differences between more and less aggressive razors

[nik232]

Hi all!

I am a bit more than a year in wet shaving and I have a question. I shave with a merkur slant and a timor open comb, both with very satisfactory results. With the merkur slant I notice that the shaving has a feature that I like a lot: I can effortlessly slide it on the lather without any pressure and it cuts everything very nicely. Timor open comb needs some slight pressure to cut, it is not the completely effortless sliding of the merkur slant. I was wondering whether this feature is simply because merkur is more aggressive and if I had an aggressive razor it is always like that or because the slant puts more tension on the DE blade. I know this is a bit of a detail but I would be interested to see what the reason is without having to buy more razors!

Otherwise I hope everyone is doing fine. It took me about 3 months to enjoy very deep and very enjoyable shaves with the merkur and I wouldn't change that now for anything

thank you for reading the message!

Nik

 

[thombrogan]

Hi Nik!

I believe what you’ve experienced is how much the edge of your razor blades protrude between the cap and baseplate of each razor. Your slant razor has more exposed blade and your open comb actually has its blade slightly recessed (even though the blade is clearly visible). The curving of the slant razor stiffens the blade it holds and allows it to feel smoother.

 

[nik232]

Hi Nik!

I believe what you’ve experienced is how much the edge of your razor blades protrude between the cap and baseplate of each razor. Your slant razor has more exposed blade and your open comb actually has its blade slightly recessed (even though the blade is clearly visible). The curving of the slant razor stiffens the blade it holds and allows it to feel smoother.

Actually I am pretty sure it is the design of the Merkur slant. I thought about it and I decided to do the following experiment. If it is just due to the aggressiveness of the razor I would be able to reproduce it with some other aggressive razor as well. I ordered then mulhe R41 and I had just today a shave. R41 is very nice, but I didn't get the same very nice feeling as with the Merkur slant.

With R41 I got more or less the same quality of shave as the Merkur slant, with just some feedback from alum. I suppose that I will improve the technique as it goes (it actually took me a few months to learn how to use the slant).

 

[StewB]

With good prep and solid technique, the R41 will provide a very high quality shave with very little effort.

 

[Ron R]

DE Aggressive razors and less aggressive DE razors can give similar results is my finding, I never really enjoyed aggressive razors at first because I was learning how to shave with mild to mid range razors and I was Shallow angle shaving (riding the cap) more then what I use today.
SE vintage & modern SE razors are mainly designed for shallow shaving(riding the cap) like a straight razor and results are usually stellar with that technique approach IMO.
But with a mature technique a DE aggressive razor can be mastered very quickly as long as a person uses a Steep approach(riding the bar) with a short handle on the razor and results are just stellar. I learned also with a DE aggressive razor not to come in hot (plunking the razor) at the start because you will have more blade exposure(blade feel) that will nick or cut your self.
A light touch also works well with aggressive razors and it is just simple shaving after that, I have 3 or 4 aggressive razors that have some serious blade exposure and I really enjoy using them every once in a while. If a person likes some aggressive razors the Yaqi knights helmet, Yaqi slant, Yaqi beast 1 or 2 variants(slightly milder than the Yaqi knights helmet or slant) .
Riding the bar with a short handle is kind of like using a adjustable razor in motion because around the chin you can tilt the razor quickly for less blade feel and tweak it a little more as it travels into more flat areas of the beard again. The chin is the hardest area for myself to shave and easiest to nick so using the steep angle on the chin works very well for myself.

 

[nik232]

Thanks for your replies.
I have done two shaves with my new R41. It is very nice and I enjoy it a lot. No nicks or iritation. Still I find merkur slant being smoother. And the Timor open comb, which is way less aggressive, gives the closest shave. So it looks like that what Ron R said is similar to what I observe. I am improving my technique with R41 and I believe I will get even better shaves.

 

[CCS]

I think most razors do a better job when you ride the blade, not the cap or safety bar. Either of those methods strikes me as inconsistent.