Hello Badger and Blade, Ive posted here a good bit (though still not that much) about my successes and failures with various high end razors in relation to the Merkur 37c. I have very high standards for how a razor cuts, as I was unfortunately cursed by some higher malefic being when I was born to have horribly coarse, curly hair combined with horrible inflammatory sebhorriec dermatitis all under my beard. My first razor was a Merkur 37c, I had some rough shaves with it initially since I was brand spankin' new and had a beard for probably 7 years before starting to wet shave. But once I got the basics down the Merkur 37c gave my sublime shaves. I thought this was the rule, not the exception, when it came to wetshaving tools. I figured most any other razor could give me a similar shave and it was then that I embarked on a long, grueling, frivolous, and most importantly gratuitously expensive journey to find a stainless steel razor that matched my zamac Merkur 37c. Over the course of that year and a half I used the ATT S1, the ATT S2, the ATT aluminum S1, the Timeless .95, the Timeless .68, the Karve B,C, and D, the Tatara Nodachi and the Tatara Masamune, and finally the Blackland Blackbird and am absolutely floored to have had so many beautiful and superbly designed razors in my den. However I have been equally floored by the fact that none of them match the shave I get with the Merkur. None of them, none even come close for me. The Merkurs design is the only one that feelings like it cuts closely, smoothly, and most importantly without hide nor hair of a tug when it is doing the cutting. And cuts closely enough in one pass that I am free of irritation even with Sebhorriec Dermatitis. So here I am, I have sold all of my stainless steel razors and am back at square one with the Merkur 37c and am left wondering how the first razor I ever bought was also the best for me- along with wishing that there was a Merkur 37c in brass so that I don't have to worry about the razor degrading over time. Anyways, I guess the moral of the story is that time tested Solingen designs often work better than even the most deceptively beautiful and highly reviewed razors, so tread carefully with that RAD my friends!
-Seth
-Seth
