Parker 99R Chrome Long Handle Heavyweight Butterfly Open Double Edge Safety Razor for Men 5 Parker Premium Platinum

I started shaving with one of these when I was a kid... not a good experience for a young guy, cut myself a few times.. And it was about that time that my dad bought a Schick injector.. Later I bought an Atra.. I loved that Atra razor and took such good care of it, and used that very same Atra from the early to mid 70's until about two years ago when blades started to be hard to find... bought a knock-off Schick on Amazon produced in India, and it used Schick blades which were also hard to find. I used it for two years, then decided to try a doubled edged again.. After careful research, I landed on this Parker 99. What an amazingly good choice... I absolutely love this thing. The nice part is, blades for this bad boy are dirt cheap, plentiful and have been around since the 1920's and no end in sight... so I boxed up my old stuff and have this.. My advice is, just wash your face well, soap up good with your brush and shave slow and deliberate and there will be no nicks, no razor burn... I took my time because I remembered getting sliced up way back then... A slow approach is best till you get your own technique, actually makes shaving a pleasurable ritual in the morning... It's a substantial piece, heavy and solid... just let the weight of it work as you glide across your face, it's a nice thing, glad I bought it. I'm now considering a few more double edged razors like a Parker 98 and an Edwin Jagger just to switch up... but this Parker 99 is a nice change... really close shave, one pass down and two passes up, shaves very close. Once you shave with this razor a few times and find that youre relaxed and get comfortable, then you see how nice and close of a shave you get... Suddenly you come to the realization that for all those many years, those companies pushing the triple and quadruple blade razors, simply sold you a bill of goods and you fell for it.. They created a market by convincing men that their product did a better job than single blade and that more blades in the head were better, remember the line... "the first blade lifts the whisker and the second blade cuts it, before it has time to snap back"... yea right...! In my humble opinion, this single blade shave is much more superior....Try it.. you will be rewarded... UPDATE: Best choice in razors that I have ever made... I have since purchased a Parker 66R and a Parker 82R.. The Parker 82 is in my travel kit, because I'm not too keen on the feel of the twist knob.. and the Parker 66 I have been using recently because the handle is perfect for in the shower shaving. I've tried to convince my son just to try one, but he sees a double edge razor as archaic and dangerous. Sadly, they've convince him that in order to get the best shave, he needs to change to a new blade every couple of days, and my poor boy, he uses a razor that you almost have to take out a bank loan for the blades.. ha ha ha... young guy's... he'll come around one day... Check out these Parkers, I kid you not, these are really good razors, I actually look forward to shaving in the morning nowadays.. P.S: I have read some reviews of inconsistencies in the blade head, my advice would be (before you ever use it) to place a blade in the head and close the head and see if the blade is evenly placed one both sides. If not, send it back for a new razor. I have purchased three, all have been perfect right out of the box.... I hope that I have helped you in your purchase.. good luck. Read more

The Vikings Chieftain was my starter DE razor and was a great place to begin. The twist to open (TTO) on the Vikings however felt rather cheap like it could break at some point. It also just didn't deliver as close of a shave as I would have hoped. It was still good. I'd tried Astra, Feather, and polsilver super iridiums blades among others. I wanted to give another razor a try, and considered the Merkur and Edwin Jagger, but I really liked the Vikings twist to open top, so I went for the Parker 99R. I'm very glad I did. The Parker razor has a longer handle and is heavier, and I like both of those things. It delivers a more aggressive shave than the Vikings. Some have said that the Parker is a medium aggressive razor, and that seems to be the case (in my limited testing). The TTO action on the blade is very solid. The Parker is well made, and it holds the blade firm in place. The grip on it is excellent as well. The Parker is also much easier to clean. The Vikings guard is huge and has little slits for washing out the shaving cream that gets in the guard. The Parker 99R on the other hand has a much shorter guard and is very easy to rinse off an clean. ------------------------- Some downsides to the Parker and why you might want to consider the Chieftain: ------------------------- - The Parker does not come with a travel case, and the Vikings comes with a very nice travel case. - The head of the Parker does not conceal the edges of the blade. The vikings does. The part not concealed is the top and bottom part of the blade that you can actually handle without getting cut. It would have been nice if the parker covered this up like the Vikings. I just have to be more careful around the ears, but that's pretty much it. Other than that, the Parker 99R is a very nice TTO razor. I'll be getting the travel case parker sells to keep it safe when traveling Read more