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A month with the 34C and 37C - which was the clear winner for me?

At the start of May, very much feeling the monotony of working from home, I decided to try an incremental step beyond a Merkur 34C - this thread Incremental step/s after a Merkur 34C? - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/incremental-step-s-after-a-merkur-34c.587495/ lead me to a 37C. Learning the peculiarities of the slant bar - specifically, if you do not pay attention, you will bleed - took a few weeks, and then I embarked on a little experiment.

At the start of June, I loaded up both my 34C and my 37C with my preferred blade, NOS British-made Wilkinson Super Sword Edge (the first Wilkie stainless blades, which I've been very lucky to be able to obtain in a few vintage finds) and have alternated them over the course of the month.

My routine is otherwise identical when I shave ever couple of days to every 4 to 5 days - I do my recumbent bike ride, I hit the shower, wash my face, and use Stirling Soap Co's unscented "Naked and Smooth".

Its worth saying, my wife ran her hypoallergenic internet searches to find this one and suggest it, and I could create a whole other thread on this soap, but if you can deal with the fact that its an unscented soap and you are not going to a day spa, this for me has left every other shaving cream, foam, and oil in the dust... but that's not the point of this, and I'm in no way, shape or form getting anything to say that, I paid retail for this soap from a UK online seller. This post is an interesting observation about razor longevity and performance in a slant bar vs straight bar blade, so I'll stick to that.

Starting with the 34C straight bar, I've diligently switched between the different razors every shave, and today when I wondered to myself as I lathered up "I wonder how much longer until this blade drags", I got my answer. Two or three strokes in with the grain, and the whiskers were not cooperating. I managed to get the whole WTG pass done but it was patchy. Enter the 37C with the slant bar, using the same brand and make of blade, on its same number of shaves for the month... it glided through the whiskers and I've been left with one of the cleanest shaves I've ever had, bar none.

Now, this is, of course, merely an anecdote. There are probably variables I'm not taking into account peculiar to my own use of pressure or what have you with the handles, whether consciously or not, but I can confidently say two things for me (YMMV);

1) The Wilkinson Super Swords last longer in the slant bar razor
2) I get a cleaner shave with the same amount of time, but with more concentration/effort, with the slant bar razor.

We all know user experience is very individual when it comes to our shaving, and the only way to find consensus is for people to write up their experiences - so there we are. If you're looking for the next step as a novice after getting your "eye in" with the bog standard 34C, maybe give a slant bar razor a try.
 
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