open vs closed comb

I tried feathers in a Merkur 34c and I've never used them since! One of these days I'll work up the courage to try them again, preferably in a late model US Tech or a Feather Popular (if I had one that is).
 
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I had thought the 34C and EJ89 had very similar heads but the former, like you found out, wasn't good with a Feather. The latter though was fantastic, much more comfortable and closer. My best DE shaves have been with the Tech and really sharp blades.
 
I was considering the Muhle R41 Grande after the members said it a good choice if you don't shave every day. But, again, youtube videos are portraying it as "the most aggressive razor in the world". Do I take a chance on it, or will I be committing a self-sacrifice? I'm just looking for a larger razor than my R89 Twist.
 
The difference is nil. Open combs cost more to make, and are more easily damaged during production. This is why manufacturers started to produce closed comb (bar guard) razors starting in the late 1930's.

The perception that open combs are inherently more aggressive than bar guard razors is due to the fact that the earliest models of Gillette razors were designed to take a thicker blade. They take modern blades just fine, but are more aggressive as a result.

My 1930's Cooper MonoBilt razor is very mild indeed, as are the Gillette Sheraton and Senator open comb Twist-to-open razors. So is the modern Pheonix Double Open Comb razor, for that matter.
+ 1..The Open Comb thing is Largely a Myth..,o_O

Billy
 
Is there such a thing as a mild open comb razor?
I thought that had already been established?
...My 1930's Cooper MonoBilt razor is very mild indeed, as are the Gillette Sheraton and Senator open comb Twist-to-open razors. So is the modern Pheonix Double Open Comb razor, for that matter.
Yep.
...On the subject of Ikon ...... Their standard safety bar razor is also more aggressive than their OC Deluxe .......
...and yep.
 
Had my 5th shave last night with a Gillette New, this time I used a 7 O'clock Green blade, which in my personal experience is an extremely mild blade. The shave was very smooth and very little razor burn. I did end up with 2 "weepers" (one was my own fault, shouting at your teenage daughter while going XTG on your upper lip is a bad idea). I had planned to "retire" the New and started trying out a big Ben on Sunday. But since there is a nearly new blade in it I'll use one more time, then switch to a Tech for a bit.

Anyway, Gillette News at least are IMHO both open comb razors and aggressive. I will also venture to say that in general, although there are exceptions, OCs are usually more aggressive than closed combs. How they managed to use these things daily the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, never mind in the trenches during WW1 is beyond me. Men must have been made of sterner stuff in those days!
 
As was said earlier in the thread, the old blades that those razors were designed to use were much thicker than modern blades. Using a modern blade in a New makes it a fairly aggressive razor. In this instance, I will define a modern blade as a thin blade, less than .004 inch thick. These started being produced in the very late 1930's.
The United States Code of Federal Regulation defined Thin blades as .004 inches thick or less, and that it was an unfair trade practice to call a blade a thin if it was thicker than that.
https://books.google.com/books?id=5hU6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA46&dq=thin+razor+blades&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwATgeahUKEwi3m8f-isjGAhUEQ5IKHfptAQA#v=onepage&q=thin razor blades&f=false

Edit: I suppose I ought to clarify, all modern DE blades are also 'thin' blades. Thin and thick blades were produced side by side for a while, but the thin blades, while being cheaper, were also gaining a reputation for providing a better shave. Thick blades died out in the early 1940's.
 
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Well, excellent responses above.

I had always been afraid of OCs... they looked aggressive... but as it's been said, agression (whatever it means) has nothing to do with OC/SB type, but with head geometry, blade exposure, angle...

One happy day... months ago... I tried an OC, a Gillette NEW (English, US-style head), for the first time... and was impressed. I got the smoothest and most efficient shave ever. In fact, I mostly use OCs now (I shave every day, no exception) and from time to time SBs (they deserve love too, don't they?)
 
...Gillette News at least are IMHO both open comb razors and aggressive. I will also venture to say that in general, although there are exceptions, OCs are usually more aggressive than closed combs. How they managed to use these things daily the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, never mind in the trenches during WW1 is beyond me. Men must have been made of sterner stuff in those days!


I concur 100%. I don't like the Gillette OC razors either. They were designed for a period when the average man didn't shave every day as women were generally uglier then, hence little need to be near one more than once or twice a week. ;)
 
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