Leaf Twig and Thorn Razor Review: A Sharp Single-Edge

It’s harmful to have epiphanies whereas shaving. But on this case it was unavoidable: My epiphany was about shaving.

For the previous few weeks, my rest room routine has been somewhat like George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, minus the smelly Dapper Dan. I’ve been lathering shave cleaning soap with a brush and bowl, and shaving with an old style single-blade, single-edge, unmedicated security razor.

Specifically, I’m utilizing the Leaf Thorn—a trendy and well-marketed and self-avowedly “aggressive” single-edge razor whose home blades are so wafer-thin the corporate imprints them with the phrases “I am not plastic.” The much less aggressive Leaf Single Edge Razor is named the Twig, and it is meant to be extra mild than the Thorn. It’s all very cute.

But what I discovered, after weeks of baby-smooth shaves with the Thorn, is that I’ve been doing shaving flawed.

Stay Sharp

The epiphany was one thing that appears apparent at first: The greatest and most secure blade is at all times the sharp one. The greatest kitchen knife is the one you retain sharp. The similar goes for scissors, and for the blades you set by yourself face. The Leaf’s low-tech, easy single-blade was reducing as intently and properly as any fancy cartridge blade setup I’ve tried available on the market. The cause was principally that it was nonetheless sharp.

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

Because right here’s the factor: It doesn’t matter if you happen to’ve obtained a 15-layer stacked blade cartridge with whistles, lights, and responsive AI. Dull blades are terrible, and all blades get uninteresting with use. And when blades get uninteresting, they begin to yank on my hair as an alternative of reducing it, irritate my pores and skin into aggravation, and trigger little nicks when the pores and skin pinches up. Alas, the fashionable cartridge-based shaving blades that dominate the grocery store are costly and infrequently inconvenient to always change: round $30 or $40 for a pack of 10.

The worth provides up. Time journal knew this sport already in 1927: “As everybody is aware of, security razor producers derive the majority of their revenue, not from razors, however from the replaceable blades.”‘ The outdated enterprise faculty yarn that King Camp Gillette devised a get-rich scheme to lose cash on security razor handles to earn money on the blades is a little bit of a fable, however the enterprise logic of shaving stays inexorable: The cash’s within the blades.

So I resist swapping out for too lengthy. And then pay the value. Even as Gillette and different razor makers promote that their blade cartridges are good for weeks’ price of shaves, my very own coarse, evil, steel-clad stubble tends to eat by means of a cartridge a complete lot prior to I wish to change it. So both I maintain paying blade installments, or pay my tax within the type of a no good, very unhealthy shave.

The Safety Dance

The Leaf presents an opposing principle of shaving: The cash’s within the deal with. The blades are as an alternative low cost, small, and ubiquitous. The Thorn is at coronary heart an old style security razor. It’s appropriate with just about any good old style security blade, whether or not the basic Astra Platinum (you’ll must snap the double edge in half) or Leaf’s personal blades. Packs of 100 are lower than a $20 invoice.

Photograph: Leaf