Thanks to Shawn, a reader of my blog, I have a couple of photos of a bona fide Rimei DE razor. This is the real thing, not one of the
cheapo Chinese knock-off razors. And from the photos, you can tell the difference.
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| This is the side view of the actual Chinese-made Rimei razor. It is symmetrical, has a top-cap design that reflects some engineering, and has a baseplate that has appropriate contours and is made of thicker metal. This razor is advertised as being made from stainless steel. |
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| This is one of two cheap Chnese-made knock-off razors, and both are similar in materials and workmanship. This one is the un-branded razor. The other was branded as Ri,Mei (sic). The Ri,Mei razor was made with slightly thicker steel in the baseplate (though not comparable to the Rimei brand) and with a slightly different punched-hole pattern in the baseplate. These knock-off razors can be adjusted to be shave worthy, but from the photos, the Rimei is clearly in a better class of product. |
While both of the knock-off razors arrived with a shaving geometry that was pretty much unusable, the Rimei looks to be quite a safe instrument with mild shaving character. This can be seen from the side view of a single edge, shown below:
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| The higher-quality Rimei razor has a low blade angle of about 26 degrees, which should cleanly cut whiskers with low irritation. Further, the slightly-negative blade exposure should also offer a safe, comfortable shave. |
The REAL Rimei razor isn't cheap, but it's not at all expensive either. Currently priced at about $20 (U.S.) including shipping (that's on Amazon -- it is available on ebay for less than $6), it looks to be a reasonable value. Although the last thing that I need is yet another DE razor, I admit that I'm sorely tempted to order one of these just to check it out.
If you have one of these REAL Rimei razors, I'd love to read your impressions of it.
Happy shaving!
Two clarifications:
ReplyDelete1. When I bought my RiMei on Amazon about two years ago, it was only ~$5
2. The real RiMei is also made in China
Yeah, no worries. They are still selling on ebay for about $6 under the Rimei brand. However, per the following comment, below, they are also available for $2 under the JunJie brand. With Chinese sellers on Amazon & ebay, there's no guarantee you get what is pictured, but they do seem to be the same razor.
DeleteUpdate: the JunJie razor was typical junk, and the seller actually posted photos of a Rimei brand. Typical bait-and-switch scam. I wrote an article about it on Jan 22, 2015.
DeleteI thought that this link might be useful to you.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/181403918897
from: http://sharpologist.com/2014/11/good-deal-razors.html#more-16736
Yes, thanks; this info was both useful and painful. Useful because I used it to order a *second* of these razors. Painful because I ordered a first one a few days ago and paid $6. We'll see when these arrive if they are still any good (I hope so) and if they are actually the same product.
DeleteThe manufacturer is accessible enough to flea marketers, the obvious remedy to these troubles. I got a hundred of 'em, and sell them for $5, so $6 shipped WOULD be a fine deal... but eBay provides safe harbor to fraudsters by removing normal recourses when PayPal is used as payment. Always use a credit card on eBay.
ReplyDeleteIt's still my #1. Every time I use another razor, I find it makes some aspect of the shave easier... but then, I just end up bringing that technique back to the Rimei.
There may be a change in my lineup coming, as I got a real Tech for Xmas, and find that it supports a sharper blade, for a deeper shave. Early Gillette TTOs were also labeled "Tech," so that makes some sense.