Shave review of Janus Adjustable razor and Shave Off vs Gillette F4 Toggle

Great first post Janus!

Come on in, the water's lovely.

I am sure that people are now going to have a better understanding
of your razor and it's properties.

Welcome!

Great first post Janus!

Come on in, the water's lovely.

I am sure that people are now going to have a better understanding
of your razor and it's properties.

Welcome!

I concur. Welcome Janus.

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Thanks Eric as I, like many others, appreciate the clarifications over the rampant speculations. I’ll be following the upcoming discussions which can only complement Dragonsbeard’s initial well described impressions and shave offs.

2 Shave Offs with the Gillette Toggle and the Janus Adjustable Toggle  


As the title says this is a report on two different Shave Offs I did using my F4  Gillette Toggle and the Janus razor.  I'm going to do a quick report on the two Shave Offs I did in the last few days as I know Eric will be coming on here later on and I thought I'd get it in now so he can have the floor.  The Gillette Toggle is one I had tuned up, cleaned and replated in Rhodium by Cap & Chris and I use it now and then as I really enjoy the shave it gives.  One of the other reasons I felt it was good to compare the original to the new was for those that have a Toggle and have an interest in the new version. Hopefully these two Shave Offs might give them a good idea of how they compare as far as weight, feel in hand and of course the shave.  Also my second reason is if anyone has shaved with a Gillette Toggle you know that the shave is somewhat similar to both a Gillette Fatboy and Slim so this would also give members who have the Slim and Fatboy even if you don't have a Toggle an idea of how the Janus shaves in comparison.  I've done a few Shave Offs comparing the Toggle to both the Fatboy and Slim and to me the Toggle is just a tad more efficient and noticeably a bit smoother  but the end shave results are close enough so I felt the members would get a good idea of how the Janus shaves in comparison as a lot of members can relate to both the Slim and Fatboy.

Also for weight comparisons in case anyone was wondering and FYI this is on my scale

Janus is the heavyweight here at 122 grams
Gillette Toggle  is 83 grams
Gillette Fatboy is 75 grams
Gillette Slim is 67 grams




I did a Shave Off using two new Kai blades as I wanted to see how the shave compared to the Feathers I had shaved with in the two previous shaves with the Janus also. I find the Kai's almost as sharp as the Feathers but smoother right out of the box when comparing the two blades but I alway hand strop Feathers so that are also smooth and slightly sharper.  On the first of the two quick Shave Offs I set both razors on max setting for the two WTG passes I did and on the 2nd Shave it was with one days growth with both razors set on 5 as I wanted to see what it would be like to use the Janus for daily shaves as I only had a full 24 hrs of growth for the 2nd Shave Off. This is the first time I've ever combined two Shave Off reports in one so I'm just going to give a clear brief explanation of each of the two Shave Offs instead of going into extreme detail.  Also I've got one more Shave Off I'm going to do tomorrow as I'll have 2 days growth and it will be my last chance to use the Janus before it heads out to Mark Shavemd for some of his planned Shave Offs.  To stay focused on both smoothness and efficiency and what's available in my den that exhibits both of  those traits I'm down to either the Paradigm 17 4 or the Raw Shaving RS 10 with what they call the aggressive plate. I find the Raw to be a tad more efficient than the Paradigm and the Paradigm to be just a tad smoother so at this point I'm torn but I'll just go with my gut tomorrow.




Gear used

Gillette F4 Toggle
Janus Razor
Kai razor blades
Paladin two band brush
MDC Vetiver
Thayers witch hazel unscented ( not shown )
Creed Original Vetiver cologne




1st Shave Off I decided to two do two WTG passes. One using the normal WTG N to S path and the other is what I call a Reverse WTG pass which simply is skin stretching moving back upwards after reaching the bottom of your neck and then heading back upwards but still taking downward strokes and still skin stretching from above the razor head. BTW you don't have to relather just need some good ghost residual slickness which the MDS provided.  Both razors were on Max setting of #9 I also decided to give the Janus the more difficult right side of my face and the Toggle the easier left side because of my experience with using both I can tell the Janus is just more efficient. I mean if it can match my WR2 1.35 then yeah I gave it my whole right side.

