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Open comb DE razors

I haven't even thought about this option. What are the pros and cons of this style razor? I don't see them mentioned nearly as much as the safety bar style razor (like Merkur HD.)
 
Pro: More agressive than a closed comb.

Con: More agressive than a closed comb.

I have an HD and a Slant. I have not used an opem comb yet; however, I hope to acquire one soon. I hope that the open comb is a balance between a closed comb and a slant.
 
Ernie, can you describe the differences between an open and closed comb? Is a closed the same as a razor with a safety bar?
 
Many people love the look and feel of the Open Comb. They can be excellent razors. King Gillette was a strong proponent of the Open Comb, he felt the open comb design left more lather on the face and gave a better shave. When he left The Gillette Company in the 1930's, they dropped to Open Comb, due mostly to cost. The Open Comb design was more costly to make and the teeth could be bent or broken.

If your interested in an Open Comb razor, the Gillette NEW is an excellent choice and commonly available on eBay at a good price.
 
I think open combs are actually better than safety bar razors. I have several Gillette and Merkur razors and one of my best is the 1927 NEW STANDARD open comb. Two passes with it and I am BBS with no irritation or redness. The thing is built like a Sherman tank. I think it is one of the best Gillettes ever produced. It is more aggressive (in a good way) in that the blade is not impeded by a safety bar which actually scrapes away the lather before the blade cuts. I would recommend trying an open comb, especially the New Standard, if you can find one. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
 
I often wondered about the safety bar effect on the lather...the point you make (bar scraping off the lather) seems to work against the need to have the lather present at the exact cutting of the whisker
 
I started with a Merkur/OC. While I like the design construction better on the OC, I prefer to have the lather completely whisked away with each pass, as is achieved with a safety bar.

That said, I don't like the standard Merkur head. I've just never gotten comfortable with it. I use a Feather Portable when I'm not tinkering with straights.
 
Open comb gets closer to wiskers than closed..closed gets the shave cream off first..open comb..visa versa..hope this helps..after reading what I just said..I had strong thoughts against closed comb due to the closed combs not being as close of a shave.
 
I started with a Merkur/OC. While I like the design construction better on the OC, I prefer to have the lather completely whisked away with each pass, as is achieved with a safety bar.

Two points:

  1. To the extent a safety bar whisks away the lather it does so before the blade gets to the lather, somewhat defeating the purpose of the lather (mainly lubrication for purposes of this discussion) and ...
  2. That is why most safety bars are slightly ridged so as not to whisk away all the lather.

None the less, the open comb lets much more lather through.
 
Two points:

  1. To the extent a safety bar whisks away the lather it does so before the blade gets to the lather, somewhat defeating the purpose of the lather (mainly lubrication for purposes of this discussion) and ...
  2. That is why most safety bars are slightly ridged so as not to whisk away all the lather.

None the less, the open comb lets much more lather through.

Hmm...

None the less, I prefer to have the lather whisked away, as is done with a safety bar. Is this less efficacious? I really don't know. I have not experienced any ill-effect attributed to the design of the safety bar.

If an open comb shave were noticeably superior to a closed one, I would no doubt use the former. It is not, that is, at least for me. And within that, I like the tidiness of the lather being whisked away by each stroke. So I like a safety bar.
 
After a while I'm going to need to compare these in a side by side test. First I need to consolidate my technique and settle on a steady blade.
 
I'm an open comb user. I find it to give the best shave I've ever gotten. Compared to the 34C, it requires that I be a bit more careful (to avoid blood loss), but its a better shave and a closer shave. Even with Dorca 300 blades I can get a BBS shave! Dorca blades may need 3 passes to get there, while a Kai blade takes 2 passes. I need to do less 'buffing' on my rough spots with the 11C compared to everything else.
 
This is an interesting thread topic, one that is piquing my curiosity to try an open comb model... eventually.

I saw that the Merkur 11c has a nice review on this site.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
I did not try the Merkur Open Comb but I did try the Gillette NEW and Mulhe Pinsel Open Comb. I am now playing with the Slant HD. I am sold to the Open Comb design. The Slant is good but if I compare everything else that I used before the OC/Slant, well, the OC/Slant are almost in the same box. They do not perform the same way but I think in terms of getting the job done in X passes, it's very close.

I am still sticking to the Open Comb has I prefer it. I find that I am getting better shaves with it. However, I am not tossing my Slant (yet). I will be playing with it for a while more to see if I can get equal or better shaves.
 
I did not try the Merkur Open Comb but I did try the Gillette NEW and Mulhe Pinsel Open Comb. I am now playing with the Slant HD. I am sold to the Open Comb design. The Slant is good but if I compare everything else that I used before the OC/Slant, well, the OC/Slant are almost in the same box. They do not perform the same way but I think in terms of getting the job done in X passes, it's very close.

I am still sticking to the Open Comb has I prefer it. I find that I am getting better shaves with it. However, I am not tossing my Slant (yet). I will be playing with it for a while more to see if I can get equal or better shaves.

Yep! the open comb Merkur is great!!! :biggrin:
 
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