Great Design, Great Heft, Beautiful Workmanship and Attention to Detail
I've read a lot of safety razor reviews and watched a lot of youtube videos that demonstrate how to get a great shave and after about 45 years of shaving, I've come to the conclusion that every beard and every face is different and everyone must adjust their own shaving experience to meet their own uniqueness. Having said that, I will agree that taking care to find the right "attack angle" of the blade to face and taking care to take a light touch are probably universally important to prevent an unpleasant shaving experience. I have adopted a few ritualistic steps that have made my shaving experience pleasant and I now look forward to shaving. I never would have said that years ago. Let me start by describing my own "uniqueness". I am approaching 62 years old and while I grew a beard at 19 or 20 that provided full coverage, it was not too coarse when I was young. As I approached my mid-50's the texture changed dramatically to "bristle" as it turned completely white. My skin is sensitive (especially in the area below my adams apple). I mention all this because my ritual and thus my review on my uniqueness and you may want to take what seems relevant to you and forget that which is not applicable. I find that the first important step is a very thorough washing in warm soapy water. I do this in the shower and I take a lot of time to make sure I have washed all my facial oils off of the portion of my face that I plan to shave. I am especially oily in my chin area and that is also the part of my face that has the thickest "whiskerage" and those whiskers are most coarse. I find I have to wash repeatedly to get the skin to be squeaky clean. When I get out of the shower, I do not dry my face and apply shaving oil. I use a sandalwood shaving oil now. I know it sound hypocritical or counter-intuitive to take such great pains to wash away my own natural oils and then turn around and "oil myself up", but this works for me. My guess is that the natural oils seem to cause the razor to drag over my skin because it seem to be naturally sticky and thick while the sandalwood oil seems to be light and lubricates my skin. I take my time in working up a really dense foamy lather with the brush by wetting the brush thoroughly and whipping up the soap until it is as close to the consistency of aerosols shaving cream from a can. It occurred to me when I first discovered the great shave I got from this consistency of soap that the inventors of aerosole shaving cream were trying to emulate the consistency that a professional barber might work up for his customer in the days when one went to a shop for a shave. That's totally my imagination, but it seems likely to me. I apply this dense foamy to my face with almost a "paintbrush" technique. I used to work it in in the initial application by holding the bristles perpendicular to my skin, but now I literally paint it on my face first and then I go back to the hard to reach areas (like under my nose) and working into the skin to make sure I have through coverage. I took the advice in the Merkur Futur packaging that suggested I start at 1. I am glad I did because in my first shave, I did not get the "attack angle" right and found that I held the handle of the razor almost parallel to the part of my face I was shaving. I have found that I must raise the handle up a bit and I also allow the natural heft of this heavy razor apply all the pressure. That is to say, I do not press at all. I let the blade glide with the grain in strokes that are only about 1 1/2 inches long. Another recent technique I discovered is holding the handle with thumb and forefinger only in that portion of the handle that is slightly narrower. This is much closer to the blade than I ever held it in the past and it gives me the sensation of almost sliding my fingertips over the surface of my skin as they are so close to the head of the razor. From videos, I learned the technique of using my tongue from the inside of my cheeks and the areas around the inside of my lips to create a firm flat surface across which I draw the head of the razor. The area around my nostrils is the toughest spot for me and I was fearful of sliding the razor over the edge of my nostril while pushing the tip of my nose up in my "pig nose pose" as I was afraid I'd scrape off a huge swath of skin, but I tried it and it works for me. I just take my time to keep the angle of the blade so it is not perpendicular to the skin it is gliding across. After shaving my entire face with short strokes, a light touch, careful angle of attack, and pulling the area I am shaving tight with stretching my skin with the use of my tongue from the inside and craning my neck and jaw about, I do a careful second pass. Before I attempt a second pass, I wet my face again and instead of shaving with the grain, I draw the head of the razor against the grain with a very light touch - again with short strokes, but this time I go forward and back without lifting the blade off my face as I go back and forth - against and then with the grain. Then, I lift the head of the razor to reposition the blade on the next area. Once I have finished this "against the grain" pass of my entire face, I rinse with water, blot dry with a towel, and apply an alcohol-free witch hazel with aloe which I let dry on its own. Now that I have explained my "unique technique" from which I hope at least one reader has been exposed to at least one new idea, I will give my thoughts on how this particular razor accommodates me. First of all, it is a handsome set that takes just a little space next to my basin. I like the heavy weight in my hands. Both the handle of the brush and the razor seem to be solid metal and I like that. The bristle of the brush looked a bit scant when I opened the box, but I discovered it "bloomed" with the first use and it allows me to whip the soap into a dense lather and is easy to use as I "paint" on the soap and return to "work it in" to the crevices I have beneath my nostrils. The head of the razor opens by grasping the ends between thumb and forefinger and it pops off easily and once the blade is loaded, it pops back on with a satisfying soft click. There is an adjustable ring that I have set at 1 which can probably be set between the numbers as it does not have more than a subtle click at each numeric setting and will stay wherever I chose to leave it. The discovery of holding the handle with tip of thumb and forefinger settled my initial concern that the handle was too short because this grip not only gives me fingertip control of my shave, but also causes the end of the handle to nestle comfortably against the palm of my hand. All in all, I gave this item five stars for aesthetics, craftsmanship, and design driven by function. It was pricey, but as I said, it has helped turn a chore I tried to avoid into a grooming experience I look forward to. Read more