Henson Shaving

Henson Shaving is a Canadian maker of all-metal double-edge safety razors, founded in 2020 [1] and based in Cambridge, Ontario [6]. It grew out of B&R Custom Machining Ltd., a family aerospace machine shop, and applies the same precision-machining approach to a single product line: reusable metal razors built to hold a standard blade rather than a proprietary cartridge.

The company remains active. Its razors are sold directly and through international retailers and Amazon storefronts, and it reports having sold more than 700,000 razors across upwards of 140 countries. The most recent public activity found is a company blog post dated January 2026.

Henson began as a pivot by an aerospace machining business. The Jantzi brothers' shop in Waterloo Region had spent years fabricating components that other shops could not, including work described in one editorial profile as parts for the OneWeb satellite constellation and the ExoMars rover. When the pandemic cancelled a large aerospace contract and left machines idle, the team turned to a consumer product they felt they could improve: the safety razor [7].

The brand's own account keeps this origin deliberately spare, crediting "two machinists" who in 2020 studied the multi-blade and traditional razors on the market and "saw glaring shortcomings in their designs" [1]. A 2023 profile in the Canadian publication Toque Magazine names the people involved more fully: brothers Brad and Ryan Jantzi, who run the machine shop; their brother Daniel Jantzi as chief executive of Henson Shaving; and Ashly Knox as a senior operating figure [7]. The same profile records that the first Henson razors went online in July 2020.

The razors are made by, and closely tied to, B&R Custom Machining Ltd. of Cambridge, Ontario, which presents the Henson line on its own website as an extension of its aerospace work [6].

Henson's core products are two safety razors that take any standard double-edge blade. The AL13 is machined from anodized aluminum, and the Ti22 from titanium [4]; the model names nod to the atomic numbers of those metals. Rather than selling flexible multi-blade cartridges, the company designs the head to clamp a single blade rigidly at a fixed angle. According to Henson, holding the blade at a fixed 30-degree angle limits blade flex and chatter and keeps the cutting geometry consistent.

That design underpins the brand's central pitch, summed up in its tagline "Buy once, use for life". Because the razor uses commodity double-edge blades — which the company notes cost only around ten cents each — buyers are not locked into proprietary refills. As the About page puts it, "you buy a razor only once and you do not have to buy any blades from us at all" [2].

Razors are designed, manufactured, assembled and packaged in Canada, while the RK Stainless blades supplied with them are made in India [4]. Alongside the razors the company offers a smaller range of shaving and skincare accessories.

Henson positions its razors as measurably gentler than cartridge alternatives and cites commissioned clinical testing to support this. In its studies, participants shaved one side of the face and neck with a Henson razor and the other with a leading multi-blade cartridge, with skin measured before shaving and at intervals afterward; the company reports that "both our tests have shown that the Henson Razor produced less razor burn" [3]. Marketing materials attach specific figures to this work, including a claim of 77% less razor burn versus cartridge razors [1].

The company also describes a partnership with MIMOSA Diagnostics, saying it makes Henson "the first shaving company" able to analyze the skin's reaction to shaving in that level of detail using medical imaging. The underlying studies are presented without patent numbers or named academic affiliations.

The brand frames itself around engineering rather than grooming ritual, using slogans such as "Physics, Not Gimmicks" and "One blade is enough". Its stated values center on precision manufacturing, durability, and function over marketing features — a positioning consistent with its origins in a shop that machined aerospace components to tight tolerances. Henson also draws a contrast with disposable razors on waste grounds, citing on its research page that "over 2 billion plastic razors enter the landfill each year in the US alone" [3]. No formal environmental certification or stated sustainability target is documented.

Henson Shaving is an active direct-to-consumer brand. It sells worldwide through its own site, international retailers, and Amazon storefronts, and by its own account most of its business comes from the United States, followed by Canada, Japan, and other markets [7]. The company reports cumulative sales above 700,000 razors in more than 140 countries [1], and its blog was still being updated as of January 2026.