DeLuxe P: Polished to a dazzling luster with super smooth High Mirror Finish. Marine Grade Stainless Steel leaves a machined finish, our DeLuxe P smooths the metal to create an incredibly smooth and bright finish with no plating needed. The Ambassador is built and sold via Razor Emporium. I asked Matt Pisarcik, owner of Razor Emporium, about how the Ambassador came about:

When I decided to take on making the first American adjustable since Gillette, I knew it was going to be an audacious goal. First, I had never made a razor before and second, it was a complicated piece of machinery at 8 pieces and 2 springs. The amount of variables present here is exponentially greater than a 3 piece razor. However I wanted to make a splash in the industry and do something that hadn't been done. Fit and finish. This is were I'm going to ding the razor, and hard. The razor shows obvious machining marks, small scratches here and there and, most infuriating, mine had a dark tool mark on the top of the cap and a tool mark on the end cap. It also has tooling marks inside the lather holes. Like all adjustable razors, I don’t seem to get past only needing two settings, and I am happy with my go-to razors at the moment and use the Merkur 34C for mild-medium shaving and the Muhle R41 for shaving 4 days or more growth. I guess that setting one is similar to the Merkur 34C, and setting 6 is close to the Muhle R41, although there are differences. The availability of the adjustable safety razor, once relegated to a niche’ within a niche’, has recently expanded with a number of new models available over the past couple of years. How do they work, who is making them, and how well do they perform? Is the adjustable safety razor now finally something to consider as mainstream in traditional wet shaving? This is a major update of an article originally posted a couple years ago!While the Weishi is the same general size as the Qshave and the Viking’s, I think it is the most user friendly design, with a “grippier” handle, contrasting color scheme (for higher-visibility numbers on the adjustment dial), better balance, and a wider range of adjustment (particularly at the low end of the scale–this razor can get very mild indeed).

Viking tweaked the design again for the Emperor Meiji adjustable safety razor. You can read my review here. Rex Ambassador

Final Thoughts

The first place to begin is with the lowest setting, and if you find it too mild, then on that current shave, dial it up one setting to setting 2. The Flexi seems to be positioning itself as a mid-point razor–offering more design details like a serial number and upgraded metallurgy–but not quite into the “premium” category. As well as the Parker and other adjustables mentioned above, the Merkur Progress, and its customised variants Digress and Mergress, is a decent zamak razor, which I find "mild", and the two best-known vintage Gillette adjustables, the "Slim" and the "Fat Boy", are on the "mild" side at the lower end of the dial. The Ambassador razor is Made in the USA and designed for a lifetime of use. Each razor features an individual serial number and a manufacturing code that adheres to the classic Gillette® product dating system. This razor comes with a lifetime warranty.

Another adjustable razor I know about but have not tried yet is “The Final Cut” razor from Yaqi, available shipped from China via Aliexpress. Parker Adjustable Injector The Ambassador is infinitely adjustable, making it easy to find the best possible blade exposure for your skin. Just turn the integrated dial up for down to adjust the amount of blade gap for a milder or more aggressive shave. It is fully compatible with any double edge blade, giving you lots of options and combinations to “dial-in” a consistently perfect shaving experience. After just a few passes, you’ll find the razor glides across the skin almost effortlessly, while leaving behind a noticeably soft, clean and fully groomed path. I received my Pearl Flexi last week and was quite impressed with it. I was so impressed that I pulled out my REX Ambassador to compare shaves with the two. Both of these razors are essentially homages to the great Gibbs #17 and they are modern CNC machined razors. There is another, the Homelike Taiga, which I have test shaved but was not impressed enough with to buy (sorry @Clouds, it just did not do it for me). For the Taiga, the shave was very good, however the pieces for the head were hard to align and easy to loosen. My advice would be to go slow but don’t be afraid to push up to the higher levels to get that super close shave once you get a feel of the razor. Of the modern adjustables, I find the Konsul works best for me, at 3-4, and that range (or 5 for the Tatara) is about the usual for the others which are similar in design. Without a doubt, the Pearl is an extremely good adjustable of that type, and excellent value. The Merkur adjustables are Mergress and Digress variants, which I like much more than the "standard issue" Progresses, and generally use at about 3.First, the heft and weight of razor are great. I believe it weights in at 102 grams. The knurling is really good, and it is deep. Very grippy. I'd give the feel of the razor a 9/10. For pure performance, regardless of price, I have to go with the Rex Ambassador. As you should expect from an artisan-made, premium-priced razor the Ambassador is exceptionally well engineered, well-built, and well-balanced. A note about TTO adjustable razors. To adjust a TTO razor first loosen the TTO mechanism slightly, make the adjustment, then re-tighten the TTO mechanism. Failure to do so may torque the razor head, resulting in an uneven shave, or even damage to the head mechanism. Vikings Blade Crusader