The Chinese Futur. A review and shave with the Ming Shi Shaver 2000s. 

I'm originally from Salem, Massachusetts where at least 2 sailing ships named "Friendship" sailed from in the 1700s. Thanks for the great video and the history lesson. Thumbs up!

When you get right down to it most Chinese razors are quite good. They are not marketed very well however by importers looking for a fast buck.. China has the most male adult shavers in the world (about 650,000,000 of them) They also produce the MOST safety razors in the world. So I would like to give you a rundown of my favourite Chinese brands. I deal with all of these companies. Most are incredibly honourable and really proud of what they do. Baili has the most comprehensive model line, and has invested millions in plating and casting technology. They are perhaps the most expensive of all the Chinese manufactureres. Their quality is obsessive. They shave really well. That being said, the BT131 which is their least expensive all-metal model, costs about $1.20 to buy and is resold on Amazon under various brand names for up to $20. That is how nicely made they are. The Baili Victory model is also inexpensive (about $12 - $18 on Amazon.) It is an amazing razor that is easily worth $25 - $30. All Baili razors are made of 100% Zamac, a zink alloy. Baili builds the best TTO razor under $15 you can ever find, the Baili BT179. popular razors including "The Godfather" "The Rockwell "Rookie" and the Viking's Blade "Chieftan" are made by Baili," although in the case of the "Chieftan" Viking's Blade slightly modified an original Baili design. Next comes Weishi. Weishi has incredible build quality, however Weishi razors are so mild, that shaving with them is almost futile. I personally will not sell them. Rimei is my favourite Chinese razor. They only make 2 models of 3-piece razors. Their most expensive (model 2008) is a bit aggressive (say 6 out of 10), but it is a wonderful razor, it gives a great shave. The head is heavier than many other Chinese models, and if you can find a genuine one, Rimei at about $10 or less is a genuine bargain and a great first safety razor. The problem for consumers with Rimei, is that other Chinese companies have ripped off Rimei and produce clones with their name on them. That is how popular they are in China, and how difficult they are to get. How to spot a real Rimei?? Rimei uses a Merkur style head. This is more expensive to manufacture. Many of the clones have Gillette Tech style heads. A Merkur style head has 3-posts that align the blade. A Tech head has 4 tabs, each at one corner of the head to align the blade. Also the chrome on the Rimei head is excellently done. Many of the clones are not well-plated. Also the Rimei cap is made out of heavier metal because the top cap is cast and not stamped. Rimei makes a quality product that is easily worth many times what you can purchase it for. YINGJILI - is a very old and established Chinese manufacturer. The unique thing about the YINGJILI safety 3-piece razor is that it is the only one in this list that doesn't use Zink (Zamac.) That makes the YINGJILI very durable. The handle is made out of a milled solid piece of iron. It is comparably heavy. The Gillette Tech style head although stamped, is very well made. Their chrome is so-so. Yingjili also makes a very cheap razor with a plastic handle. Both razors provide excellent shaves, with the least expensive one costing about $2, and the more expensive varient costing about $7. They are both gentle razors and shave much like a Gillette Tech L4, which inspired the design. These razors have been made in the tens of millions and include customers such as the Chinese military. Ming Shi 2003 (also Q-Shave variable.) I shave with this model a lot, but I do NOT sell it, here's why. Razors that are made by Baili, Rimei, Yingjili and others, use Gillette Tech or Merkur style heads. These have been around for years and their patents have expired decades ago. The Merkur Futur design is still under patent. It costs a ton of money, R&D etc. to develop an original product. The Futur is a wonderful razor and is still produced under patent. I passionately respect the intellectual property rights of companies, especially those that I admire. So while I will happily try the product Ming Shi makes out of curiosity, I have taken a moral stand not to sell it! Finally lets discuss the Jinjie for a second. There is a very good high volume manufacturer in China by the name of Curley. Their quality is really good, and their prices are rediculously inexpensive because of the volume that they do. I am planning to give away 1,000 of their razors every month. All you would have to do is pay postage from Canada (about $3.50 for Canadians and about $4.50 for Americans.) I am hoping to have a Curley model available to PIF about April 8th. My site is www.30blades.com. I can be reached best at Sheldon@cwinn.info. If you are interested in Chinese, Indian, or Pakistani safety razors, just drop me a line. I love to chat! Show less REPLY

Great video as always Mark. I'm glad you enjoyed the shave 😃

I'm getting mine today and I'm glad I found your channel. I may start off at 2 to see how it shaves since I never used the Futur before. Look forward to watching your videos, past and present. Cheers from Connecticut!

I can see why you like that one, me myselves use the Merkur Futur as dayly driver it`s a lovely razor indeed :)

Ming shi is the top chinese company to make razors. I have a ming shi TTO razor and it shaves nice.

Thanks for the video! I really like your approach and demeanor. You've inspired me to try Cella too! Really great stuff and very educational. I've got a QShave and love it. Took me a shave or two to get the angle right, but man, what a razor, especially for the price. I found that starting it on "4" for the first pass, then "3" and "2" for XTG and ATG works best for my beard. I put it on "1" for cleanup, if required. Thanks again. I'm glad I found your channel. Cheers from Virginia!

