Albatross Extra Long Butterfly Safety Razor

Taking Back the Metaphor

In Samuel Coleridge's famous poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a ship captain unnecessarily kills an innocent albatross and hangs it around his neck only to be cursed with a great deal of misfortune and bad luck for his wrong deed. Before Coleridge's poem changed the metaphor of the albatross, the albatross was seen as a good luck symbol.

Albatross Designs is built around a desire to take back the metaphor of the albatross. If we give nature the respect it deserves, good fortune will follow. The albatross is a remarkable bird. Capable of flying thousands of miles over open ocean, this majestic animal has inspired sailors old and new.

It is quite the sight, one's first albatross. Welcome into our philosophy, where we seek to build the lifestyle of the future by designing impactful physical and virtual sustainability solutions.

DESIGN + SAILING: How we came to be.

Our story begins with our passion for sailing and sailboat racing. It was on the sea and in the wild that the destruction of so much natural beauty became apparent. It was also on the sea where we learned the value of purposeful living. When underway one cannot escape the necessity of valuing the limited resources like water, food, and fuel with the utmost respect and care. For to run out of clean water is to die. These facts of sailing lend themselves nicely to the larger issues threatening the environment and climate. Sailors consume resources like everyone else, but many of us can get by with a lot less.

A good sailor knows how to fix his boat. A boat has all kinds of systems: energy, plumbing, cooking, rigging, etc. Well, because of this, we've gotten pretty good at building/ designing a wide variety of things, and now we've begun to apply those skills, and others developed on land, to making beneficial impacts wherever we can.

How to prepare for your first shave

Twist the bottom of the shaver handle to open the wings of the blade holder. Simply place a blade (be careful it’s sharp!) on the platform and twist the bottom in the opposite direction to tighten the blade holder wings over the blade. You’re all set to go!

How to shave with a safety razor

The best time to shave is during a hot shower but if you prefer not to you can warm up your skin with a moistened warm towel instead.

Lather up your skin with your favourite natural soap. We recommend the Albatross shave soap or try something like our Charcoal Balancing Bar, or Oregon Lavender & Sage Hand & Body Soap full of natural ingredients that will help keep your skin nourished,

Warm up the blade under warm water.

There are a few tricks to start with that will make all the difference such as:

• Be gentle! Use only a little pressure as these blades are effective and sharp, let the blade cut the hairs, not the pressure of “dragging”. Try holding at the end of the handle to stop you from pressing too hard.
• Angle the blade as far from your skin as possible. (approximately a 30° angle but you may find your own angle works best.) As you’re using a singular blade and the razor head doesn’t pivot or automatically contour to your skin, you need to do the contouring yourself. A trick for this is holding the razor parallel to the floor, putting the razor head onto your skin, and slowly tilting the head down until the blade starts cutting the hair.
• As always shave with the grain. Shaving against the grain can cause irritation and result in nasty ingrown hairs. Go over the same area softly a few times if you need to if your skin is particularly sensitive.
• Moisturize with your favorite natural cream or oil as usual.

Aftercare for your Razor

To get the most use out of your razor make sure you look after it!

• Rinse both the blade and the razor to remove suds and hair.
• Completely dry the razor and blade, close it all back up, and store it in a dry place for next time. Although the chrome plating means little likelihood of corrosion from water, keeping something in a warm and wet place is never a good idea if you want to make it last.
• If you want to clean it further, you can wipe the razor and blade with rubbing alcohol and let it dry before putting it away.

The Blades

Use your blade until it becomes dull or rusty; you’ll see this happening when it takes a few goes to get the hair off.

You can either store the blade for recycling or sharpen it for further use. Please ensure you recycle and dispose of the blades safely.