A couple of months ago I posted about the sticker shock I received after deciding to go back to daily shaving.

A commenter on that post opined that I should probably research Gillette’s stance on some social issues. I did. Ugh. I promptly binned my old Mach 3 razor — no big loss, seeing as how twelve (12) cartridges run about $30 from the Gillette site, and given the current state of the economy, that’s just not cricket.

I get a better, more satisfying shave from a safety razor anyway.

How-some-ever, the fact remains that I will be travelling by air quite a bit in the foreseeable future, I prefer to travel light with a carry-on, and apparently TSA Kabuki will Lose Their Poo if they find a safety razor blade in your carry-on.

I had resigned myself to buying a pack of disposable razors — ugh — for my dopp kit, when a gentleman on a safety razor discussion page pointed me towards a new company called UNO Shave Co. who are making a razor he thought might fit my needs.

Intrigued, I spent a bit of my next royalty cheque to get one of their Generation 2 single-edge cartridge razors, and have been shaving with it for the last five days. Being desperate for blog fodder, I figure why not review* it?

First off, I’d like to point out what this little razor isn’t. It isn’t a safety razor, and comparing it to one is, quite frankly, unfair. The primary bad reviews on-line for this razor involve something along the lines of: “It doesn’t shave as close as my RazoRock Lupo Custom with a Feather blade!”

Well, yeah. It’s a cartridge razor — not a safety razor. With that in mind, here we go!

On their webpage, the folks at UNO state that there will be a small learning curve to using this razor, and they’re not wrong — for different reasons. If you’re coming to this razor from using a trendy multi-blade pivotting razor, you’re going to have a pretty steep learning curve. This one doesn’t pivot, and the angle of the blade to your face doesn’t follow the plane of the cartridge head like you’re used to. You’re going to have to learn how to angle the blade like you would with a safety razor.

If you’re — like me — using this after being accustomed to a safety razor, it isn’t weighted or balanced to do the work like a properly-made safety razor. You’re going to have to learn to put a little pressure against your face like any other cartridge razor.

How does it stack up? Rather well, actually.

It is a very mild razor. In the last five days I haven’t managed to cut myself with it, which is pretty surprising, given my lack of sleep. It is also agnostic as to pre-shave prep, and is one of the few razors I’ve used that works with my puck of original Holy Black Trading Company soap. It’s also given me a decent shave with just shave oil — see “lack of sleep” above.

If I follow my usual shaving pattern, take it slow, and do my part, the UNO Generation 2 produces a closer shave than a Mach 3. If I fast-and-sloppy it, it gives me a shave as good as any other cartridge razor out there.

I can’t ask any better from a cartridge razor.

Again, it’s not my German safety razor with curated Israeli Red blades — but it can’t be.

A replacement pack of 12 cartridges runs about $10, which is not-insignificantly twenty dollars less than the same number of cartridges from the Gillette site.

I purchased this little jewel with an eye towards using it for a week or so to learn its idiosyncrasies, then pitching it into my travel hygiene kit to only use for travel. However, given its forgiving nature, it’s going on the razor shelf for those mornings when running a Japanese or Israeli-honed blade across my skin just doesn’t seem wise.

UNO Shave Co. Generation 2 razor gets the LawDog Paw Of Approval.

LawDog

*Relax FCC. I bought the razor with my own money, the company has no idea I’m reviewing it, and certainly didn’t pay me to do so.