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Agressiveness of open comb vs. closed comb

Which Merkur is more aggressive?

  • Closed comb (HD/34c) more aggressive than open comb (11c)

  • Open comb (11c) more aggressive than closed comb (HD/34c)


Results are only viewable after voting.
Greetings,

I have been using a closed comb Merkur HD (34c) for the last 10 months. Lately I have been contemplating the purchase of an open-comb Merkur (11c). I'm wondering what the consensus is about the relative agressiveness of the the open comb vs. the closed comb razor. Since this is a typical YMMV question, a poll seemed like a good idea. Thanks for participating!
 
Thanks to those who voted so far, but surely there must be more than four people on this site who used both these razors?
 
Jan, I believe you may be confusing the question by mentioning a "closed comb" razor. I believe you mean a "safety bar" razor rather than a closed comb. The only common razors I'm familiar with that have a closed comb are many of the single edge razors which were made from rather thin sheet brass and would have been too fragile with open combs. If you are refering to razors such as the Gillette Superspeed or Tech or the Merkur HD, these are generally referred to as "safety bar" razors.

To help clarify, here is a picture of a razor with a closed comb; this happens to be a Kriss Kross razor but there were many other single edge models with closed combs including the common Gems and Ever-Readys.

Regards,
Tom
 
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Jan, I believe you may be confusing the question by mentioning a "closed comb" razor. I believe you mean a "safety bar" razor rather than a closed comb.

Hm, I could have sworn that I have seen 'closed comb' and 'safety bar' used interchangeably. Anyway, even if 'closed comb' is technically wrong, I hope that my meaning is still clear from the context.
 
I've been meaning to vote, but for me I find the aggressiveness to be about the same, and that is to say very good.
Which is probably not what you wanted to hear if you where looking for help in making a decision.
 
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I've been meaning to vote, but for me I find the aggressiveness to be about the same, and that is to say very good.

Yes, I figured later that I should have added a "no difference in aggression" option. Oh well.
 
And now for my own vote. I bought a Merkur 11c wednesday and shaved with it yesterday and this morning. To me, the 11c is definitely less aggressive than the 34c. And I like that.

Straight against the grain on my upper lip with the 34c is very difficult for me, I almost always get weepers. With the 11c I can go ATG on the upper lip without any blood. Also other difficult spots like the lower neck seem to get smoother (because I can go ATG) with the 11c. So while I guess the result of ATG with the 11c must be (theoretically) ever so slightly less close than the result of ATG with the 34c, my face as a whole is more "smooth all over", and with better looking skin, with the 11c than with the 34c.

It makes sense if you look at the heads of both razors closely -- the blade is less exposed on the 11c than it is on the 34c.
 
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