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Greetings Fellow Wet Shavers
I really felt I must share with you my experience with the Muhle R41 ‘Safety' Razor and seek your views.
My beard is, IMHO average or ‘normal' (whatever that is) in every way; I shave every day and have a small collection of modern and old razors most of which are generally considered mild to medium, the ones I prefer, or rather preferred are the Edwin Jagger DE89 and the Merkur 1904 lookalike safety bar.
For several years until I started reading this and other forums I shaved with a Merkur Futur but invariably on only 2.5. and I used Merkur blades! If only I had read this forum earlier and tried ‘proper' blades!
About three weeks ago I purchased from E-bay a Merkur 15c open comb and in short I love it, I find it gentle forgiving, easy and ‘kind' and I get a superb shave with it, a babies bum (butt for our American cousins) a silky smooth finish without a hint of soreness.
So why did I decide to purchase a Muhle R41; I suspect because I could and a little knowledge is dangerous, especially when it comes from research rather than personal experience! I also felt naively that as the Merkur 15c was an open comb and performed so well, a more aggressive open comb would perform even better!
I must say the Muhle R41 is finished wonderfully and not expensive; I have now shaved with it five times and let me say it is not, with care, a blood beast; I have not had a single nick using this razor. My problem is that my entire face feels (or felt) like it had been washed with a scouring pad onto which valve grinding paste had been applied! I was sure the fault must be in my technique especially my angle and that I needed to shave at a much lesser angle. I have tried this and the result is the same, a close shave but my whole face feels sore and abraded!
After a couple of days rest and shaving with my Merkur 15c I have tried, again and again and with a Derby, Feather, Astra (green packet) and Super Iridium blade and the result is the same a sore face!
I am very happy with my brush and lather and I now feel my face/beard is simply not compatible with such an aggressive razor and never will be.
I have come to the conclusion that the Muhle R41 is in fact not a razor at all but a super de-luxe up market paint scraper designed for scraping emulsion from light switches etc!
I would appreciate the views of your experiences and wisdom…….on the bright side I adore the R41 handle and have started using it on my Merkur 15c.
Regards
Dick.
I really felt I must share with you my experience with the Muhle R41 ‘Safety' Razor and seek your views.
My beard is, IMHO average or ‘normal' (whatever that is) in every way; I shave every day and have a small collection of modern and old razors most of which are generally considered mild to medium, the ones I prefer, or rather preferred are the Edwin Jagger DE89 and the Merkur 1904 lookalike safety bar.
For several years until I started reading this and other forums I shaved with a Merkur Futur but invariably on only 2.5. and I used Merkur blades! If only I had read this forum earlier and tried ‘proper' blades!
About three weeks ago I purchased from E-bay a Merkur 15c open comb and in short I love it, I find it gentle forgiving, easy and ‘kind' and I get a superb shave with it, a babies bum (butt for our American cousins) a silky smooth finish without a hint of soreness.
So why did I decide to purchase a Muhle R41; I suspect because I could and a little knowledge is dangerous, especially when it comes from research rather than personal experience! I also felt naively that as the Merkur 15c was an open comb and performed so well, a more aggressive open comb would perform even better!
I must say the Muhle R41 is finished wonderfully and not expensive; I have now shaved with it five times and let me say it is not, with care, a blood beast; I have not had a single nick using this razor. My problem is that my entire face feels (or felt) like it had been washed with a scouring pad onto which valve grinding paste had been applied! I was sure the fault must be in my technique especially my angle and that I needed to shave at a much lesser angle. I have tried this and the result is the same, a close shave but my whole face feels sore and abraded!
After a couple of days rest and shaving with my Merkur 15c I have tried, again and again and with a Derby, Feather, Astra (green packet) and Super Iridium blade and the result is the same a sore face!
I am very happy with my brush and lather and I now feel my face/beard is simply not compatible with such an aggressive razor and never will be.
I have come to the conclusion that the Muhle R41 is in fact not a razor at all but a super de-luxe up market paint scraper designed for scraping emulsion from light switches etc!
I would appreciate the views of your experiences and wisdom…….on the bright side I adore the R41 handle and have started using it on my Merkur 15c.
Regards
Dick.