Trying the Yaqi Tilt Diagonal: A 45-Degree Aluminum Razor
Hello, I’m SIG SOLO. Welcome to my channel and to this shave.
The Yaqi Tilt Diagonal
This shave’s razor is a special one. It’s inspired by a razor from the 30s or 40s, I don’t remember the name of the original, but this is the Yaqi Tilt Diagonal. Aluminum, with a 45 degree tilted head. It comes in four colors: black (mine), gold, red, and blue. The silver parts stay silver no matter which color you get, and the handle comes in two versions, one with a squared, bolt-like pattern and one with a radial knurling, like tire tread. Yaqi sells it as a mystery box too. Pay for one, and you get a random color, no picking.
Handle weight runs 44 to 48 grams, 81mm long. I haven’t seen many people using these in shave-of-the-day photos, not this one and not the older design it’s based on. If the old razor this is based on had really caught on back then, I figure we’d have seen more of them by now. We’ll see how it goes.
Yaqi sent me the razor and the brush for this shave. I paid for the splash myself, at a friendly price. Everything else was sent by the people who made it.
The Rainbow Brush
The brush is Yaqi’s Rainbow, paired here with my SIG SOLO bowl in black. The rainbow itself is an old symbol, going back a couple thousand years. It stands for hope, new beginnings, and unity. In old Irish tradition it means luck and prosperity. In Judaism and Christianity it’s tied to the story of the pact between God and Noah, that the world won’t be flooded again. And for decades now, it’s also been a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community.
I like that. I like the design, and I like what it stands for: hope, new beginnings, prosperity, unity. I think unity is something we need. There are a lot of dividers in the world, and I’m not trying to get religious or political here. Maybe a little. But unity, that’s what we need, isn’t it?
The Soap: Yaqi Black Pearl
The soap and aftershave splash are Yaqi’s Black Pearl, made by Fernando over at Master Soap Creations. Named for the ship from Pirates of the Caribbean, built around a Dior Sauvage-inspired scent. I’ve tried six or seven different takes on Sauvage over the years, and this is the best one I’ve found. It runs on a Master Soap Creations base, so the lather holds up the way I’ve come to expect from him.
That scent gets me every time. It takes me back to my grandfather on my mother’s side. He was an Old Spice guy most days, but for weddings, for the big family occasions, he’d wear something like this. I don’t know if this exact scent existed back then, but whatever he wore, it’s close enough to bring it all back. I spent a lot of summers with him as a kid.
The Shave
Working this razor took some figuring out. It feels close to a shavette, a 0.55mm gap with a neutral exposure, and it sits nice on the skin. I needed a steeper angle than usual or I’d just ride the cap. On one side I had to change how I held it entirely, turning my wrist, almost gripping it the way you’d hold a straight razor, from the side, with your fingertips instead of tucked into your palm.
My first thought looking at this razor was that it’s more art piece than tool. I was wrong. It’s easier to use than I expected, by a good margin. Maybe the tilted head isn’t such a strange idea after all. I still don’t expect to see it take over the market, but it works. It actually works.
While I shaved, I got to thinking about my youngest daughter. She just got back from Italy and started her driving lessons, the last of my kids to get there. Getting a license here means a mountain of theory, rules on top of rules, then a written test, then the road test. I’ve been going through all of it with her, which means relearning rules I haven’t touched since I did the same thing with her brother. The day-to-day stuff I know cold. The specific numbers, the tolerances, the distances, those need a refresh every time. Helping her study is good for me too, it turns out.
By the end of the pass my face was milky and murky under the lather, the way you want it. That Sauvage scent stayed with me the rest of the day, and it brought my grandfather back with it every time.
We are not obsessed. We are dedicated. SIG SOLO, out.