The first time using a futur style razor and started with setting 3,that's brave.

Thank You for this video! Now i buy it to my headshaver.

This video was suggested to me for Some strange reason, id never heard of safety razors before. I just ordered one after Watching your video. Also, you have an amazingly relaxing and soothing aura about you. This a side effect of wetshaving lol?

Been using this for the past month and a half of so and boy!, is this good!? I've never used the real thing due to the price but if it's anything near this or better, well, I'll keep away from it cause this is simply amazing at a five away price. Beautiful piece indeed.

I find that a setting of 5 is good for a first pass. I use a 3 for all other passes. Anything below a 3 seems to have no effect. I find the shave of this razor is very very mild. The head cap is large but I think with use it will be less of an issue.

I really have no interest in known "aggressive razors" but I looked up the prices of this clone and it's cheap enough that I might take a gamble and try it out. Thanks for making this information known. :)

Nice one! I bought one of these razors, will give it a go on Friday :-), excellent video!

Great review as always on the Ming Shi 2000S !

Very nice shave Mark. The scent on Cella was phenomenal but unfortnately for me, i had a bad reaction from it.

Great review. I ordered one from Maggard's Razors. They just got them in for $13usd.

Nice video, love your passion, great shave style and routine, I'm a Merkur progress fan but would try one of these for sure, cheers

Great video as always but I think you may be a little 'shell shocked' after doing a first shave with the Futur style on a number 3. By coincidence I used by own Futur today on a setting of 1 for a really beautiful shave. It was a regular daily shave for me so no need to take it up further than a 1. A small word of advice I recently took my Futur apart for a cleanup and a drop of oil and somehow (unnoticed by myself at the time) I reassembled it incorrectly with horrifying results on the next shave. You can find the correct methods of doing this on RU-vid. I enjoyed your video as I usually do.

Amazing video, love to watch, watching from Bangladesh ❤️

Just want to point out that the merkur futur is a lot cheaper now. Going for about £50 on amazon. Maybe better to get the original at this more sensible price.

Great Shave Buddy, I love that razor, I’ve got the Q-Shave version. 💈😁🤙🏼💈

You can actually twist and pull it past its highest number and it will in Theory go up to number 12 :)

Anyone else notice this Mingshi-Futur is slightly uneven, especially noticeable from higher/sharper settings 4-6? You can really tell on the 3rd pass, one side finishes to baby-bottom while the other side can't get that close?

Nice shave mark :->

Great review. Where can I buy the menthol spray? Seems that it cools the burn.

Only on RU-vid can you watch grown men shaving like it was the 6 o'clock news.

Thanks for the video! This chinese razor can also be find under name Qshave. Definitely will try it.

Hi there! Well, I finally did it and I created my RU-vid Channel and first lame video is up lol. (this is Jill Snoddon). Hope you don't mind that I added yours as a Featured Channel!?

cool

👍💈

Stupid merkur.

I got one too, did 2 shaves with it, very nice and efficient razor. For me as good as a Slim adjustable or a King C Gillette. I put my Slim on setting 5 and this Ming Shi on only 2, works really well (one shave with Derby Premium blade and one with Astra SP, both did great).

I own both an original Futur and a qshave razor. The German original has a much heavier handle, it feels solid rather than hollow. This helps it feel more balanced. The knockoff is almost as well made though, an unbelievable bargain :)

Hello. I did my first shave with a safety razor this evening. I bought a Ming Shi 2000S, with it I had a Voskhod blade. It works great! Thanks for all the inspiration, thank you for sharing! Best regards Marko.

Hi, I'm very sorry to hear you were ill. It doesn't show in your videos! Sincere apology and please disregard my comment and keep on doing what you do, it does you good! Keep good company and enjoy the festive season and A Very Happy New Year to you. I have subscribed to your channel as I do want to see what you are shaving with and what you recommend!

Nice review mate, thanks for uploading. I'm with you regarding the head, not really a fan of the Futur because of the design and how large the head is. Only found out about these Futur clones recently, very surprised that they seem to be good quality and extremely cheap. Have a good one!

Вещь хорошая качественная но с моей щетиной не справляется.

I had my 3rd shave with the qshave and an astra. a great combo. I don't notice the aggressive/passive sides others have complained about. this morning i did two passes. one on 3 and the second on 2. i did notice a difference between the settings but the shave was the same on both sides. one thought, one of the sides of the cap is dented, the dent in the cap's side should be facing left of the line on the handle that indicates the setting number.

great shave man,,,i just recieved my minshi merkur clone today,,,beautiful razor,,,ill be shaving with it tomorrow for the first time,,,,,,

But your right he is calming

Nice razor! it's a quality razor I use mine for headshave.

Hi friend What did you think of the razor blades

has anyone tried the Qshave Futur clone?

I have the same... really good.

The new mr Rodgers everyone

Понравился китайский станок?

I have the Qshave in black. It's a beauty. Using a Wilkerson Sword German blade, I do three passes on 2.5 and clean up pass on 1. BBS every time. My new favorite razor.