The Feather Popular razor is made in Japan by the surgical steel company that makes Feather blades – the sharpest in the world. “Razor sharp” obviously only begins to describe them. I’ve been using them in my German Merkur DE (double-edged) razor, the Mercedes-Benz of razors, but I wanted to try them with the Popular, the Honda of razors. It doesn’t cost much, so I gave it a try.
It’s surprisingly light, and comes in a nice plastic case, so it would make a great travel razor (although sadly not on a plane in a carry-on bag). When I first picked it up, I was disappointed by how light it was – none of the usual heft of a razor like the Fatboy. But after I twisted it open, cautiously chambered a Feather blade and lathered up, my opinion changed dramatically. Its lightness and mild* design made it easy and forgiving to shave and as quick as a modern razor or disposable – no need to worry about cutting yourself. Perfect for the weekday morning rush. But despite all that, the Feather blades still give you an extremely close shave. Remember, even the best DE blades cost at most fifty cents each, not the 2 or 3 bucks the modern multi-blade landfill specials cost.
The long handle and overall user-friendliness made me think it might make a good ladies’ razor.
Daisy has a vintage 1971 Blue Star Lady Gillette from an antique store, so we could compare it side-by-side with the twentieth century state of the art. It compared very well. The textured plastic handle gives an added margin of safety in the shower.
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*”Mild” is what the wet shaving aficionados call a lightweight razor where the blade doesn’t stick out too far between the cover and the guard. Compare this with the “aggressive” 1941 GEM Micromatic Clog Pruf, that uses the same single-edged blades you get at the hardware store for paint scrapers:
It’s a beautiful vintage shaving tool, but it’ll cut your nose right off if you’re not careful.
The clog pruf (or any other single edge razor) does NOT take paint scraper blades. They may look similar, but scraper blades do not have the same bevel and are not as sharp. You need to find blades either at a pharmacy in the shaving aisle or order them online. Paint scraper blades will pull your hair, not cut it.
D B –
Thanks for the clarification. No wonder my Clog Pruf seems so aggressive.
You should be using brand-name SE blades. The only REAL SE blades that can be shave with and are still manufactured in this day and age come from: Ted Pella, Gem, Feather (only for Valet SE razors), and Treet.