Well said, Roger. While my sentiments are right on with your entire post, I especially like and agree with your last paragraph.g8orshavr said:
first time Merkur HD = thumbs dowwwwwn
- Thread starter dax702
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- #22
Well I tried doing multiple passes but it still feels like sandpaper afterwards and after a couple of passes, it starts getting irritated. I dumped the blade that came with the razor and went back to my Albertson's blades which are better. But I'm waiting to buy letterk's sampler pack to hopefully really see a big difference.. I'm using the Palmolive cream that was recommended, bought a C&E brush (which I'm not happy about at the moment, placed a post in the brush forum about it) and I have the Merkur razor and so far I'm still in the same situation with no irritation but a beard that feels like sandpaper. When I get the "good" blades, I hope it solves the problem.
dax702 said:
Hi there,
Do get the sample pack blades of LetterK and do so right away do not wait !
Im glad the MErkurs are not my first blades when I got into DE shaving , The Israeli took away my virginess , this is not a short adventure your in for your shaves will start to kick *** around 4 weeks not 4 shaves. I too thought this doesnt hold a candle to M3 in the beginning and thought this aint for me, but I kept reading and reading and studying and experimenting. The gateway that opend for me to paradise was Guenron's 4 pass system I then started to get way better shaves going on soon to the BBS standard offcourse that gateway also opend my face up aswell so go really ultra slow when trying his guidelines with no pressure on the against the grain moves.
Your face needs to get used to the blade
Your hands need to establish a new Kinesiology which aint easy if you used 15 years or longer M3 or electric shaving.
and face it it could be your one of the last Neanderthalers out there who has a though beard ? you could then shake brother Kyle's hand because not only does he look similar to his avatar my testing blade actually broke on his face that though is his beard I still feel bad he had to bleed and cut his face that much. one benefit though if a blade does work on his face its a 99% guarantee it will work for others.
Its not always a better blade that will be the anwer I would suggest you get proraso to me that was my first pro. Lather and it still kicks *** everytime guaranteed good shaves ask more read more and then ask even MORE these guys wrote the book on shaving Wickipedia only would dream to have this much info as this forum and certain members have .
We are all watching you succeed !
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- #24
dax702 said:
No I would call them average or a good blade for a beginner someone who doesnt have the technique under control will not hurt themselves with this blade.
For a beginner id say get the Swedish Gillette,Derby Extra,Feather in that order you should try them. forget about the Israeli Id rate them a bit higher then the Merkurs but not by much. and sounding by your statements sofar I gather you have a beard made of iron.
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- #26
If your beard is really tough the feathers might be the way to go for you. Also you aren't putting the razor on any part of your face that doesn't have shaving cream on it right? I was making that mistake for a while, since I'm somewhat new to this as well I will just tell you some of the mistakes I was making at first (I'm likely still making quite a few).
1. Blade angle, I know it seems apparent but it wasn't until a few shaves that I really looked closely in the mirror at the angle of the BLADE itself and got it figured out.
2. Do NOT put the blade anywhere on your face where you haven't lathered with cream. If you make another pass, re-lather. It's really tempting to just grab that touch up quick without re-lathering but don't.
3. NO pressure... again it is something I "knew" but wasn't necessarily doing a great job of obeying at first.
Those are the main issues I was having for a while, my shave greatly improved as I focused more on them. The other thing, I was trying to get an idea of based on your posts, how long are you using one blade? Change it at least weekly, potentially more if you have a tough-as-nails beard.
1. Blade angle, I know it seems apparent but it wasn't until a few shaves that I really looked closely in the mirror at the angle of the BLADE itself and got it figured out.
2. Do NOT put the blade anywhere on your face where you haven't lathered with cream. If you make another pass, re-lather. It's really tempting to just grab that touch up quick without re-lathering but don't.
3. NO pressure... again it is something I "knew" but wasn't necessarily doing a great job of obeying at first.
Those are the main issues I was having for a while, my shave greatly improved as I focused more on them. The other thing, I was trying to get an idea of based on your posts, how long are you using one blade? Change it at least weekly, potentially more if you have a tough-as-nails beard.
- Thread starter
- #28
I read the posts on how to get the right angle, so I have that pretty much down, except in trouble areas like the chin but I expect that area to be troublesome anyhow. But on areas such as my cheek, I use the right angle each time.. One thing I noticed about lathering with this new C&E brush is that the lather doesn't want to come off the brush when you apply it on your face so I have to do more of a scoop to get the lather on the brush and then just kinda plop it on as spreading it around with the brush doesn't work. I have to apply a little pressure because without any pressure, the blade will just "hang" without cutting any hair whatsoever. I'm Italian and Greek so the beard is pretty rough. I change the blade a few times a week and waiting to get better blades soon..
sounds like u need the sharper blades (feather and derby). try them and see how your shave turns out b4 giving up.
Marty
Marty
dax702 said:
Perhaps we should back this razor blade post up a bit.
You can read these helpful posts about blade angle lathering and prep all of them seem to need some adjustment.
Kyle's overview post
Scottos FAQ
newbie to newbie
newbie
dax,
Now that you've had some success with the C&E brush, are you going to try again with the Merkur blades, too?
Now that you've had some success with the C&E brush, are you going to try again with the Merkur blades, too?
- Thread starter
- #32
I was really down on my Merkur HD after my first few shaves. I didn't like it at all and quit using it. I was getting great shaves with very little effort with my Gillettes. What changed that for me was that I went on a short trip (a few months after I stopped using the HD) and brought the Merkur travel razor along with me that I had gotten when I ordered the HD.
Probably because my technique had improved, but I was surprised at how well that razor shaved. It made me go back to the HD when I got home to give it another try. I discovered that I liked the HD just fine. It still isn't my "go to" razor, but I still shave with it at least a couple of times a week.
Probably because my technique had improved, but I was surprised at how well that razor shaved. It made me go back to the HD when I got home to give it another try. I discovered that I liked the HD just fine. It still isn't my "go to" razor, but I still shave with it at least a couple of times a week.
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