As of this writing (May 6, 2025), I have 4 razors. The first two were completely uneducated purchases bought out of convenience. One turned out to be good. The other, not so much.
The Van Der Hagen
As mentioned in another post, I started with a Van Der Hagen. It’s a very inexpensive butterfly opening type razor that’s just a rebranded Chinese product. Some people love it. Some don’t. I can’t say I don’t like it, because I did get a few good (not great) shaves with it, but it’s got to say something that I haven’t gone back to use it in 6 months.
As mentioned in the FAQs page, razors can be rated based on mildness or aggressiveness. There’s some debate about this, but more often than not, I’ve seen the Van Der Hagen rated as medium to aggressive. So on the 5 point scale from Mild (1), to Medium (3), to Aggressive (5), it would be somewhere between a 3 and 5. I would put it fairly high on that scale and range, because I never have experienced a truly comfortable shave with it. But the best shaves I got from it were with fairly sharp or aggressive blades, which almost negates my theory that a mild razor with an aggressive blade is the optimal setup for me. Except that those are better shaves for me. So it could be saying that I prefer sharper, more aggressive blades. I don’t know.
For me, it never delivered a quality closeness without multiple passes, which is the hallmark of a mild razor, but the irritation was strong with this razor. Now, some of that could also be attributed to the pre shave, soap/cream/gel, and post shave used, since that was in my early days and what I was using at the time was a Barbasol foam and an Aveeno gel. But in the early goings with the King C Gillette, I also used those with more success.
The Van Der Hagen has a short handle–at least short for my large hands, and that may contribute to some of my issues with it. It’s also light–not as light as the Henson, but certainly lighter than the Rockwell and King C Gillette. And generally speaking, having heft in a razor is a good thing, but the Henson makes up for that lack of weight with a better design. But we’ll get to that in a bit.
I’ve told myself that I need to come back to it a couple of times to make sure it’s as bad as I remember, now that I’ve got all of this experience with other setups. So stay tuned for that. But for now, it’s the worst in my collection, and I wouldn’t miss it if it were gone.
The King C Gillette
I had low expectations for the King C Gillette. It was another found commonly in a grocery/department store. It is not as inexpensive as the Van Der Hagen, but still relatively cheap. But I was amazed by it. It’s got a good weight to it, so that there is less effort to keep it in contact with my face, and it feels solid and quality-built. It’s got a three-piece design, and while some say it’s a very mild razor, I’ve found that it generally is more aggressive (or less mild) than my Henson.
This razor is one of those instances where when I don’t use it, I kind of forget about it, but then I pick it up and use it for a week and I’m pleasantly surprised at how good it is. It’s never delivered a bad shave, and most of them have been reasonably close and comfortable.
The KCG is a three-piece design, where the handle unscrews from the head, which consists of a plate and the top, and the blade is sandwiched between those two pieces. There are people who swear that the three-piece design is far superior than the butterfly because it resists slop–the movement of the blade in the head. But then again, I’ve seen some people who claim the butterfly design is superior for the same reason. All I can say about the head design is that Gillette safety razors for the middle part of last century almost universally used a butterfly design, and those vintage razors are in high demand now.
It’s a weighty razor, and with a good blade in it, requires very little effort to shave. It’s usually a close shave, and typically very comfortable as well. If I had a complaint here, there would be two: one is that the comb on the razor, while closed, sometimes feels sharp, especially toward the corners; and the other is that there are times I’d prefer more grip on the handle.
The Henson AL-13 Mild
The Henson AL-13 was my first step into the higher end of this hobby/addiction. These are popular razors with a distinctive design and made with three levels of aggressiveness: mild, medium and aggressive, noted typically by a +, ++ or +++, in that order. I wanted a razor that was more mild (at least to me) than the King C Gillette or Van Der Hagen, and after extensive reading online, particularly finding reviews and notes in the Reddit group, I pulled the trigger, spending $70 on a razor made from blue-toned, aircraft grade, machined aluminum. The bottom line is that it looks cool from every angle, and I really enjoy using it.
The Henson mild is widely regarded as one of the 2 mildest razors made, with the other being the Feather AS-D2, which I’m always disappointed is not the name of a droid in Star Wars. But it earns the reputation and will always be my go-to for a mild shave.
This is also a three-piece design, but the head looks substantially different than most anything out there. The top of it is flat and not rounded like most other razors. And that gently curves into the shaving surfaces, which are angled at a precise 30-degree angle, which is supposedly optimal for blade contact. While there’s technically a closed comb there, it’s apparent in looking at the design that this comb is like very few others. This unique design does one thing that no other razor I’ve experienced can do: when you put it against your face to shave, it just goes where it’s supposed to go. There’s no guesswork, no adjustment needed, just flat on contact with your skin.
