Parker Safety Razor, The SOLOEDGE – Single Edge Razor with Magnetic Head & 100 Platinum SE Blades – Precision Shaving, Reusable & Plastic-Free Razor for Men & Women

Quite surprised indeed. I’m not overly finicky, but finicky nonetheless. I’ve had quite a few safety razors including some pricey Merkurs and they were either to bulky in weight or the finish didn’t perform well. No complaints about cutting performance. That’s almost always on the blades.The best Safety Razor I’ve ever had (I still use it) is a fully adjustable 1964 Gillette J3, my grandfather passed to me when I was 16. That’s the gold standard by which others must hold up to; and most don’t come close, a few sit in the shadow. I still have the first razor my dad got for me, Gillette sensor twin blade (pivot). Still an excellent shave platform that outperforms the expensive 3-4-5 blade fad nonsense (it’s all hype in advertising guys).I never had a single edge razor though. I purchased this because I was getting tired of trying to balance the safety razor from one side to the other wearing each side of the blade equally; and I was curious what a single edge had to offer. But I was Leary about the inability to adjust the cut of the blade for my beard type and face.NOTE TO NEW SAFETY RAZOR USERS: As you get older your whiskers get tougher. In fact as tough as an equal diameter copper wire. Your face changes too. Your need for a different blade will be required as the whiskers toughened. (Hot beard and blade is the key)I put this Parker to the test this afternoon with 3 day old stubble with the included Parker Blades which I had my doubts about. Once I found the proper hold angle for the razor I was like….”is this thing even cutting?” It was definitely cutting on a section of my face where whiskers are more sparse. When I got to the more dense whisker pattern…. I could sense the increase of pull but no tugging. It just laughed at my hard whiskers. A testament of the blade itself. The fixed cutting angle of the blade built into the razor is spot on. It will do well for beginners too because is not too aggressive. (Don’t press down new guys).I was quite surprised that it got as close a shave as it did. Quite surprised indeed.The razors finish should hold up well IF you clean and maintain it properly. Meaning don’t just rinse and store it. You’re asking for future trouble. Open it. Remove the blade, rinse, wipe it down and let it dry. It will shave consistently every time with proper care.The finish is not nickel slick (nickel is always slick). The razor cuts so well that the top face (above the blade) that it has nothing to glide on. As a result, you can feel it really drag. That’s dangerous because you don’t want the razor to skip on your face. I truly believe I experienced this because my current shave cream (stick) does not provide all the necessary glide materials for this particular razor. It’s not a deal breaker!It’s a notice for you young people new to the old world perfection of safety razor shaving that a few separate things are required to get the best out of it.1. A proper safety razor ($$$ safety razors are not required for this.2. Good blades! You won’t find good safety razor blades at Walmart or the grocery store)3. A quality shave cream. Not that gel stuff in a can! Mountains of thick lather do not make a good shave if you can’t see your whiskers! The most important thing is good smooth glide! Without it and you’re in for a world of hurt. You definitely don’t need the expensive tubs either, but they are super nice anyway!Best wishes to all.

