Yesterday I finally received my Muhle R41 Twist. I ordered it on October 29th from Gifts&Care along with some European soaps and it sat for weeks in the Netherlands and then a week more in Chicago. No fault of the vendor, though.
I'm not sure I'm an aggressive razor fan yet, but I'm trying to find out, and the R41 seems like a sort of benchmark. So last night I loaded it up with a Gillette Silver Blue, a blade I hadn't tried yet, but which seems to get good marks on smoothness, in addition to sharpness. Sounded like a good match. Then this morning I lathered up a new puck of Musgo (that also came in the package from Spain) using a Simpson's 57 that was just acquired here on B&B. Being sure to keep pressure light, I experienced a lot of blade feel and the first pass, WTG, was closed indeed. The R41 was living up to its reputation! I'd intended to stop there, but between the new razor, new soap, and new brush, I was enjoying it too much and went for a second ATG pass which got me BBS with no touch ups. Typically I would need some extra work on the troublesome areas to get this kind of result. So the R41 was indeed following through on the promise of being a very efficient stubble mower. A Thayer's astringent application resulted in some burn, maybe a little more than normal, but not too bad. Great shave!
Then in cleaning up I noticed the handle seemed somehow different than lasts night when I was playing with it. "Wait a minute: Where's the knob?" It turns out that instead of my new R41, I had grabbed my trusty old R89, and it being 6 AM, and me being spectacleless, I didn't notice. I'm pretty sure the R89 had a Astra SP in it on it's 5th or 6th use. This would make it what I'd characterize as mild setup. But I was so expecting something aggressive that it felt very aggressive indeed. Now I will say I haven't found the Astra to be all that smooth for me, but neither have I found it to be all that sharp compared to the Nacets and 7 O'Clock yellows that are my current favorites.
Sigh: Just another case of confirmation bias. I'm a little disappointed by that. I know I'm susceptible to it--as is everyone, I believe--but still hope I wouldn't be that swayed by I've been told to expect. On the bright side, I still get to experience my R41 for the first time tomorrow.
I'm not sure I'm an aggressive razor fan yet, but I'm trying to find out, and the R41 seems like a sort of benchmark. So last night I loaded it up with a Gillette Silver Blue, a blade I hadn't tried yet, but which seems to get good marks on smoothness, in addition to sharpness. Sounded like a good match. Then this morning I lathered up a new puck of Musgo (that also came in the package from Spain) using a Simpson's 57 that was just acquired here on B&B. Being sure to keep pressure light, I experienced a lot of blade feel and the first pass, WTG, was closed indeed. The R41 was living up to its reputation! I'd intended to stop there, but between the new razor, new soap, and new brush, I was enjoying it too much and went for a second ATG pass which got me BBS with no touch ups. Typically I would need some extra work on the troublesome areas to get this kind of result. So the R41 was indeed following through on the promise of being a very efficient stubble mower. A Thayer's astringent application resulted in some burn, maybe a little more than normal, but not too bad. Great shave!
Then in cleaning up I noticed the handle seemed somehow different than lasts night when I was playing with it. "Wait a minute: Where's the knob?" It turns out that instead of my new R41, I had grabbed my trusty old R89, and it being 6 AM, and me being spectacleless, I didn't notice. I'm pretty sure the R89 had a Astra SP in it on it's 5th or 6th use. This would make it what I'd characterize as mild setup. But I was so expecting something aggressive that it felt very aggressive indeed. Now I will say I haven't found the Astra to be all that smooth for me, but neither have I found it to be all that sharp compared to the Nacets and 7 O'Clock yellows that are my current favorites.
Sigh: Just another case of confirmation bias. I'm a little disappointed by that. I know I'm susceptible to it--as is everyone, I believe--but still hope I wouldn't be that swayed by I've been told to expect. On the bright side, I still get to experience my R41 for the first time tomorrow.
