I recently started using the Edwin Jagger Kelvin. It is a beautiful razor, but I was immediately disappointed by friction. My DE safety razor experience has been pretty much limited to months of use with the PAA DOC Satin, which is a "double open comb" design, open combs on the guard and the top cap. The friction difference is very significant. I searched B&B and found a couple of references to friction with the EJ DE89 head:
I'm sure that it isn't a lather problem since I'm using great soaps with enough water to make great lather. I don't think that it's a blade problem since I'm using an Astra Superior Platinum. I don't think that it's an angle problem or pressure problem, but I admit that I knew that I was developing poor technique with the DOC because I had to apply a lot of pressure with it to compensate for its large negative blade exposure. I've been using light pressure with the EJ Kelvin from the start, and I'm getting closer shaves than with the PAA DOC Satin, but I still feel what I consider to be a lot of friction with the EJ Kelvin.
Is this normal? Am I now experiencing "normal" friction?
- "The extra friction just means the razor doesn't glide like it should. Other razors I have glide just fine." ([thread]321018[/thread])
- "However, the cap (not the blade) on the DE89 tends to get caught up on the skin it just shaved as the cap is now in contact with dry skin that was just shaved, requiring me to use a little more force to get the razor to move along." ([thread]295770[/thread])
I'm sure that it isn't a lather problem since I'm using great soaps with enough water to make great lather. I don't think that it's a blade problem since I'm using an Astra Superior Platinum. I don't think that it's an angle problem or pressure problem, but I admit that I knew that I was developing poor technique with the DOC because I had to apply a lot of pressure with it to compensate for its large negative blade exposure. I've been using light pressure with the EJ Kelvin from the start, and I'm getting closer shaves than with the PAA DOC Satin, but I still feel what I consider to be a lot of friction with the EJ Kelvin.
Is this normal? Am I now experiencing "normal" friction?