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The Leaf Razor

BrickHud

BrickHud

0
I bought one of these, but I haven't tried it yet. I thought I'd offer some initial thoughts as a way of inviting other people to share their own thoughts. For those who haven't seen one, it's a razor that allows one to insert 1 to 3 half blades, which are held by magnets. With its pivoting head, it operates like a self-built cart razor. No cartridge; just a frame into which the user inserts his own half-blades.

It's a nice bit of kit. Seems pretty solid and well-made with clear instructions.

The head is huge at the top. How am I going to get into tight spaces? Answer: Use the accompanying "Twig Sculptor" by putting a half blade into it and using it to get in there. It's easy

A razor that has to be sold with a second razor to make it work right?

The pivoting head and multiple half-blades feel very cart-like to me.

The reason I bought it was for its innovative design. You gotta applaud that. And, again, I haven't used it yet. I'm still looking at it and saying, "huh?"
 
Seems like a razor for people that like cartridge razors but don't like the price per shave... Not my thing.
 
BrickHud said:
I bought one of these, but I haven't tried it yet.
Click to expand...

It's been 4 days. Have you used it yet? Just curious how it's working for you.

Looks like an abomination to me. I get what they are going for, and I do see it as a plus for the dedicated cart user. I appreciate the design and the adjustability. But for me, the DE shaver, the pivoting head is a no-go. You lose all of your control when you let the razor pivot. That's how I end up with razor rash.

Their website is interesting. The pics make me think they are aiming for a certain demographic. It's just odd.
 
I applaud their ingenuity, but I think it would need some refinement.
 
I've shaved with the Leaf 4 shaves now, and it's OK. I'm going to keep it, but I can tell I'm going to struggle to figure out its role (other than "really innovative design"). For my shaves, I went with 3 half-blades (Israeli made Personna's).

The blades are easy to load, both in the razor itself and the included trimmer razor. Everything goes together right. Feels like a nice bit of well-engineered kit. The razor itself is zinc alloy with a coating that seems pretty sturdy, but it has a lot of little pieces (e.g. the screw) that may be stainless. More on that below.

The head is not just large but has a lot of space at the top. So if you put it under your nose, the blade doesn't make contact until about halfway down your lip. That takes a work around, but it's not insurmountable. When you start a stroke, you need to be aware of that geometry, so the blade will start cutting where you think it will (e.g. at your side-burns). You can get used to this pretty quickly, but you have to pay attention.

The razor clogs with lather quickly, so I rapidly learned to rinse after every stroke or so. For the same reason, I also found that a slightly thinner lather is better than a thick lather.

The results were fine, but nothing exceptional. It's a mild razor that works, feels, and shaves a lot like a cartridge razor. In four shaves, I didn't get a hint of a weeper, nick or cut, and the shaves were all perfectly acceptable. Not as close as I like, but YMMV. You just build your own cartridge and save money, though technically you still can't take it in your carry on luggage when flying.

Here's the weak point I see: That screw. It holds the whole thing together. You can't lose it, because it won't back out all the way (hello, Supply Provision). But if you strip it, you have a useless piece of equipment. In the instructions, Leaf warns not to overtighten that screw. Check. But if the razor is Zamak (as Leaf says), those threads may corrode and wear. One day you'll go to tighten the head, and the screw will just spin, even if you haven't overtightened it. Corroded threads strip. If that happens, you need a new razor.

Fortunately, Leaf includes a second razor. That's right, current buyers get a second "beta" razor presented as a trimmer for those close areas the Leaf doesn't reach. It works fine, but I found I could shave where I needed to pretty well with the Leaf all by itself. I might even like to try that razor all by itself. But if you believe your shaving "system" requires two separate razors to function properly... yeah, that's different.

I'm going to keep this razor and try to find a role for it. Why? Because the design is smart and innovative. The construction is solid. And the shave is... fine.
 
Two other points I forgot:

The include trimmer razor takes a single half-blade. It's remarkably simple, easy to load, and (like the Leaf itself) is ingeniously designed.

I doubt TSA would be able to tell this from a cartridge razor. It's technically not permitted in your carry on, but I doubt anyone at TSA is going to know the blades are removable. And frankly, I'm not sure what a terrorist would accomplish with half a razor blade anyway.
 
Thanks for the review. I think it’s cool there are innovative people out there trying to make a “better” razor, without those people I think the shaving world will be boring. I’m not excited to have one but the Leaf sounds like it could gather some additional attention provided they market the heck out of it. The major flaw I see is that it embraces the cartridge concept while requiring the work and materials common to DE ...if you are going to buy replaceable blades (DE) and learn a new razor you might as well try the current DE or SE options.

still, a cool thing.
 
Chris, I think your points are spot on. I believe we're in a golden age of razor manufacture, and I'm happy to have supported the folks at Leaf. They've come up with a truly innovative design that does work.

I've been thinking about where this razor fits into the marketplace. Coming at it as a long-time DE/SE shaver is probably coming from the wrong direction. As you say, if you've gotten accustomed to DE/SE razors, going back to the multi-blade pivoting head concept doesn't feel right.

I see the market for this razor among the cartridge guys. It shaves like a cart razor, but you can use any blade you want, and they're cheaper than carts with less landfill material at the end. But I think they're going to have a tough go of that. If shaving with a DE razor is intimidating ("I just know I'd cut myself"), telling people they need to snap razor blades in half is a hard sell. I think they'd be better off distributing high quality half-blades with the razor.

Still, as you say, it's a cool concept.
 
BrickHud said:
Chris, I think your points are spot on. I believe we're in a golden age of razor manufacture, and I'm happy to have supported the folks at Leaf. They've come up with a truly innovative design that does work.

I've been thinking about where this razor fits into the marketplace. Coming at it as a long-time DE/SE shaver is probably coming from the wrong direction. As you say, if you've gotten accustomed to DE/SE razors, going back to the multi-blade pivoting head concept doesn't feel right.

I see the market for this razor among the cartridge guys. It shaves like a cart razor, but you can use any blade you want, and they're cheaper than carts with less landfill material at the end. But I think they're going to have a tough go of that. If shaving with a DE razor is intimidating ("I just know I'd cut myself"), telling people they need to snap razor blades in half is a hard sell. I think they'd be better off distributing high quality half-blades with the razor.

Still, as you say, it's a cool concept.
Click to expand...

Thank you Charles for sharing your thoughts about this unique razor. I think you nailed the proper marketing approach for this razor, the only real benefit is the price of blades. A years worth of DE blades compared to a years worth of cartridges is a significant difference. And that should be their pitch. "Change blades when you need to, not when you can afford to." From a business model standpoint, Zink alloy is probably a wise move so that they can get repeat sales when the threads strip as you point out. My sense is that it would not shave any worse than what those 5 bladed cartridges shave wrt to getting under the nose, and they provide a solution for that that Gillette and Schick do not. I think the last 100 pack of Astra SPs I purchased were $10.00 and change. That is around $0.10/blade, so it costs approximately $0.15 to change blades on this razor. Compare that to the per cartridge price of the leading cartridge razor.
 
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