shave against the GC .68-P. Again, I’m just perhaps splitting hairs here but, to me it felt a bit softer/smoother on the skin. And a final thing is that they weighed very close to each other with the BBS a few grams lighter than the GC .68-P. Of course that could be attributed to their respective handles but, on just the head assemblies without the handles there was only a 1 gram difference on my kitchen scale. Just putting it out there for those that like to look into weight bias and such. They both felt equally balanced in the hands and the handles from RR offer excellent grip top to bottom. Arguably some of the best in the business regardless of price point and manufacturer.

Overall they both gave a great easy shave. But, I felt that the BBS was easier to manage and like I had mentioned previously it just felt smoother overall. Neither one of these will cut you unless you’re all thumbs or mindlessly careless, they are that easy to use while exhibiting minimal blade feel. Both give comfortable and easy shaves, the BBS though was just a bit easier in my hands.....



BBS head...


BBS complete razor....


GC .68-P head....


GC .68-P complete razor....

Tonight I did a side by side of my Timeless Ti .68 OC vs BBS. But first a few things the Kai blade in the BBS gave me 12 hours before I felt some stubble. The BBS head weighs 33g and the UFO handle weighs 65g. I don’t have a .68 SB so the OC is the best I could do. Now onto tonight’s shave. 
Blade Tatra
Soap ETHOS Citrus
AS ETHOS Citrus. 
WTG. Both were extremely smooth and ever so slightly more blade feel with the OC. Rinse and the Timeless took a little more stubble down
XTG Same as WTG and at the end the OC was a little smoother 
ATG Again noticed just a tiny more blade feel from the OC but both were easy to whip around and both ended in a BBS shave. 
The Titanium has a softer face feel but a very small amount of increased blade feel and it was minimal at best. The Timeless probably would have needed only touch ups after the 2nd pass but the BBS needed the full ATG pass for me. The Timeless is one of my favorite Daily Drivers and the BBS May be very close to it. Both are extremely smooth and leave no irritation or fear of “biting you”.  This is how they work for me, I am a daily shaver so YMMV.

I skipped a day to see how the Razorock BBS-SS would handle 2 full days of growth and also decided to throw it up against the Razorock Mamba .70. Wanted to see out of my own personal curiosity if there are any similarities in shave performance or they are both going in different directions. Again, these are just my personal shave experiences with these two razors and just my personal opinion of said razors performances.

As you Gents can see in the below pic, they are close enough in looks by stating they are in the ballpark but, they are not very close in looks or function. I will just say similar in terms of shave performance but, nowhere near identical.

BBS-SS left, Mamba .70 right....


[i][font=georgia]I won’t get into technical specs for each razor as there is quite a bit of info at the IB site including information on multiple forums across the web that one can search for at their leisure. But, just by looking at both razors, the BBS-SS has more of a curve built into it over the Mamba .70. In theory, that should make the blade more rigidly held in the BBS-SS over the Mamba .70. I will say this, that during the shave I could not tell which of the two razors felt more rigid as they both hold it firmly and are clamped vise like. 

I used the same 2 blades that I shaved with in the previous shave with the GC .68-P & BBS-SS which is the Tatra Platinum with one use on each blade. Soap was a different test sample in the Sandalwood flavor from Stone Cottage. The Bayberry & Sandalwood both performed brilliantly in these shave offs and I can’t find a fault in the soaps performance. Good stuff. 

[b]THE SHAVE[/b]
I went with a full 3 pass shave just to get in a proper shave in which that’s what is considered the norm in wet shavedom. I like to do 2 passes with an ATG/XTG hybrid pass but, changed it up to go with a more standard approach that most use. Assigned the BBS-SS on the Left, the Mamba .70 on the Right. Applied the lather from my soap bowl build and painted on a luscious feeling and dense lather that was second to none. On the first pass which was WTG, the Mamba .70 on the right went to work smoothly and nearly devoid of any blade feel. Cleared the whiskers nicely from burns to lower neck and right of Sir Adam. Up came the BBS-SS on the left and went WTG from burns to lower neck and left of Sir Adam removing the whiskers with a slight oomph in audible feedback and just the tiniest bit of more blade feel vs the Mamba .70. Still maintaining excellent smoothness while kicking up the sound of its whisker whacking ability. Ice water rinse, relathered for pass #2 and went from burns to stache and nose area on the cheeks/jawline & the neck just below the ears to Sir Adam on both sides. Both razors handled this action amazingly well with the utmost in comfort and smoothness. Still, I felt more bass & sound coming from the BBS-SS over the Mamba .70. A quick face feel and I felt the slightest edge in that the BBS-SS side had me near a DFS+ finish with just some very light stubble hanging on stubbornly along the side of Sir Adam and the chin. The Mamba .70 side was close but, felt like it left a few more whiskers and I felt the lightest patch of stubble from the jawline to about mid-ear height as well. No biggie as the third pass would take care of these stragglers without a hitch. Ice water rinse, relathered for pass #3 and went from south to north, lower neck to end of the burns on both sides. Went with the Mamba .70 first and just as smooth, easy and carefree as it can get. Cleared out the lather on the right side and a quick feel. Glass like smoothness along the cheeks and jawline but, still had a couple of stubborn whiskers near Sir Adam with a small patch leading to the bend at the chin. Wet my finger tips with some residual soap and banged those 2 spots with a few strokes and a quick half side chin buff. Quick feel and it was a newborns bottom. Went over to the left and the BBS-SS went to work with authority and decisiveness with that extra bit of audible feedback. This razor loves the ATG pass without question. I cleared out the suds and did a quick face feel. Nothing. I mean it was buttery smooth feeling without a single whisker left standing. I put down the razor, did a nice Ice water rinse and felt all over. Yes, a glorious BBS finish on both sides. Finite.......[/font][/i]

