Ok, I finally got to put in a few shaves (5) with the Hammer from Pearl after a little over a month of having it in my possession. Made some commitments to some shaving events and did not want to break my promise in participating in those dedicated shaving events.
Anyhow, the experience with this razor has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. Off the bat, the Silvermax blades do not agree with my face. The very first shave was a weeperfest of epic proportions. At first I thought it was a bad blade on the initial shave so, I changed it out before completing my first pass. I did that one more time hoping that I just had a couple of rough blades but, to no avail. It just wasn’t smooth and felt kind of skittish on my skin. I managed to complete the first shave with those 3 blades but, it was weeper and irritation universe. I hadn’t experienced that in quite some time. Though the shave was nearly a BBS finish minus a spot around the Adam’s Apple area, the alum pass set my face on fire. A nice cold water splash for a few seconds and a healthy helping of after shave with alcohol gave me the bracing effect that I wasn’t welcoming but, definitely needed. It subsided within 30 minutes and after about an hour my skin felt smooth & clean of whiskers. Slight discomfort for a bit after but, I was clean shaven. Rough blades and getting to know a razor on it’s initial outing is a bad combo. I knew better as I should have gone with blades that I know and feel comfy with but, was just being stubborn and I paid the price.
The following 4 shaves have been with a Gillette Minora and it has been good to excellent shaves since. Finding the angle on the Hammer takes a little adjustment (it feels really good & smooth almost riding the safety bar) but, once there and one maintains that angle of attack, it’s a pleasure to use and wield. The weight for me is a non issue as I have razors that are equal to the Pearl Hammer with some exceeding it by a bit. Balance is quite good with weight bias that shifts slightly towards the handle. I can live with that. The handle is either love or hate and I’m somewhere in the middle. It offers good grip and tactile feel even with one’s paws full of suds. Lather slots work very well and the razor rinses clean with ease. For those that take this into account, the blade tabs are fully covered so no earlobe nics for some. To me it makes no difference but, it’s a positive attribute for the Hammer. Now I’ve had all my shaves with the sb variant base plate up until this point including today’s shave. The next couple of shaves I will swap out the sb plate for the oc version and put it through some shaves and see what it delivers which I think will be more of the same in good shaves with a tad more blade feel. Well, that’s the theory at the moment. Will post again in a few days and give a more complete report on the Pearl Hammer once those shaves are completed,
Great shaves to all…