WTG and Reverse WTG pass -  I started on my left side with the F4 Toggle and you can feel it is definitely lighter than the Janus and feels smaller in hand but balance point and how I hold it is very similar with my pinky down on the toggle. This has been my 2nd favorite Adjustable next to my Gibbs and I've enjoyed every shave I've gotten with the Toggle and this was no different. I began my N to S pass using my SSSST and this is a great shaving razor. A nice amount of blade feel but still smooth. It was taken down my growth nicely but I felt stubble left behind as normal on the first pass and it was a nice journey all the way down to the base of my neck with no problems on my apple and around my mouth and under my nose it's a breeze as the razor is nicely maneuverable and on a smoothness scale I'd give it a 8 out of 10. On max setting it has a bit of blade feel but I'd say it is moderate but consistent which I personally like. So finished up the pass and began to do the reverse WTG pass which my sound complicated to some that are unfamiliar with it but it's really easy to do and I can post up the charts if anyone is interested in seeing how to do it on paper.  Well this was a excellent pass as I can feel the stubble being wiped away with every stroke. I'll add if your prone to irritation give this a try as you can get a very close shave and cut down on your chances of getting any irritation or red bumps a lot using the reverse WTG pass. So finished up and picked up the Janus to do my more difficult right side with all it's weird beard growth and nasty cowlick.  Starting my pass the first thing that you feel is the weight difference but it's a quick mental adjustment mostly. The efficiency difference is noticeable immediately as I work my way downward using a 3 stroke movement and this razor is just taking down my stubble like it's not there. Also the smoothness of the kai blade pops up also and some may prefer it over a Feather. Once again I wanted to put this razor to the test around my mouth and under my nose and honestly guys it is no problem as a simple lift of your nose upwards does the trick. Around my mouth and lips it's so smooth I went right onto my lips a little bit to get every bit of hair around my lips edges. At this point I'm convinced that the SB configuration has something to do with the very smooth face feel of this razor and it's a question to ask Eric today. Going downward on my neck and over my nasty cowlick the razor doesn't hesitate on bit and I start doing a little X pattern with my SSSST on my neck which works really well as I catch a little of both directions of going XTG doing this. So I get to the base of my neck and start heading N still taking my downward strokes and I can feel the hairs disappearing under my skins surface. Get up to my sideburns and this shave is complete.  

Summary- The Janus is obviously the more efficient and again butter smooth but the Toggle held its own and gave me a nice strong combo of a BBS in most areas with just a couple of spots at a DFS on my chin and lower jawline but very close to BBS.  The Janus took me right back to a Level 2 BBS on my cheeks and a Level 1 BBS on all the rest of the face and neck.  I  put a thin layer soap on the other side where the Toggle had shaved just to make the Shave even using the Janus and I had a excellent shave experience using both of these razors.


2nd Shave Off - I'll keep it simple. Used all the same gear as I did in the last Shave Off and really I wanted to see what it was like to do a typical daily shave with both of these two razors with only one days growth and as I mentioned and I put both on setting 5 and began the same Shave Off as with the 2 days growth only doing just one WTG pass.  Right side to the Janus and left to the Toggle and with one days growth the Janus took me to a nice BBS shave on my whole right side while the Toggle gave me a  BBS in most areas with a some of my trouble spots at a solid DFS. So if I needed to Shave daily I'd recommend either razor for that task and both were very smooth. So another very good shave.


Hopefully this Shave Off gave you some insight into how the Janus shaves and a gauge to measure up what a Janus razor would be like shave wise to your Gillette Fatboy and Slim razors and of course to those that are lucky enough to have a Gillette Toggle in their den.  

Great Shaves gentlemen!

Just read your review. You have a question about the safety bar configuration. I'm ready for it.

Yes Eric

Do you feel that the SB has much to do with the smooth face feel this razor exhibits and if so is it the configuration of the SB or more so the high polish finish or a combination of both? The reason i ask is that no matter what setting I'm on the smooth face feel remains the same.

I don't really have a good answer for that.

I believe a good polish adds to smoothness. But I don't have science to back that up. For Janus Production, the polishing vendor has a good 2 step plan to match the Wolfman polish which I think is the gold standard.



The 'large' radius of the Janus SB that contacts the skin during shaving might be a contributing factor to smoothness.

I don't really have a good answer for that.

I believe a good polish adds to smoothness. But I don't have science to back that up. For Janus Production, the polishing vendor has a good 2 step plan to match the Wolfman polish which I think is the gold standard.



The 'large' radius of the Janus SB that contacts the skin during shaving might be a contributing factor to smoothness.

Polished? Is just the bars that will be polished SS? I thought the Janus was PVD coated...or do you mean the polish job done to the base material prior to coating?

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Edit...I suppose I could use a lesson in PVD...do you have to start with a mirror to get a mirror? Or does the coating help with the final mirror? Maybe that's the better way to ask the question.

From the photo I'm thinking it may be a combination of the high polish which actually does have a scientific explanation why it has better glide than a matte finish and if your finisher is going for Wolfman level finish then that surely can't hurt the glide. Also looking at the angle of the blade against the skin with that curved polished SB underneath may have something to do with it also I'm thinking.

I don't really have a good answer for that.

I believe a good polish adds to smoothness. But I don't have science to back that up. For Janus Production, the polishing vendor has a good 2 step plan to match the Wolfman polish which I think is the gold standard.



The 'large' radius of the Janus SB that contacts the skin during shaving might be a contributing factor to smoothness.

Polished? Is just the bars that will be polished SS? I thought the Janus was PVD coated...or do you mean the polish job done to the base material prior to coating?

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Yes, the Janus is PVD coated. Polishing is surface prep that removes surface imperfections such as machining marks and micro pits that get exposed after machining. The PVD coating which is microns thick needs a defect free surface to stick to. The lower the Ra, the better the PVD coating will look. Without good polishing, the PVD coating will look horrible (patchy & matte). All the parts get polished individually and then PVD coated individually and then assembly.