Excellent heavy-weight razor
This is a high quality DE razor. It is a slant-type razor from Merkur, very well made and quite heavy (I have used many different DE razors over time and this is, by far, the heaviest). I had read online reviews that seemed to indicate that it is an aggressive razor, i.e., one which can be quite unforgiving. However, in my experience, this has not been the case at all. It does a very effective job in shaving and I have barely nicked myself once or twice over two weeks of shaving. I have used two brands of blades in it so far, the Merkur one that came with the razor and the blue (US-made) Personna. Both work well, but I prefer the Personnas slightly - blade choice is quite personal, so YMMV. It is best to let the razor glide due to its own weight and not apply downward pressure on it. I have found that three passes (with-,across-, and against-the-grain) with small strokes produces a very smooth (BBS) shave. One thing I have also noticed is that it does not pay to be too aggressive in ATG strokes - this seems to leave behind some post-shaving burn. A lighter hand seems to work very well - holding the blade around the balance point works well for this. The razor handle is very grippy and there is little danger of it slipping even with wet or soapy fingers. Loading the blade is a little bit more cumbersome than "butterfly-style" razors, but not really an issue. The slant head bends the blade quite significantly along a helical path and also varies blade exposure from one end to another. I don't know whether the slant made a huge difference since I haven't used straight Merkur razors, but, at the same time, I found no issues due to the slant itself. Overall, I am very happy with the buy. I have bought a "sampler set" of razor blades to figure out what works best with the 39c... More on that later. Update on 7/22/2017 Some additional feedback based on a few weeks' usage... I am extremely impressed by this razor. The biggest take-away is that it works very well with pretty much every blade I have tried. I very rarely nick or cut myself, even if I am not very mindful while shaving. I am quite puzzled by reviews that seem to indicate that this is an aggressive razor; while it may not be as "mild" as a Feather razor, I don't think it is aggressive at all. Instead, it is extremely efficient and produces super-smooth (near-BBS) shaves with just two passes - one with the grain and another against/across the grain. This is a brief synopsis of how it has paired up with different blades: - Merkur blade that came with razor: Good performance. No nicks or irritation. After trying other blades, this does not seem like the best best option, however. - Personna Blue: This blade works beautifully in a Feather, but somehow doesn't work well with the 39c. Performance was acceptable, but I needed to do a lot more work to get a smooth shave - the blade felt somewhat "blunt" compared to others. I need to test it a bit more. - Wilkinson Sword: Excellent performance. I rank this blade as #2 in terms of how well it works in the 39c. - Dorco ST-301: Nearly as good as the Wilkinson. I felt that it was a little less smooth and lost its sharpness a bit quicker than the Wilkinson. - Feather: Fair performance. In my opinion, it is a bit aggressive with the 39c. I did get a cut over a bumpy area in my face even while paying attention. Others have reported that the Feathers work very well in the 39c - for me, it ranked on par with the Personna Blue in terms of preference. - Astra SP: Great performance. I was shocked at how well it worked with the 39c. I have not had a better shave with a DE razor/blade combo than with the Astra and 39c. I need only two passes for an absolutely smooth, irritation-free shave. It is definitely my #1 choice for the razor so far. The blade is made in Russia (by Gillette); one minor nit is that the blade has a couple of glue spots to stick the wrapper to the blade. This does not wipe off the blade easily at all. I am sure it has no effect, but it is a bit annoying. Update on 8/4/2017 I thought I will add a quick update... As a test, I took the blade that worked the best on the 39c, the Astra SP, and swapped it into my old Feather razor to see how well the Feather does vs. the 39c. Wow, what a difference - the shaving experience with the Feather was nowhere near as nice as the Merkur. The heft of the razor and, I think, the slant head make a huge difference in producing a smoother shave with fewer passes. With the Feather, I needed to do one more pass to achieve the same close shave I could get with the 39c. Also, it did not feel as smooth as the 39c and also felt a lot less efficient in removing my stubble. Switching the blade back to the 39c, I could verify that the razor was making the difference since the shave experience with the same blade in the 39c got a lot better. I also have my routine nailed down to 2 passes, 1 WTG and 1 ATG, with slight touch-ups in hard to get to areas. So, 39c with Astra SP FTW so far! Read more