A New Razor!

I recently purchased a new twist-to-open (TTO), adjustable razor — The Parthenon V2 from QShave. It started as a Kickstarter collaboration between QShave and Weishi in March 2018. It surpassed its intended goal by over 300%!

However, when the razor was first released at the end of June 2018, the results weren’t as good as people expected. The biggest complaint was the adjustment mechanism didn’t work; the razor was extremely aggressive, even for seasoned wet shavers. Donald Youngner has a couple of videos (here and here) using the razor and his comments aren’t good. Another veteran in the field, Mark (@mantic59), in a post dated January of this year, said the Parthenon was a “dangerous, fanged animal.”

It seems that QShave listened to their customers and released a Parthenon V2 recently to high praise. Don Youngner gave it very high marks in a video review dated July, 2019. And Mark, in a post dated August of this year, said the changes have tamed the “dangerous, fanged animal” that was the Parthenon V1.

Now here’s the interesting part. I had pre-ordered this razor and completely forgotten about it. I guess I must have purchased it when QShaves was updating the razor and put my purchase in a queue. I was notified last week that my purchase had gone through and even received a discount (I’m assuming it was because of the wait). My razor arrived this past Saturday and I waited until Sunday morning before I used it.

First off, let me say that the packaging was very nice. Some great material about how to use the razor plus a little pamphlet highlighting other items from QShave. The Parthenon comes in two versions — a silver version with stripped grip and a black version with diamond knurling — I chose the black version. It has a great weight to it, too, weighing in at about 3.8oz (or 106g). The TTO works very smoothly and it feels solid, like the whole razor. The dial that’s used to change the blade gap is textured for easier turning and the spring used is moderately stiff. This means the razor won’t change settings on you while you’re shaving. There’s not “click” mechanism to lock the setting in place so a stiffer spring helps keep your setting secure.

I inserted a Personna Blue blade and set the dial to 1. I mean, if you’re going to get an adjustable razor, try out all the settings to see what works and what doesn’t! I lathered up using Proraso White and shaved one side of my face; a very smooth experience. I could barely feel the blade even though it was cutting through the two-days worth of stubble with ease. 

I then dialed the setting to 9 — the maximum blade gap — and shaved the other side of my face. Wow! What a difference. I could definitely feel the blade this time but it, too, was a comfortable shave.

I then relathered and changed the setting to 3 (my standard setting on adjustable razors) for the second (final) pass. Very enjoyable. No nicks or cuts. No irritation. Just a smooth, pleasant shave. 

I shaved with the Parthenon this morning (on setting 3) doing three passes (with the growth, across the growth, and against-ish the growth) and had a great shave. No issues at all. I can say, without hesitation, the Parthenon is a very good razor and highly recommend it, especially at its current price point of under $40!

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In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC