Your thoughts on OneBlade

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.

Now that I'm two shaves in with the OneBlade, I'm re-reading this thread with better context for many posts (thanks guys). waveflow I came across your advice above on "riding the pivot." Can you elaborate on what you mean here? I'm noticing there are indeed areas where I can add a bit more pressure with the OneBlade in order to deal with tougher whiskers (under the chin), and it still doesn't cause irritation. Pretty crazy. I should be careful: this would be a bad habit with other razors!

onethinline and AFG008, couldn't be happier for you guys! Really enjoy hearing your thoughts, and look forward to more... Congrats gents!

Thanks Len! My second shave with it this morning went very well: once again not a single nick, nor any irritation at all, despite my "pushing it" in a few areas (hello, chin!) and going for two passes on my neck and three passes (WTG, XTG, ATG) on my cheeks and jawline. It seems counterintuitive to apply pressure, but in some areas the OneBlade seems to do best this way. Certainly I'm still getting to know the razor, but I can say it's not the height of efficiency (not at R41 or Mongoose levels, or what I assume comes from a Feather AC or sharp straight). Yet it's not shy about cutting, either, and that it does its work with no irritation is impressive.

My disappointment right now, as funny as this might sound, is that the OneBlade feels so forgiving and easy that it sort of takes the fun out of wet shaving as a hobby. We all know how satisfying it is to master a skill, and traditional safety razors and straights offer a learning curve to traverse. The OneBlade is sort of fool-proof, a no-brainer. Which is great! And yet... potentially less gratifying. Another aspect of this: I've spent time learning to get great lathers, and finding the best-performing soaps, but I suspect the OneBlade would cut well with sub-optimal lather. The various factors of wet shaving we enjoy tweaking, optimizing, and mastering seem less important with this razor. At least that's my view at the moment.

Strange criticism, right? For the OneBlade's primary audience — current cartridge (or electric) users — this razor is a dream. It shaves like a cartridge with the virtues of a high-quality single blade. Set it, forget it, get it done. It's not going to bite, it's not going to irritate, and your skin will be happier than ever. Add the remarkable design and build quality, and $300 seems pretty fair for what this is! I'm already recommending the OneBlade to a few coworkers who know they can do better than cartridges but are not going to make a hobby out of wet shaving.

For me, though, I'm not sold quite yet, largely because I do enjoy the hobby aspect of all of this. I'm going to take advantage of this 30-day trial period to see how the OneBlade might fit into my roster. Am I just looking for problem-free shaves? Or do I want each shave to offer that hobbyist satisfaction? If it's more the latter, the OneBlade may not be for me. We shall see.

I could picture that being the funniest return of a product ever:

OneBlade: "We're sorry you weren't satisfied, sir. May we ask, what was the problem?"

onethinline: "The problem was that there was no problem. It was too easy!"

I could picture that being the funniest return of a product ever:

OneBlade: "We're sorry you weren't satisfied, sir. May we ask, what was the problem?"

onethinline: "The problem was that there was no problem. It was too easy!"

I know, right? I realize how funny it sounds as a criticism! But I think you can all understand what I mean about that element of hobbyist satisfaction.

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.

Now that I'm two shaves in with the OneBlade, I'm re-reading this thread with better context for many posts (thanks guys). waveflow I came across your advice above on "riding the pivot." Can you elaborate on what you mean here? I'm noticing there are indeed areas where I can add a bit more pressure with the OneBlade in order to deal with tougher whiskers (under the chin), and it still doesn't cause irritation. Pretty crazy. I should be careful: this would be a bad habit with other razors!

With "ride the pivot" I mean to keep the head of the razor flat against the skin. As you encounter contours allow the pivot to work to handle the terrain changes. It usually allows me to take slightly longer passes and is a huge benefit for me on the side of my neck and jaw line.

OneBlade: "We're sorry you weren't satisfied, sir. May we ask, what was the problem?"

onethinline: "The problem was that there was no problem. It was too easy!"

Amusing indeed, but if David's findings turn out to be those of the wet shaving community, they'll be glad to make the refund under those circumstances. As much as we consider ourselves hobbyists and enthusiasts, there's few of us who will reject the easiest shave yet for those which require a greater skill set and the ability to switch gears and apply that skill set to the razor at hand. If David's experience continues and represents that of many more users, I'd say that OneBlade will have nicely met its goals for this razor.

With more shaves under his belt, it will be interesting to see how David's total experience compares to Brian's.

I'm on my 4th day of a 7 day stretch of daily shaving with the OneBlade and my reports are similar to those previous..., smooth shaver, great audio feedback, no irritation, and certainly not nearly as efficient as my Merkur 39c. One of my favorite things, and this may be weird, is the sound of putting it on the stand. It makes a satisfying "clink."

I was going to say that it takes almost no skill, but I'm not sure that that's correct..., it's different skill, but it is fool proof with the pivot. I have been fairly aggessive with it on my sensitive neck and I'm unable to produce a weeper or irritation. I do change blades every other day.

It's been only 5 shaves, but I can see this becoming my daily shaver for work, while reserving the 39c for off work days to maintain my skills with it. I am still not convinced that it's worth 300 dollars, but I am happy with the 180 that I paid, and I question the longevity of a razor company that targets a very narrow client base with an expensive piece of gear that many of that narrow base won't consider a "must have." Time will tell if they survive and maybe I'm reading the situation wrong. Maybe they'll sell a million of them.

I still think that they should sell one without the fancy packaging for 150ish because I think they'd sell a ton of them. I find myself looking at the leather box thinking "what am I to do with you?" I just don't see value in that sort of stuff, but again, I recognize that they said specifically who they're targeting and the packaging is meant to lend to that experience.

Anyway, I'll update at the end of my 7 day run but things are going well with this razor.

Justin

I have to agree about the packaging. It's very nice and gives a great first impression but as I stuffed it into the bottom drawer of a cabinet I wondered how much it really added to the razor.
After only one usage I can offer only limited perspective. It was an effortless shave that produced great results. Worth the cost? It might be. I get great shaves from a de as well but not many were as as effortless or as comfortable. I've been at this quite a while and I am not looking for challenges in my shaving equipment. I want results. A razor that gives great results, is comfortable to use with no blood loss or irritation is a plus for me.Someone at an early stage might very well have a different viewpoint and want to master their craft. I'm going to keep using this razor for a week or two without a change to another razor but I really have no doubts that for me it's a keeper.

A razor that gives great results, is comfortable to use, with no blood loss or irritation: I agree, this is a very good thing indeed! Knowing me, I'm a little bit over-thinking the whole thing right now, but I also think that's natural when you spend $300 on something, and even more so when you already have many other somethings devoted to the same task.

When I think about it (and obviously I'll need more shaves with the razor to confirm this), no other traditional-style razor has tackled my neck or chin so closely/smoothly without irritation or nicks. That's certainly worth something. Other razors get me shaved more quickly/efficiently, but certainly at greater risk of trouble. Other razors offer more fun in learning a skill. I just picked up a Feather Artist Club SS because I'm excited to try that version of (more-or-less) straight razor shaving. I don't expect the Feather SS to be carefree and easy right away: in fact, I aim for that point where I'm nimble with it because I put in the investment to be so. Hopefully then I'll be getting great shaves from it, too. It just looks fun to use.

I'm waiting to see if I find the OneBlade fun to use, in its way. Fun and satisfying. It's effective, for sure. It gets its job done and with great aplomb. It looks sexy on my shelf. I'm just doing some (very deep, terribly profound, oh oh oh) soul-searching here as to whether it's $300 well-spent toward what I want from shaving.