So yeah, the bonus razor. Why is it a bonus razor? Because it was in the box with the Merkur, and the vendor I ordered from didn’t want me to send it back, so I’ve got a free $80 razor. Now, truth be told, the Merkur, which was supposed to include a blade, did not, but that feels like a pretty small matter now.
I’ve seen Goodfellas’ Smile razors for a while. They usually feature fairly unusual modern designs, and people seem to like them a lot. This one is machined aluminum, which is the bottom end of the Syntesi line, but that isn’t really a problem because…well, all I’ve already mentioned.
But I’ve never really considered one, and I’m not sure why. The design doesn’t really grab me. I don’t see any of their models popping up when people ask for recommendations. And they may or may not have a website, which makes finding out more about them kind of a challenge.
So what can I tell you? The best I can find says that Goodfellas’ Smile is an Italian company or brand which was established in 2011 as part of Barbieri Uniti, which seems to be a big Italian grooming product retailer. The Goodfellas’ Smile brand appears to have 5 or 6 models of safety razors available under the banner, but each of those has different marques with varying upgrade characteristics–aluminum, stainless steel, and even v1 or v2 models.
There are a lot of dead links and conflicting information about Goodfellas’ Smile razors, so finding information on their products has proved to be a challenge. But if much of the information is to be believed, the brand has other companies design and manufacture the razors in various parts of the world, and then they’re packaged under Goodfellas’ name.
The aluminum version of the Syntesi that I have was manufactured in Italy, or so it says on the bottom of the base plate.
Again, this example is the all-aluminum model, machined from aircraft aluminum, similarly to Henson razors. The base plate, though, is black, in contrast to the shiny metal of the rest of the razor. And it’s very light–slightly lighter than the Hensons, but unlike them, it’s pretty short, so there are times it just feels tiny. When I saw the box, I just laughed at how small it was. But the other specs seem to put it in a similar class with the Henson mild: a very close blade gap, and slightly smaller blade exposure. Plus, they’ve engineered the head to lock it in to a 45 degree angle as opposed to the Henson’s 30 degree angle. So regardless of it appearing to be fairly similar, it isn’t exactly the same, so I’m interested to try it out and see how it feels.
So after the first week of shaves, how’d it go?
Let’s start with the good–it’s got a fairly mild feel to the shave, while seeming to have the efficiency of a medium-mild or medium aggressive razor. It’s certainly more efficient with roughly the same comfort as the Henson Mild, but there are some caveats here, and we’ll get to those in a bit. The head feels small, so it maneuvers very well. The extra efficiency is nice and avoids too many extra passes to get the closeness I want.
But here’s the bad…or at least not so good. First, it’s lighter and shorter than the Henson. Grip is not an issue due to the design of the handle, but in my very large hands, this thing is tiny. Second, it’s machined, but the top cap is not machined smooth. It’s got a slightly rough texture, which makes it not want to glide well on just wet or poorly lubricated skin. Third, the base plate is very thin. It’s probably not flimsy, but on the first shave with the Syntesi, I was positive I could feel the base plate flexing slightly, which is not optimal.
All of that being said, I don’t dislike this razor, in fact, I like it. It just isn’t a favorite. It’s not outstanding, and it really isn’t bad, so I can’t complain about it too much. As far as it goes in the Razor Ratings page, it will fall squarely somewhere right around the middle.