Recently the good people of Leaf Shaving, who’s introductory product was the Leaf Razor, decided to bring another razor the too market, the Twig.
The Twig razor is designed to present the user with a single shaving edge, at a shaving angle that feels most similar to some cartridge or disposable razors (Gillette Astra or Sensor for example), sans a pivoting head.
The Twig utilizes a half double-edge blade. These are acquired either by direct purchase of half blade via Leaf, or by simply snapping a DE blade of your choice in half. In my case, I have been using the Twig with a Gillette Nacet, as is my preference.
Loading the blade is as simple as any twist to open style razor. As the retention bar rises in the opening action, it also twists sideways to better allow for blades to be placed inside, or removed. To help with additional retention there is a magnet in the bottom of the blade tray, and the shoulders of the razor are shaped to accommodate the curvature created by snapping a DE blade in half.
The overall size and weight of the razor are easy to manipulate, while the shape allow for easy grip while operating and is aesthetically pleasing. My particular Twig is in their matte black finish, which when paired with the radiator fin style grip and angular hour glass shape, gives me a very “sith lord” type of vibe, and I quite enjoy it. But how does it shave?
As soon as you place the razor on your face, you’ll find it hard to hold it at the wrong angle, even if you’ve never shaved with a safety razor of any design. For me the flat fixed head feels very similar to a Schick Injector in how it lays on the face. Combined with the 30 degree fixed head to handle angle it feels very natural.
When shaving with the Twig, the feel is very mild. Very little if any blade feel is noticed, independent of the angle of the shave, within reason. During my test shaves I began to actively try to ignore technique, and even force bad technique such as applying pressure, heavily varying the angle during a pass, and found no ill effects. That in and of itself was a bit surprising, and impressive. Being that, my understanding, is that the Twig is designed to attract cartridge users and otherwise non-traditional shavers, I’d say they’ve done a great job in presenting a low learning curve razor to market.
So what didn’t work out so well.
When loading a blade, I found that the retention bar alignment may need some assistance from the user to line up perfectly. Though it does pivot back into place, it is not spot on if you just twist the whole assembly closed without checking.
While shaving, I found that I need to rinse the lather off the razor head more frequently when I have a good thick lather formed. As the head is smaller than a DE, it just doesn’t handle scooping up all that cream slickness as well. Minor complaint, and honestly not a big deal.
Additionally, during one shave I found that my grip position, which was lower on the handle, was beginning to loosen the razors twist to open feature. I luckily spotted this very quickly, and tightened it back up easily before anything bad happened. I’m quite sure this was mostly due to a lack of initial tightening by me before starting, but it is something to note.
Overall I do enjoy this razor. If you’re one to need a highly aggressive, and feel like you’ll tear your face off at any moment if you lose concentration, the Twig probably isn’t your cup of tea. But, if you’d like a fun change that is mindlessly easy and smooth, or want to try to get that “I’m never using one of those oldy timey shaving thingys”, cartridge using friend of yours to transition into a more traditional shaver, this is a great choice.
