Henson AL13 review
Thirty-seven grams of anodized aluminum, machined in an aerospace shop to tolerances nobody else in this category publishes. We have not shaved with it; here is what Henson discloses and what those numbers mean.
By Sawyer V. · Published
We have not tested any of this. Everything below is compiled from published manufacturer specifications, and the arithmetic is printed so you can check it. This page carries affiliate links: if you buy through one we earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it does not change the order of the picks. Full disclosure.
The short version
Buy it if you keep cutting yourself and want that designed out. Henson publishes a fixed 30-degree blade angle and machining to as tight as 12.7 micrometers - the only tolerance figure anywhere in this ledger - and the blade barely protrudes, so a wrong angle is far less punishing. Do not buy it expecting a heavy razor to do the work: at 37 g it is the lightest here by a wide margin, and the technique it wants is the opposite of the one everyone teaches.
| # | Pick | Lasts | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Henson AL13 Medium The lightest touch, machined to spec | 5,200 shaves* | 8.5/10 | $14.95 - view on Amazon |
Prices last verified September 24, 2026. They move constantly; the figure on Amazon when you click is the real one.
The argument Henson is making
Most razor marketing is about material and heritage. Henson's is an engineering claim: that razor burn is largely a geometry problem, and that geometry can be controlled tightly enough to design the problem out.
Two published figures carry that argument. The blade sits at a fixed 30-degree angle, so the razor sets the angle rather than your wrist. And the parts are machined to as tight as 12.7 micrometers at an aerospace facility in Ontario.
What Henson publishes
| Specification | Published |
|---|---|
| Weight | 37 g |
| Material | Aircraft aluminum, Type II anodized |
| Made in | Canada (Ontario) |
| Blade fitment | Standard double-edge |
| Blades included | 5 |
| Blade angle | Fixed, 30 degrees |
| Machining tolerance | As tight as 12.7 micrometers |
What is not published is a blade gap in inches or millimeters, so the AL13 cannot be placed on the same numeric scale as the Rockwell 6S, which publishes gaps from 0.008 to 0.031 inches. Henson sells exposure as three named models instead - Mild, Medium and Aggressive - which is a coarser but still honest way of communicating it.
Thirty-seven grams inverts the usual advice
Every guide to safety razor shaving, including ours, tells you to let the weight of the razor do the work and never press. That advice assumes a razor heavy enough to have weight worth using. At 37 g the AL13 has roughly half the mass of a Merkur 34C and a third of a Rockwell 6S.
So the instruction changes. You are not resting a heavy tool on your face; you are guiding a light one and letting the blade geometry - which Henson has fixed for you - do the cutting. People arriving from a cartridge razor, where pressing is how you shave, find this the hardest single adjustment.
The upside is real: less mass behind the edge means less force available to cut skin when the angle is wrong. That is the same trade the sensitive-skin roundup makes in its ranking.
Who should buy it
- Anyone who keeps nicking themselves. Minimal exposure and a fixed angle remove the two variables that cause most of it.
- Anyone shaving a head. Working blind on a curved surface is exactly where a forgiving razor earns its place - it is on that page for the same reason.
- Anyone who wants the decision made once. Pick the model at purchase and there is nothing to set, adjust or second-guess afterwards.
- Travelers. Thirty-seven grams and an anodized finish with nothing to chip is a genuinely good bag razor.
Who should not
- Anyone who wants heft. If the appeal of wet shaving is a solid metal object with presence, this is not that object, and no amount of engineering argument changes how it feels in the hand.
- Anyone with very coarse growth who shaves every third day. A mild razor plus dense stubble means more passes, and more passes is its own irritation risk.
- Anyone who might change their mind. Exposure is fixed at purchase. An adjustable is the answer if you want to experiment.
The verdict
The AL13 is the most specified razor in this ledger, and on a site that ranks on published figures that counts for a lot. A fixed blade angle and a published machining tolerance are real engineering disclosures in a category that usually offers a photograph and a country of origin.
It is not the razor that shaves closest, and Henson does not claim it is. It is the razor most likely to give you an uneventful shave while you are still learning, and the one least likely to punish a bad angle. If that is the problem you have, nothing else here solves it as deliberately.
Every pick, with the working
Each entry shows the published specifications, the axis scores they produce and what you give up. The order is the computed order, not a commercial one, and the arithmetic is open underneath every score.