And that benefit does occasionally cause a problem. There have been a few cases where the lubrication on my skin isn’t adequate, and that will cause the Henson to kind of drag along my skin if I’m not careful. This doesn’t cause any irritation or cuts, mind you, but it poses a problem you aren’t likely to have with a curved top razor. And as long as we’re talking about problems, there are times I want a better handle with more grip–the etched design is okay, but not optimal; and the smaller than usual blade gap can occasionally plug up with soap/cream/gel. That last issue is easily fixed with frequent rinsing, so it really isn’t a problem.
Being made entirely of aircraft grade aluminum, this is a very light razor–surprisingly so. That usually means that you need to apply more pressure when shaving to get a closer shave, which would lead to more irritation. But I haven’t experienced that. I will say that every shave (except with a Kai blade, which for some reason my face just doesn’t like at all) has been very comfortable. And when paired with a milder blade, it really does feel like I’m not shaving at all, and that means I probably need extra passes. But if I’m looking for a completely mild, comfortable, irritation-free shave, I always reach for the Henson.
The Rockwell 6C
My most recent purchase thanks to a lower price than most retail pricing, and a 10% off new customer coupon from The Razor Company, came just about 6 weeks after the Henson. It is another popular razor in the community, the Rockwell 6C. Just like it’s more expensive sibling, the 6S, but without the spendy finish, the Rockwell 6C is unique in that it offers the ability to adjust the aggressiveness of a shave not through a dial as most adjustable razors do, but by swapping or flipping a plate on the razor. It has 3 plates, each of which can be flipped, so there are 6 levels of mildness or aggressiveness, depending on your point of view, from 1 to 6. I have yet to screw up the courage to try level 6, but I can say that 1, 2, and 3 have been great.
The Rockwell is heavy, in fact heavier even than the KCG. But I’ve found that to be a benefit, again, because it lets the razor do the work. It’s clearly well made, feels precise and has a wonderfully tactile handle.
As with the KCG and the Henson, the Rockwell is also a three-piece design, though as I mentioned earlier, comes with the two extra plates in the box. I’ve read posts from some users who say that they’ll switch plates mid-shave, which seems strange to me, but as I think about it, probably makes sense, so someday, I may try that. But the plate numbering feels like a blocker to that as 1 and 3 are on one plate, 2 and 4 on the second, and 5 and 6 on the third. Why is this inconsistent? I’m sure it’s part of the product research they’ve done, because there is a 2C model that includes just the 1 and 3 plate, and they say those are their most used plates. At any rate, I find that order to be annoying. I’m sure I’ll get over it some day.
Some posts also claim that plate 1 on the Rockwell is even milder than the Henson. I’m not sure on that one yet. It’s certainly mild, and plate 2 is slightly less mild than the Henson. Maybe it’s the angle with the round top, but plate 1 feels different than the Henson. Plate 6, according to some, is up in the medium-aggressive area, so I may never try it. But I want to someday use the 4, 5 and 6 plates to see what they’re like.
One thing that some users mentioned in their posts was that the Rockwell sounds different when shaving. And I can confirm this. There’s much more noise with each pass. This isn’t a bad thing, it just is surprising and striking that this design can make such a difference on the sound front.
I wanted the Rockwell for its ability to adjust aggressiveness levels, and I look forward to exploring its full range. But it’s been a good addition so far.
What’s Next?
People in this hobby always joke about wanting the next thing without having fully tried out the last thing, and that could very well be true. I jumped into the Rockwell pretty quickly after getting the Henson. But I’ll go with these four razors for a bit before I get another…I think. I know what type of razor the next one will be, though.
Since the KCG, I’ve been buying my razors for a purpose: the Henson for its mildness; the Rockwell for its adjustability. The next one will be a slant of some kind.
What’s a slant, you ask? The head is twisted almost helically. This puts the blade at an angle so that as you pull it along, it supposedly acts more as a guillotine and slices instead of doing a straight-on chop cut. As with all razors, there are varying degrees of slant, varying levels of aggressiveness, and varying designs. There are a couple I’m considering: a Parker SL-55 Semi-Slant, and a Merkur 39C. We’ll see what I go with. I’m telling myself I won’t get one until at least the fall, but after the Henson, I did also tell myself (and my wife) that it would be a long time before I got anything else. So yeah.
Down the road, I may consider a traditional adjustable, which features a segment on the handle to twist which then presses up on the blade, or lowers it down, thus changing the amount of blade that is exposed.
Or I could just shoot the works and get one of the adjustable slant razors. Very few companies make one, and one of the best out there is $349. I don’t know that I could spend that much on a razor. Gifts anyone?
