Aggressive vs. mild razor; A newbie's experience

[cellularPancake]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forum and this will be my first post. Today I received my first two DE razors in the mail, purchased used on Facebook Marketplace, and loaded each up with an Astra Superior blade. One was a more mild Muhle D89 Grande, and the other a more addressive Muhle R41 with the tortoise shell handle. I'm ~6'1", ~193 lbs, right handed and started with around one week of growth which is just enough to make me look patchy and scruffy. I reserved the right side of my face for the D89, and the left side for the R41.

After lathering up my face by hand (brush hasn't arrived yet) with some Trader Joe's shave cream, I was surprised to find that I much preferred the feel and efficiency of the more aggressive R41!

It might just be my poor technique, but I found the D89 to be relatively unwieldly and difficult to maintain cutting action throughout my strokes. I cut myself once or twice on this side, and experienced more razor burn which I attribute to my tendency to apply more pressure and/or strokes with this more mild R89. In contrast, the R41 was easy to maneuver due to it's smaller size, and quick to remove more whiskers with fewer strokes. I cut myself zero times on the R41 side. After giving the razor burn some time to show, for scientific purposes, I finished off with some trader joes facial moisturizer.

If anyone has questions or recommendations for how I might make better use of my D89, please chime in! And thanks, all, for reading!

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I appreciate you giving us your height and weight. Not a lot of guys give us that crucial information when asking for advice.

Welcome to the forum. (I'm sure someone will be by with actual advice, but if you managed the R41 okay, that's a win! )

 

[Blackland Razors]

As your technique improves, you'll probably be able to make better use of the DE89 if you care to. There's a myth that should you start with a mild razor and we at Blackland definitely don't buy into this. Mild razors are more difficult to get close shaves with and harder to get feedback from the blade. Reducing irritation is all about reducing the time spent with the blade on your skin so, as you've discovered, a more efficient razor can be helpful for irritation. For those reasons, we think new users should use a razor on the efficient end of the spectrum and I'm happy to hear that you've reached the same conclusion!

 

[blethenstrom]

Welcome to B&B! Looks like you are off to a good start. I think what you experienced with the two razors is not surprising. As you mentioned the R41 is quite a bit more aggressive than the D89. You mentioned that you had about a weeks worth of growth and this is where I think your shave made sense. The D89 is not aggressive enough for that much growth without making several passes whereas the R41 just mowed through the whiskers like butter.

How often do you plan to shave? If you want to shave everyday or every other the D89 might be the ticket, but if you plan of shaving once a week the R41 might be better. More than that I would just recommend to pick one razor and the Astra blades you have and use that combination for a while to get the technique down.

If you have any question please ask and we will be happy to help out.

 

[cellularPancake]

I appreciate you giving us your height and weight. Not a lot of guys give us that crucial information when asking for advice.

Welcome to the forum. (I'm sure someone will be by with actual advice, but if you managed the R41 okay, that's a win! )

You bet! I figured that if I was half my size, the razor would be twice as big. I'm counting this as a win as well.

 

[cellularPancake]

Welcome to B&B! Looks like you are off to a good start. I think what you experienced with the two razors is not surprising. As you mentioned the R41 is quite a bit more aggressive than the D89. You mentioned that you had about a weeks worth of growth and this is where I think your shave made sense. The D89 is not aggressive enough for that much growth without making several passes whereas the R41 just mowed through the whiskers like butter.

How often do you plan to shave? If you want to shave everyday or every other the D89 might be the ticket, but if you plan of shaving once a week the R41 might be better. More than that I would just recommend to pick one razor and the Astra blades you have and use that combination for a while to get the technique down.

If you have any question please ask and we will be happy to help out.

Alright! I plan on shaving every day for the next few days and as long as my growth warrants doing so. And since I already feel pretty comfortable with the R41, I think I'll stick with the D89 for the time being given that it seems to be recommended for shorter whiskers and I think it might force me to focus more on my technique. Eventually, I can totally see myself going back to the R41 though.

One thing I left out of my original post is that I've been using a cheap shavette on occasion over the past few years, so I'm not starting from zero here, but I'm digging the DE life soo much more already!

 

[sternej]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forum and this will be my first post. Today I received my first two DE razors in the mail, purchased used on Facebook Marketplace, and loaded each up with an Astra Superior blade. One was a more mild Muhle D89 Grande, and the other a more addressive Muhle R41 with the tortoise shell handle. I'm ~6'1", ~193 lbs, right handed and started with around one week of growth which is just enough to make me look patchy and scruffy. I reserved the right side of my face for the D89, and the left side for the R41.

After lathering up my face by hand (brush hasn't arrived yet) with some Trader Joe's shave cream, I was surprised to find that I much preferred the feel and efficiency of the more aggressive R41!

It might just be my poor technique, but I found the D89 to be relatively unwieldly and difficult to maintain cutting action throughout my strokes. I cut myself once or twice on this side, and experienced more razor burn which I attribute to my tendency to apply more pressure and/or strokes with this more mild R89. In contrast, the R41 was easy to maneuver due to it's smaller size, and quick to remove more whiskers with fewer strokes. I cut myself zero times on the R41 side. After giving the razor burn some time to show, for scientific purposes, I finished off with some trader joes facial moisturizer.

