Plating on Merkur 42C

Is it normal that the plating on a Merkur 42C starts to wear off after about 5 - 6 months of daily use?

I bought it the 14. of April and have been cleaning it almost every time I change the blade, which for me is every 4 days.
The way I clean it is with an old toothbrush and some dish detergent.

yesterday I noticed there are some areas on the head and safety bar that are starting to get darker than everywhere else.
Unfortunately my camera is not good enough to show this.

Merkur QC is total crap, their build quality is shoddy to say the least.
Good shaving razors it's a pitty the company hires the wrong people though.

Absolutely not normal. Plating should be able to stand up to years of normal usage. Merkur quality control has been a bit lacking of late, and apparently their customer service has went down as well.

I would contact the vendor you bought it from, to see if they can help you out.

I do wonder if any chrome plating of decent quality would be able to withstand regular scrubbing like that.

You're overdoing it with the cleaning, BUT the plating should still hold up longer than 6 months.
Your vendor should replace it for you, if not write to Merkur directly.

I bought a new Merkur 37G Heavy Duty. I cut my finger on a bur on the bottom guard plate before I even had a chance to put a blade in it...the VINTAGE slants are much, much better made, IMO. Of course they had more competition back then.

That is a nice razor, mine has held up just fine and I have been using it for about 7 months on and off. It seems to be luck of the draw with Merkur, their designs are good but their finish is often crap.

I see
I just thought the razors were meant to be kept clean
I wouldnt consider a Quick clean excessive but that is just mé

Are there any factory made razor that Can stand for what I consider normal use
No pot metal and that kind of thing

Buy a Muhle. When I put one of theirs next to my Merkurs it's night and day quality wise.

Here's the contact for customer service [email protected]

Better luck to you than I had

AndreasDK said:

I see
I just thought the razors were meant to be kept clean
I wouldnt consider a Quick clean excessive but that is just mé

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I agree with you, I keep mine spotless after each and every shave, and none of them look bad for wear after all the cleaning scrubbing whatever they have been subjected too.

AndreasDK said:

I see
I just thought the razors were meant to be kept clean
I wouldnt consider a Quick clean excessive but that is just mé

Are there any factory made razor that Can stand for what I consider normal use
No pot metal and that kind of thing

Click to expand...

If you are using a normal soft toothbrush, and liquid detergent with no abrasives in it, your scrubbing twice a week should be doing absolutely no damage to the razor at all.

You've just got a bad razor (Not sure if there are any GOOD Merkurs left any more or not) but they will probably try to blame your water quality on the finish deteriorating.

As someone else said, get a Muhle or Edwin Jagger or if you want a lifetime razor, go for a Feather or Pils all stainless razor.

AndreasDK said:

No pot metal and that kind of thing

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The heads of Merkur, Edwin Jagger, and Muhle are all plated pot metal. The only way to avoid this is to go vintage (vintage Gillettes were plated brass), or buy an all stainless steel razor like the Feather All Stainless, or the Pils.

ateace said:

I do wonder if any chrome plating of decent quality would be able to withstand regular scrubbing like that.

Click to expand...

Of course it should, scrubbing with a tooth brush is pretty mild on metal. IMO............JR

xraygun said:

Buy a Muhle. When I put one of theirs next to my Merkurs it's night and day quality wise.

Here's the contact for customer service [email protected]

Better luck to you than I had

Click to expand...

I could not agree with you more....................JR

50's Cadillacs that have been through a zillion carwashes. Chrome stays on them.
Steel, then copper,nickel,chrome works and lasts.
Cheap pot metal with a chrome flash doesn't.

AndreasDK said:

Are there any factory made razor that Can stand for what I consider normal use
No pot metal and that kind of thing

Click to expand...

The Zamack pot metal (or whatever the name is) is a poor product, but it is not necessarily the culprit here - your razor is loosing plating, not falling apart. Other modern factory razors, Muele for example, also use this metal. The culprit is more likely Merkur's poor plating process.