Description
The Focus R21 Evolution is a conventionally-styled-plastic-train-track type barber razor, made of stainless steel and much weightier than their more revolutionary ‘Slim Al’. While there are many, many “Shavette” razors like this one, it is one of the best engineered pieces you’ll meet, if only you can live with the limitation that it solely accepts regular double-edge safety razor blades (or, stated more accurately, it accepts one half of a double edge safety razor blade…there’s some monstrous units out there which take the whole DE blade un-snapped); the Dovo originals, of course, accept the longer style blades unique to the Germans and we have some very hardcore barber customers who insist on that length advantage no matter how much they charge for those blades.
We stock the replacement plastic inserts for this R21 in red, black, or grey, but have been told from Focus that they tested them to endure several thousand actuations without cracking, so don’t think it’ll wear out on you. In any case, if you make a living with these types of things, you likely know that fissures in the inserts isn’t the main issue so much as the chore of keeping it wholly clean and free of any crud. Should you buy this R21, you’ll know right away that the insert is a big advantage versus the flimsier German ones. Getting it in and out of the train track is intentionally tough; that bastard ain’t goin’ nowhere when you’ve got it locked in!
The R21 is made in Milan, Italy, and produced in a bright conventional head (R21-11), a head that’s been blackened (R21-10), and various color schemes upon stainless steel.