If anyone has questions or recommendations for how I might make better use of my D89, please chime in! And thanks, all, for reading!

You're a better man than I Gunga Din. I could not possibly DE razor shave off a week of growth. If for some reason (supply chain issues, incarceration?) I wasn't able to shave for a week, I'd have to start my first pass using clippers or an electric. I just do not have the technique needed to mow down a week of beard.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Welcome to the B&B community.

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[blethenstrom]

Alright! I plan on shaving every day for the next few days and as long as my growth warrants doing so. And since I already feel pretty comfortable with the R41, I think I'll stick with the D89 for the time being given that it seems to be recommended for shorter whiskers and I think it might force me to focus more on my technique. Eventually, I can totally see myself going back to the R41 though.

One thing I left out of my original post is that I've been using a cheap shavette on occasion over the past few years, so I'm not starting from zero here, but I'm digging the DE life soo much more already!

That sounds like a great plan. You will enter shaving bliss in no time.

 

[Lightcs1776]

Welcome to B&B. Mild or aggressive doesn’t necessarily mean efficient. Depending on how often you shave, how tough a beard you have, your shave prep, personal preferences, etc.

 

[cellularPancake]

Welcome to B&B. Mild or aggressive doesn’t necessarily mean efficient. Depending on how often you shave, how tough a beard you have, your shave prep, personal preferences, etc.

Thank you for that input! I'll keep this in mind.

 

[BigJ]

Welcome aboard!! Nice to see you off to a fine start!!

 

[astratopia]

New myself - some good thoughts here to keep in mind & thanks for pointing out TJ's has cream! Going to grab some myself next grocery trip

 

[dmshaver]

Welcome to B & B, enjoy!

 

[Dave himself]

Hi and welcome to B&B. I started my wet shaving journey the same as you. Using half DE blade shavettes.

When I started using DE razors I preferred the more efficient one's, R41, Yaqi Top Aggressive slant and my Progress clocked round to setting 7 or 8.

I couldn't get as close a shave with my milder razors, Techs, Super Speeds and such like.

Now a few years down the road I find that I'm using my milder razors more and more. Loaded with a sharp blade I can easily take off 3 days of stubble.

Doe's this mean that I don't use or enjoy using my more efficient razors, most certainly not.

Hold on to razors that you may find to be to mild or not so efficient. Who knows in a few years they may become some of your favourites, as your technique improves. I know that's what's happening to me.

 

[Lane101]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forum and this will be my first post. Today I received my first two DE razors in the mail, purchased used on Facebook Marketplace, and loaded each up with an Astra Superior blade. One was a more mild Muhle D89 Grande, and the other a more addressive Muhle R41 with the tortoise shell handle. I'm ~6'1", ~193 lbs, right handed and started with around one week of growth which is just enough to make me look patchy and scruffy. I reserved the right side of my face for the D89, and the left side for the R41.

After lathering up my face by hand (brush hasn't arrived yet) with some Trader Joe's shave cream, I was surprised to find that I much preferred the feel and efficiency of the more aggressive R41!

It might just be my poor technique, but I found the D89 to be relatively unwieldly and difficult to maintain cutting action throughout my strokes. I cut myself once or twice on this side, and experienced more razor burn which I attribute to my tendency to apply more pressure and/or strokes with this more mild R89. In contrast, the R41 was easy to maneuver due to it's smaller size, and quick to remove more whiskers with fewer strokes. I cut myself zero times on the R41 side. After giving the razor burn some time to show, for scientific purposes, I finished off with some trader joes facial moisturizer.

If anyone has questions or recommendations for how I might make better use of my D89, please chime in! And thanks, all, for reading!

I use three razors that range from very mild to a moderate/medium level of aggressiveness. Since returning to DE shaving 4+ years ago I've found that adjustments to technique (e.g. an additional pass and/or "rocking the cap" with the mildest razor) were needed to achieve the same quality shave with each of these.

Agree with the comments above that as you become more experienced you can learn to get great shaves with either of these razors.

 

[AshleyC]

I've been trying a lot of different blades in a variety of razors, mainly adjustables, and at their more aggressive settings. A few weeks ago I decided to take a break and revisit the good old Tech.

I quickly figured out I was no longer a Tech or mild razor guy. I took longer because if I deviated from the narrow range of angle that the blade would cut, I wasn't actually doing anything. Just running the comb across my slick skin.

Perhaps that is why the "3 pass" shave came from? Necessity? Because Techs and Super Speeds needed 3 passes, where something like the Timeless can do the same in 2 passes.

My prediction is that like me, you'll use your R41 more often and the 89 less.

 

[steve638]

It's the opposite of what I would have expected but the more aggressive razors just seem to work better for my face

 

[Qanzoq]

The Muhle R41 is a great razor - especially for x days growth - as my 8 weeks beard growth will find out in a few days