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[i][font=georgia][i][font=georgia]As tradition goes with a standard 3 pass shave, the BBS-SS did it’s job without a single touch up pass and in giving a smooth BBS finish. The Mamba .70 gave me the exact same finish but, required an extra few strokes here and there to fully clear out the whiskers and deliver the baby buttocks finish. Both were excellent in that that wasn’t any irritation to speak of, ditto for any weepers, nics and such. It was just a darn good shave. It wasn’t a knockout victory or unanimous decision but, there is a winner though via decision in this shave off as it was a close one.

The BBS-SS by Split Decision. Why? It felt just as smooth as the Mamba .70 while exhibiting a bit more blade feel and turning up the audible feedback especially on the ATG pass. It can be used identically as the Mamba .70 in that you can run this razor with ease around your face without much fear of cutting or nicking oneself. It’s equal to the Mamba .70 in comfort and smoothness while slightly amping up its cutting ability and giving the shaver that intangible of confidence in knowing the angle is on and it’s singing while laying waste to whiskers.

If you enjoy a smooth, comfortable daily shave without having to worry if you’re wide awake or just beat up after a long hard day of activities, either one will fit the bill marvelously. For me, the Razorock BBS-SS does it just a tad bit better.........[/font][/i][/font][/i]

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It looks as if they merely increased the thickness of the top cap on the BBS which in simple terms means only one patently obvious thing:  the blade angle is different. Since different DE blades have different hone angles, i.e., under 20 degrees, the razor is not doing anything different than what the shaver himself could do by varying their respective shave angle just a tad and to be even more frank that often falls into any given shaver's "cone of dispersion" anyway. But, it's new and Lord knows that anything new has to be consumed by the compulsive buyers. Blade gap and exposure are all that matter. Nothing else is scientifically relevant and anyone who believes as such is welcome to prove that in a lab and then sign on at NASA as they will have blown past modern geometry.

I gave the BBS my biggest challenge 3 days beard growth. Thats the longest I ever go unless I'm growing a beard. Loaded up a twice used Polsilver and the BBS once again gave me a very smooth, carefree 3 pass BBS. I don't have a Mamba or Baby Smooth to compare it to, but I have to say this is one very smooth razor, I definitely need 3 passes to get BBS but it sure is a carefree 3 passes.

In comparing the BBS to the Baby Smooth and the Mambas, is this a case of if you liked the Baby Smooth and the Mambas you will like the BBS ,and if you did not like those razors you will probably not like the BBS?

eric

In comparing the BBS to the Baby Smooth and the Mambas, is this a case of if you liked the Baby Smooth and the Mambas you will like the BBS ,and if you did not like those razors you will probably not like the BBS?

eric

In my opinion the BBS is superior to both Mambas and the GC .68 SB. The BBS is more efficient, safer, smoother, and friendlier to my skin. The GC .84s and my old Ti Baby Smooth are more efficient( shave closer) but are not as smooth(but still smooth) and not as friendly to my skin if my skills are lacking.

I consider myself lazy shaver, I don’t skin stretch or pay a lot of attention to my shaves. Taking care to shave exactly ATG and some skin stretching with provide a super close shave for me with the BBS, I just don’t like doing that when some of my other razors provide and even closer shave without all that effort.

Now, I can't wait to see the Lupo and the BBS takes the stage

Smooth & easy with the RR BBS. The KAI just gives it a tiny bit more blade feel and it still keeps the wonderful smoothness and mild like feeling that it was designed to exhibit. Still it’s deceptively efficient and delivers a dolphin skin like smooth finish. Sangre De Drago & Encre Noire A L’Extreme are a match made in fragrance heaven. Great day and shaves to all....

Another easy and ho-hum shave. The BBS-SS is just a real nice & smooth shaver. It’s a good razor that fits right in between the RR Mamba .70 & the more aggressive/efficient performing RR GC .84. Nearly as smooth as the Mamba and just a tick or two below the Gamechanger in blade feel and performance. Just a real nice shaver to use if one found the original Mamba .53/.70 too mild and felt that the GC .84 was a bit too much. As a daily it’s an excellent performer and with a couple extra days of growth, it’ll fair nicely as well.