gvw755
0
I have known about Goodfella's Smile for a while now, however only WCS carried them in the US (and they were constantly out of stock). Finally Italian barber started carrying the line and I saw the slant razor that I previously could not get because no one shipped to the US. In examining the few (one) pictures of the slant, I wondered what razor it was cloned from, as I knew that low cost zamak slants are usually copies of something else. I ordered one just to find out.
The razor arrived yesterday, too late for my shave, and it looked pretty good.
After I took the razor apart, I solved the mystery - the razor was made by Parker and it is essentially the Parker Semi Slant but with a domed head instead of the beveled head. The base plate was identical to the Parker even with a number in the same place and it was the same number.
I had high hopes for this razor because the Parker Semi Slant replaced the RR German 37 as my favorite Merkur 37 clone.
The first stroke of the WTG pass showed me that maybe my expectations were too high. The domed cap made the shave extremely mild and when finding the right angle, I found out that the proper angle was to copy the Semi Slant, which involved staying with the guard as much as possible. The proper angle itself was very narrow and so riding the cap a little more meant moving lather more than actually shaving.
Finding the proper angle during the WTG pass helped very much in my ATG pass as it went very well. the pass was comfortable and efficient, and I ended up with a two pass plus touch up DFS+. Using a newer blade and knowing the proper angle now would probably produce better results in the future. One thing that was a minor annoyance is that even though the handle looked thick, the portion with the knurling was very thin. It reminded me of the Muhle Companion in thinness. The handle did not allow me to hold it higher and was too short to hold it lower like I could with the Muhle.
Overall, this was another slant razor that has potential, but also has some areas for improvement. Luckily, the areas of improvement can mostly be settled by me getting to know the razor better.
The razor arrived yesterday, too late for my shave, and it looked pretty good.
After I took the razor apart, I solved the mystery - the razor was made by Parker and it is essentially the Parker Semi Slant but with a domed head instead of the beveled head. The base plate was identical to the Parker even with a number in the same place and it was the same number.
I had high hopes for this razor because the Parker Semi Slant replaced the RR German 37 as my favorite Merkur 37 clone.
The first stroke of the WTG pass showed me that maybe my expectations were too high. The domed cap made the shave extremely mild and when finding the right angle, I found out that the proper angle was to copy the Semi Slant, which involved staying with the guard as much as possible. The proper angle itself was very narrow and so riding the cap a little more meant moving lather more than actually shaving.
Finding the proper angle during the WTG pass helped very much in my ATG pass as it went very well. the pass was comfortable and efficient, and I ended up with a two pass plus touch up DFS+. Using a newer blade and knowing the proper angle now would probably produce better results in the future. One thing that was a minor annoyance is that even though the handle looked thick, the portion with the knurling was very thin. It reminded me of the Muhle Companion in thinness. The handle did not allow me to hold it higher and was too short to hold it lower like I could with the Muhle.
Overall, this was another slant razor that has potential, but also has some areas for improvement. Luckily, the areas of improvement can mostly be settled by me getting to know the razor better.
