Let me address the elephant in the room right now: yes, I did get yet another new razor. This one’s been on my mind for a while, as you can note from the State of the Shave of the Day post late last year.
The Razorock Gamechanger line is one that shows up a lot in the SOTD posts online. In fact, Razorock razors show up quite a bit across many of their product lines, and they’re often held up as well made, high-quality razors that deliver a wide variety of shaving experiences.
Razorock started in Canada sometime around 2009 after the father (a former Italian barber) of one of the founders asked him to bring back an alum block from a trip to Italy. Since then, they’ve produced Italian-made and Italian-inspired shaving products in Canada for sale around the world.
So you can understand my confusion about this being an Italian company. Maybe. But I guess you know what people say happens when you make assumptions…
What you see above is a Razorock Gamechanger .68-p razor with the titanium HALO handle. They make the Gamechanger line in about 20 different forms (or more): they have several different plates available, ranging from a blade gap of .68 (mild) to a 1.05, and have them in open or closed comb forms (I prefer closed combs), a couple of different top caps, and about 5 different handle designs. They’re all milled or machined via CNC from stainless steel and titanium, and in my case, the head is stainless steel and the handle is titanium. Once you have a handle and a top cap in the line that you want, you can purchase just the base plates or other top caps and have a new or adjustable razor for that line. So if I decide that this is just too mild, I can order the .76 closed comb plate and see if a medium mild aggressiveness works better for me.
Mine would be the mildest example of the product line, offering a small blade gap and closed comb. But it’s relatively long at 100mm–comparable to the KCG and the Parker 55SL in my collection–, and hefty at 75g–lighter than the KCG, Rockwell, Parker, and Mühle.
But of note is the Razorock aggressiveness scale graphic from their website (inserted above). They place the Gamechanger .68-P in the mild-medium category, and further down on that page on their website, other razors from different manufacturers are classified on the same scale. Of note is the classification of the Rockwell 6S/6C plate #1 as mild (yeah, I’d agree), but plates 2 and 3 rated as mild-medium, as is the Mühle R89. I’d put the Rockwell plate 2 and the Mühle in the mild category and leave the 3 in mild-medium.
Why do I bring this up? You’ll find out in a bit.
The handle is very cool looking and seems to be very grippy with the squared off rings up and down it. And the head is thin, which I hear is good for people who shave their moustache and have difficulty fitting a thicker razor head between the nose and upper lip.
On first look, this is an impressive product, but as with all razors, the proof of its worth is in the shave, so how did those first shaves go?
Let’s start with loading the blade into the razor. The GC base plate has small raised cylinders that hold the blade in place. Normally–or at least for my other razors–those pegs are longer and are attached to the top cap. So getting the blade to load properly was a little tricky, but I got it worked out eventually, and it seems to hold the blade solidly.
As I mentioned, this is a heavy razor, and I’m thankful that I used the KCG for the week prior to the first week’s shaves with the GC. Though initially, I did need to remind myself to lighten up the touch.
Even though the blade gap on this is the same as the Henson mild, there is a lot more blade feel and noise than with the Henson. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as I kind of like the feedback, but I think the result is that there is more blade contact with the GC than I was expecting, which may require me to adjust my technique slightly with this razor.
The top cap is nice and smooth, and it glided easily over the lather, which meant a nice and smooth shave feel. The base plate doesn’t seem to have any sharp or pointy edges like the Mühle R89 or the KCG. And the handle is very grippy with the squared off rings carved into it, and the length of the handle is very pleasant in my larger hands.
It rinses easily, seems to be easy to clean, and seems to be a solid performer that I’ll enjoy experimenting with as time goes on. After this first week, I have some learnings, but don’t regret picking it up.
My first week with the Gamechanger was planned with the Astra Superior Platinum (green) blades, a medium aggressive blade by just about any measure. The first two shaves were very close, but there was a lot of blade feel and irritation post-shave. Initially, I really had it in my head that this was a mild razor, and those first shaves showed me it is not mild. It really is a mild-medium or maybe even a medium aggressive razor.
I swapped over to the Astra Superior Stainless (blue) blade for the Thursday shave, and the comfort improved a lot. There was some lighter blade feel, but almost no irritation. The price for this was, of course, some of the closeness, as there’s a small amount of stubble in places, but I’ll happily trade closeness for comfort.
So, after being a bit concerned over the irritation of the first two shaves, I’m in a much happier place regarding the Razorock Gamechanger .68-P razor at the end of the first week. It clearly performs as at least a mild-medium razor for me, and I need to remember that and pair it with more mild blades in the future. Given that, I’m very happy with it and look forward to a lot more great shaves with it.