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Odyssey of the Open Comb: the Merkur 1904 open comb and I

I thought that I’d post my experience trying out the Merkur1904 open comb. I wanted to try adifferent razor in the hope of an easier shave as I have very tough whiskers,and typically pass 1/WTG (and sometimes pass 2/WTG) with my Muhle would “stutter”and catch. I also struggle with coarsehairs right under my chin, and I have not found an angle (WTG, XTG, ATG) that Ican consistently trim that area with. Ihave read here that open comb razors are a different experience, and I pickedthe Merkur 1904 since I wanted a mild, new, open comb razor. The idea of the razor blade actually being flushwith the teeth was something that appealed to me, since at this stage of thegame (pretty new to all of this) I wanted to focus more on irritation freeshaving than close shaving. With the Muhle,there are times on my chin or under my nose where, due to poor technique, theangle is off and I can feel the edge of the blade catching on my skin (no cutsdue to minimal pressure, but that sensation is not fun!). Plus, it looked really cool in pictures.Background – I’m new to DE shaving, about 2 monthsexperience. My comparison razor is theMuhle R89 (Edwin Jagger de89 series equivalent).

Prep – standard 5-10 minute hot shower, as without showeringmy whiskers are even tougher and shaving is much rougher and more painful. Hot wet towels for a minute or two don’tachieve this, unfortunately.

Lather – Mike’s Natural Soap with an Ecotools Kabuki

Blade – Astra (new)


My expectations – a similar shave with maybe subtle differences,a need to do multiple passes to catch hairs that go along the teeth andtherefore never really hit the blade, and possibly a ringing musical noise as Ishaved (some posters have noted a ringing as the Merkur cuts).


The Razor – Shiny, with an elegant head design. The handle doesn’t look quite as nice inperson in my opinion as it does in pictures, but it is certainly unique. The smooth pommel doesn’t bother me, as Ishave gripping my razors in the middle with 3 fingers. The finish is good but not great – there are2 areas under the cap that are slightly discolored where the alignment pins are(slightly brownish), but the plating appears to be intact. The finish is also not of the same shininessas Muhle. Had I not ever seen a Muhle orEJ, I would have said that it looks fine. Loading blades – one weird thing is that the blunt edges of an Astrablade project slightly past the lateral edges of the Merkur, so when you aretightening the handle you feel them. Iheld the razor with some tissue (a towel would be fine as well). A minor point.

Shaving – I don’t know if this is characteristic of opencombs, but if it is, I’m sold. It shavedthrough pass #1 (12 hour old stubble) with no detectable resistance, which is amarked improvement over my Muhle. Thegliding sensation felt nice. The teethfelt slightly weird as I’m used to a safety bar, but it wasn’tproblematic. Knowing the flushness ofthe blade to the open comb, I experimented with XTG/ATG briefly on my cheek andwent for some areas under my chin. Again, no real resistance. Incase you can’t tell, I love that aspect of it. No musical ringing choirlike noises as it shaved, though. :sad:


Results – SAS (socially acceptable shave). It wasn’t DFS, and certainly not BBS,although I generally did 2-3 WTG passes. It shaved even troublesome spots like under my nose and under my chinwithout the usual catching. No real nicks, cuts, or scrapes (maybe a slight scraping in spots, but significantly kinder to my face than my Muhle if I do it wrong). It didn’tfeel quite as close as my Muhle, though. That last point is hard to really tell.


Positives – The razor felt really “safe” to play with, whichI never felt with my EJ. I was veryconfident in different angles/grain approaches/shaving trouble spots.

Negatives – I can’t tell if it can’t shave as closely as myMuhle, or if this is a function of the particular blade I picked, or simplyinexperience with a brand new razor. Ididn’t think the handle was as elegant in person.


My conclusion – I really like this razor, if I can say thatafter 1 shave! :001_smile If the low to nonexistentdrag compared to safety bar razors is a standard difference between open andclosed comb razors, then I think I understand why some people love open combs. I will keep trying this razor, and possiblythrow a Feather (or Personna or Crystal, which I believe are sharper thanAstras but not as forgiving if I recall correctly) in it now, just to see whathappens. I doubt that I will shim thisrazor, as my philosophy is that razor manufacturers design each razor asoptimally as possible and that if I really want a gap between the open comb andthe blade that I should get another razor, such as a slant or the (gasp!) infamousMuhle R41 (given my inexperience, both of those razors scare me). Maybe in rose gold. :001_rolle


We’ll see how the next few weeks unfold. It may turn out that I use the Merkur for 1or 2 passes, and then a 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] pass with the Muhle (which would be finewith me). If the Merkur stays as a partof my shaving regimen, I may replace the handle with something I like better.
In short, I really like the razor and feel that it is quite “safe”and good for trouble spots; it remains to be seen how good of a shave I can getwith it.
 