Our pickThe lightest touch, machined to spec
Henson AL13 Medium
Henson's argument is that razor burn is an engineering problem, and it publishes the tolerances to back it: blade angle fixed at 30 degrees, machined to as tight as 12.7 micrometers at an aerospace facility in Ontario. At 37 grams it is by far the lightest razor here, which inverts the usual advice — you cannot let this one do the work, you have to let it float.
- Weight
- 37 g
- Length
- Not published
- Material
- Aircraft aluminum, Type II anodized
- Head
- Fixed exposure, 30-degree blade angle
- Blade gap
- Machined to as tight as 12.7 micrometers; exposure fixed by model
- Blades in the box
- 5
- Made in
- Canada (Ontario)
- Refill
- Universal standard
- Warranty
- Not published
- Assumed service life
- 5,200 uses
The arithmetic: 260 shaves a year x 20 years of assumed service life = 5200 shaves.
What it gets right
- Published machining tolerance of 12.7 micrometers and a fixed 30-degree blade angle, which nobody else in this ledger discloses
- 37 g aluminum body with a Type II anodized finish; nothing to chip or peel
- Five blades in the box
- Sold in Mild, Medium and Aggressive so the choice is made once, at purchase, rather than every morning
Flaws
- 37 g is very light, which removes the weight cue a cartridge user relies on
- The exposure level is fixed at purchase; changing your mind means another razor
- Aluminum will not feel like the heirloom object a stainless razor does
The working behind the 8.5
- How long it lasts: not scored
- Not scored. This is a durable item, not a consumable, so how long it lasts is an assumption about service life rather than something the pack size tells us.
- Ease of switching: 7.5
- Fixed geometry with a published 30-degree blade angle removes the angle guesswork (+), blades included (+), but 37 g is the lightest here and the razor's own mass supplies almost none of the pressure (-).
- Refill economics: 10.0
- The refill is a commodity standard that dozens of factories make, so the price is set by competition and no single maker can raise it.
- What the maker publishes: 8.6
- 6 of 7 specifications a buyer would expect are published: weightG, material, madeIn, headType, bladeGapNote, bladesIncluded. Not published: lengthMm. 6 / 7 x 10 = 8.6.
Axes with no published input are dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized, so a product is not punished for a category where an axis does not apply. Specifications compiled 3 September 2026 from Henson AL13 published specifications.
Prices last verified September 24, 2026. They move constantly; the figure on Amazon when you click is the real one.
If this is not the one
The alternatives named above, in one place. Each links to its own page, where the published specifications and the scoring are set out in full.
Merkur 34C HD
Nearly double the weight, and the razor that lets its own mass do the work. The conventional answer.
Rockwell 6S
Six published blade gaps if you would rather adjust the aggression than have it fixed at purchase.
Mühle R89
Mild closed comb at 64 g, with a blade in the box - the middle ground on weight.
Feather AS-D2
Solid stainless at 91 g, if you want the heirloom object rather than the engineered one.
Prices last verified September 24, 2026. They move constantly; the figure on Amazon when you click is the real one.
Questions people actually ask
Is the Henson AL13 good for beginners?
Yes, with one caveat. The fixed geometry and minimal blade exposure make it very hard to cut yourself, which is the main beginner fear. The caveat is that the usual advice - let the weight of the razor do the work - does not apply to a 37 g razor, so you have to learn to let it float instead.
Which model should I buy: Mild, Medium or Aggressive?
Medium for most faces. The exposure is set at manufacture and cannot be changed, so this is a decision made once at purchase rather than every morning - which is the trade against an adjustable razor.
What does the 12.7 micrometer figure actually mean?
It is the machining tolerance - how closely the finished part matches the design. It matters because blade exposure on a safety razor is measured in fractions of a millimeter, so manufacturing slop directly changes how aggressive the razor is. Nobody else in this category publishes a tolerance at all.
Does aluminum feel cheap?
It feels light, which is not the same thing. The body is aircraft aluminum with a Type II anodized finish, so there is no plating to chip or peel - a genuine durability advantage over the chrome-over-brass construction of most razors at this price. It will not feel like an heirloom, and it is not trying to.
Does it take standard blades?
Yes, standard double-edge, and Henson includes five in the box. The blade roundup covers what to buy next, and a sampler is the honest first purchase.