Holding the Stainless Steel Le Maurice feels like holding a piece of the old world. The square angles of the head, the stubby round handle with simple engraved lines, and the 98g heft, combine to make it feel premodern. But not something crude. On the contrary, it exudes functionality, reliability, and simple elegance.
In the hand the proportions are generous. I purchased the long handle at 95mm bringing the total length to 102mm (4”). The 1.4mm blade-gap head is 25mm from safety-bar to safety-bar and the top-cap is broad at 20mm. I purchased the closed-comb head with “grooves” which resemble shallow scalloping on the outside edge of the safety bar, which combine to create nice glide. It’s also sold in an open-comb and closed-comb smooth variant (no grooves). Overall, the razor feels well-balanced and satisfying to hold.
The way it shaves is best described as traditional, in the sense that it’s straightforward with no singular feature or characteristic which stands out. The audio feedback is good, the blade clamping is solid, and it gets the job done.
One nice feature of the Le Maurice is that it’s offered in seven variants of blade-gap ranging from 0.8 to 2.0. Augustin, the engineer behind the company, adopted the unique design strategy of fixing the blade exposure at 0.05mm for all blade-gaps. On the website he recommends newcomers begin with the 1.0mm blade-gap. As I prefer razors with medium to high efficiency I opted for the 1.4mm gap.
My one major criticism of the razor is that the wide 1.4mm blade gap leaves the blade quite exposed and easy to create nicks if not mindful. In addition, as the blade exposure remains constant at all gaps, given the simple design of the head it’s not clear that the wider gap creates additional efficiency. I use a Wizamet Superior Iridium as a base-line with all razors to compare performance, and with the Le Maurice 1.4 my shaves consistently came in below BBS at around DFS+. In addition, the wide gap creates quite a bit of blade feel, reducing comfort, and making it tricky to find the best angle which makes shaving outcomes feel somewhat inconsistent. In addition, the razor requires quite a bit of effort and concentration to avoid getting bitten. As a result, despite its beauty and decent efficiency, it’s composite score relative to my other top razors is low (see below).
In sum, the Le Maurice is a fun and beautiful razor, and one which I enjoy owning. Given the efficiency is on the low-side, it’s not clear to me that the challenges which come with the wider 1.4mm blade-gap are worth it. If I had to buy it again, I’d be tempted to buy the 1.0mm blade-gap head which I suspect would be almost as efficient with higher comfort, better consistency, and easier to use.
In the hand the proportions are generous. I purchased the long handle at 95mm bringing the total length to 102mm (4”). The 1.4mm blade-gap head is 25mm from safety-bar to safety-bar and the top-cap is broad at 20mm. I purchased the closed-comb head with “grooves” which resemble shallow scalloping on the outside edge of the safety bar, which combine to create nice glide. It’s also sold in an open-comb and closed-comb smooth variant (no grooves). Overall, the razor feels well-balanced and satisfying to hold.
The way it shaves is best described as traditional, in the sense that it’s straightforward with no singular feature or characteristic which stands out. The audio feedback is good, the blade clamping is solid, and it gets the job done.
One nice feature of the Le Maurice is that it’s offered in seven variants of blade-gap ranging from 0.8 to 2.0. Augustin, the engineer behind the company, adopted the unique design strategy of fixing the blade exposure at 0.05mm for all blade-gaps. On the website he recommends newcomers begin with the 1.0mm blade-gap. As I prefer razors with medium to high efficiency I opted for the 1.4mm gap.
My one major criticism of the razor is that the wide 1.4mm blade gap leaves the blade quite exposed and easy to create nicks if not mindful. In addition, as the blade exposure remains constant at all gaps, given the simple design of the head it’s not clear that the wider gap creates additional efficiency. I use a Wizamet Superior Iridium as a base-line with all razors to compare performance, and with the Le Maurice 1.4 my shaves consistently came in below BBS at around DFS+. In addition, the wide gap creates quite a bit of blade feel, reducing comfort, and making it tricky to find the best angle which makes shaving outcomes feel somewhat inconsistent. In addition, the razor requires quite a bit of effort and concentration to avoid getting bitten. As a result, despite its beauty and decent efficiency, it’s composite score relative to my other top razors is low (see below).
In sum, the Le Maurice is a fun and beautiful razor, and one which I enjoy owning. Given the efficiency is on the low-side, it’s not clear to me that the challenges which come with the wider 1.4mm blade-gap are worth it. If I had to buy it again, I’d be tempted to buy the 1.0mm blade-gap head which I suspect would be almost as efficient with higher comfort, better consistency, and easier to use.
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