I know everyone's face is different and razors that work well for some people do not work for others, so keeping that in mind, a little backdrop is warranted in this review:I don't have super thick beard hair. I'm pretty sure they modeled the facial hair of Joe Dirt off of my face. I've been using a double-sided safety razor for over 20 years now as my primary and I tend to shave about 4x per week to keep myself reasonably presentable (not military standards). I've had a pretty wide variety razors over that time including some very expensive and very inexpensive ones (not much correlation between price and shave quality). Been using a Merkur Progress lately and don't have any complaints, but nothing to sing about either. Its always been a struggle finding a safety razor that holds the blade aggressive enough to get a good close shave without being so aggressive that it leaves my face raw or that I have to shave super careful to avoid nicking.Enter the Parker Soloedge. Bought this on a whim because it wasn't too expensive. Been looking at a Twig but at about 2x the cost I was hesitant. I've been using this for a couple weeks now and wow, where has this been all my life!?. The half blade is easy to deal with: actually just snapped one of my double-sided blades and haven't even opened the 100 pack that came with the Parker. The magnet in the razor makes it easy to load the blade with proper alignment. First shave was my face with about 3 days of growth. The Parker sliced through it like butter and it wasn't just the blade itself or the shave cream because I've been using these same blades and cream with my other razors for years without this level of effectiveness. Whole face required minimal passes and I was deliberately a little fast and careless just to see how it went. Subsequent shaves have been the same and I got about 6 shaves before needing a blade swap. The shape of this single blade holder makes it easier to get up under my nose which was always a tricky spot to access with the bigger double edge razors. Its also nice to just have the one blade and not the inconsistency I would get with a double edge after a couple shaves where one side had clearly gotten duller than the other. Bottom line: face shave test passed with flying colors and this is probably one of the closest shaves I've ever gotten besides going to the barber for a straight razor shave. This is now my go-to razor.The next test was arguably just ridiculous. I'm a road cyclist and during race season I shave my legs. I don't like it, but its effective for multiple reasons. I've occasionally tried my double edge razors for this but they are either far too aggressive or they're not aggressive enough: very tricky balance with legs. I should note, since my guess is that only dudes are reading this, that leg shaving also generally requires going against the grain cause the hair does not stand up like facial hair does but this makes irritation a bigger issue. I tried the Parker on this and it was shockingly effective. So much so that I actually then tried shaving with the grain to further reduce any skin irritation and it worked perfect that way as well. At this point I was really impressed since no other razor has been able to do that. But then I did the unthinkable on my other leg and went with both against and with the grain on completely dry skin: no water, no shaving cream, no nothing. Holy smokes it left a smooth clean surface and zero blood, skin loss or irritation! That's borderline unbelievable. I know this test is probably relevant for exactly 0 people reading this, but thought it worth mentioning because it just adds to the impressiveness of this razor.Other honorable mentions:The clearance vents under the blade seem to do a pretty good job and I can shave a pretty significant portion of my face before needing to rinse it. If you have thicker hair your mileage will vary, but I found this to be at least as effective as my good double edge razors and far better than any cartridge style razor.I can shave very fast with this and I'm not a particularly fast shaver. This is hands down the fastest of any of my razors, including electric and cartridge razors. The combination of not needing to rinse every pass, how effective one pass is, and how the blade is held in such a way as to minimize nicking means I can shave faster than I ever have before and still get a quality result.If you're thinking about this and haven't been completely satisfied with other razors, this is totally worth a shot. I know it might not work for everyone, but I think it would work well for a lot of folks and at this price its a 'why not' kind of thing. I wish I had found this many years ago. Parker nailed it with this thing.

I am a woman and I find it easy to use for facial hair and maybe small areas of body hair with stubble. Not easy to use for long hair, you should trim beforehand. Gives a nice close shave.

Had my first shave with the Parker SoloEdge razor and am quite impressed.After a shower I unboxed the razor and snapped an Astra blade in half, unscrewed the head and loaded the half of blade onto the lower half of the head and reassembled the razorI used the Astra blade because I have used these blades in the past with good results.The razor has a tiny magnet that holds the blade as it is being installed and made it very easy to load the blade.I used an Omega boar brush with Speike shaving cream and lathered up my face and did my normal shave.The razor is easy to hold and use and I was rewarded with a smooth comfortable shave with zero irritation.I am very pleased with this purchase and look forward to trying the Parker blades that came with the razor which made the purchase an even better bargain.This is a well made razor that should last a lifetime.It delivers a close comfortable shave and comes with a supply of blades that will easily last a couple years saving a ton of money.This one goes in the win column!Update:Used one of the Parker blades today with the same setup as above and had an excellent shave 😀

I like this razor. The only issue I see is the treading on the head. It might be a little too fine and its prone to cross threading.