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I switched to the merkur OC from the merkur HD about 6 months into my DE shaving experience for similar reasons. My results were also similar although I found th shave was closer. I've since tried the HD to see if the dofference was improved technique. Nope. Still a better experience with the OC. After a few weeks with the Astra, if your not getting close shaves move to a lane blue, super iridium, Gillette 70, or feather. Don't be afraid of the feather if you've got 6 weeks plus under your belt.

In full desclosutr, I have since moved to the slant, which my ultimate in smooth and closeness.
 
Great description!
I've yet to pluck up the courage to try an open comb, but I think that I will give it a try soon!
 
The Merk OC is very mild and a good one to start with.
A nice choice if you want to be as kind to your skin as possible.
 
I've had several of the Merkur/Muhle mild OC razors. R101 (2009/10 model), R41 (2009/10 model), and a Merkur 15c.

For some reason I always let someone talk me out of them when I have them so now I don't have anything except photos and fond memories of them :sad:

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Day 2: tried a Feather blade. Still much less drag, felt safe but a little harsher than the Astra blade. My technique is clearly lacking - different areas on my cheeks have closer shaves than others. No nicks/cuts.

I will go back to Astras, I think, since they work well for me, and keep trying the Merkur as it is or switching to the Muhle R89 for "finishing." I'd like to get a very close shave with the Merkur, but I also like to shave WTG only and I don't know if those 2 goals are compatible or even possible.

I did swap the handles, since I love my Muhle handle. With the Merkur head it looks like a nice razor!

I was toying with the idea of looking for a 2010-era Muhle R41, but I'm hoping that the head design is the same as the Merkur 1904 and therefore I don't need to buy one.

My inconsistent technique rules out a slant or R41 toothcomb at this point, I think.
 
By the way, turtle, I'm still not clear on the differences between the Muhle 2009-2010 R41 and the Merkur 1904 open comb - after looking at the pictures, aren't those closed combs?

The short version is - I'm wondering if a Muhle R41 from 2009-2010 would shave differently than the Merkur 1904 open comb.
 
I switched over from my HD 34c to an 11c Merkur several months ago and have never looked back. There is just something about the open-comb razor that works for me. When I'm in a hurry I can get by with a WTG and XTG and get a DFS and call it good. On my days off I'll sometimes just do a quick 2 pass wtg and call it good and get a nice shave. Love the open combs. I use my 15c when I'm shower shaving as it is my "CONFIDENCE" razor and don't ever worry about cutting myself with it. Just use regular bath soap with the 15c and get DFS or better every time. Open Comb razors can become addictive, be careful <G>. :thumbup:
 
Day 3: shaved first wtg pass with Merkur on one side and Muhle on the other, then Muhle for xtg x 2 since I have not been able to get a close shave with the Merkur. For some reason, the open comb is more irritating to my skin, and still doesn't feel like it's as close as my Muhle. On the other hand, it cuts through problem whiskers (left side chin whiskers, which are the bane of my shaving existence right now) with no resistance although it doesn't take much off, either.

Frankly, I WANT to like my open comb, but I can't seem to get it to shave closely without irritation regardless of the angle. But right now, I'm coming off of a 3 pass shave (wtg/xtg x 2) with a substantial amount of razor burn and am back to feeling frustrated. I realize that it's me and not the equipment (regardless of whether or not the Merkur or Muhle works better), but it's really frustrating. Now I'm wondering if I should try an adjustable, or an aggressive open comb, or what . . .

Will post on the New To Shaving board about this in more detail.
 
My first OC experience was with the Merkur 25c and i immediately appreciated the difference between open-comb and safety-bar. Great experience, i must say. Obviously, both kind of razors have their uses.
 
Merkur OCs are milder than any other razor and that is why you can not get a BBS. They even have negative blade exposure. Trying to force a BBS by adding pressure surely will irritate the skin.

A Parker 24C/26C would maybe be the perfect razor you.
 
I recently acquired my first open-comb razor, having shaved with a Merkur 34c (HD) exclusively for the approximate one year I've been DE shaving. The OC razor I have is the RazoRock Jaws, which also has the blade directly on the rake.

I just completed my third shave with it a little bit ago. In my experience, it delivers a much smoother shave than the safety bar, but that comes at the expense of razor burn. Because of that, I've also felt a little frustrated, wanting to like something more than I actually do.

BUT.. I'm started to approach using my OC the same way I had to approach DE shaving in general: as a learning process that will take time to complete. It is only recently that DE shaving has become natural to me, so I can only expect that mastering a different type of razor will take time as well.
 
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