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In Praise of the Merkur Progress...

Alternate title could also be In Praise of Feather Blades...

So I've tried pretty much every DE razor known to man in my quest to find anything "better" than the RazoRock Game Changer .68. This includes several adjustables like the Gillette Fat Boy/Slim/Super, Rockwell, Rex Ambassador, etc. All of them have left me disappointed.

I decided to give the Progress a try on a whim. I know it's "just" a Zamak (pot metal) razor but I'll be damned if it doesn't give an outstanding shave.

The first time I tried it I loaded up a Feather blade and started at setting 1.5. At first it felt like it was going to peel my face off but I realized it just felt different than what I'm used to with the Game Changer. When I was done with a three-pass BBS shave, I did my usual witch hazel splash, followed by a Stirling Soap Co. aftershave. I was expecting quite a bit of burn like normal but, again, I'll be damned if I didn't have LESS burn than usual!

I've shaved with it a couple of times since then with repeatable results: a BBS shave and less burn than I normally get.

I'm sold. If this one ever gets Zamak rot, I'd definitely buy another.

Now the Feather blade part, I've always found them to be too harsh. For some reason I decided to give them a try after years of swearing them off. Loaded one up in the Game Changer .68 and somehow it just clicked. Now I'm spoiled for other blades.
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
I've shown this pic before but it's worth seeing again, two "vintage" and a modern, all are exceptional tools.

full


I'm gonna bust one out for tomorrow's 2nd of Tabactober shave, thanks for the reminder @pokey074
 
The first time I tried it I loaded up a Feather blade and started at setting 1.5. At first it felt like it was going to peel my face off . . .

Pokey, I had the same problem with the Progress my first two shaves -- until people here told me to tighten the knob all the way down first, i.e.,, turn it to the right until it would go no more, then open it up to my preferred setting. Something about your statement above makes me think that you were running it wide open, not tightened down to start with. Is that right?
 
The first time I tried it I loaded up a Feather blade and started at setting 1.5. At first it felt like it was going to peel my face off . . .

Pokey, I had the same problem with the Progress my first two shaves -- until people here told me to tighten the knob all the way down first, i.e.,, turn it to the right until it would go no more, then open it up to my preferred setting. Something about your statement above makes me think that you were running it wide open, not tightened down to start with. Is that right?

Nope. I tightened it all the way down after making sure the tic marks were lined up. It just feels different than what I'm used to.

I've been using it on setting 1 and find that it's perfect.

I've been DE shaving for about 15 years now and always shied away from the Progress after reading about so many people finding it to be aggressive. Wish I would have tried it years ago.
 
Nope. I tightened it all the way down after making sure the tic marks were lined up. It just feels different than what I'm used to.

I've been using it on setting 1 and find that it's perfect.

I've been DE shaving for about 15 years now and always shied away from the Progress after reading about so many people finding it to be aggressive. Wish I would have tried it years ago.
I wondered. When I bought the razor, nowhere on the 'Net did I see instructions about tightening the setting knob all the way down first. The detail about getting the head aligned, you know, the triangle pointing to the dot, and I did that. But not even Merkur's own instructions mentioned the tightening detail.

The mildest setting works well for me too, though I have been experimenting with opening it up for pass one, then lowering the setting for passes two and three.
 
I like mine. Better shave than most of my old Gillettes, but not as good as my Rockwell 6S. My main rotation is my Progress, 6S and a 1956 Red Tip SS. My Progress does get used regularly.

I find the Progress works well with most blades, which is a big plus for me as I have a large selection of different brands.


I tend to use it on setting 2 to about 3.5.
 
Alternate title could also be In Praise of Feather Blades...

So I've tried pretty much every DE razor known to man in my quest to find anything "better" than the RazoRock Game Changer .68. This includes several adjustables like the Gillette Fat Boy/Slim/Super, Rockwell, Rex Ambassador, etc. All of them have left me disappointed.

I decided to give the Progress a try on a whim. I know it's "just" a Zamak (pot metal) razor but I'll be damned if it doesn't give an outstanding shave.

The first time I tried it I loaded up a Feather blade and started at setting 1.5. At first it felt like it was going to peel my face off but I realized it just felt different than what I'm used to with the Game Changer. When I was done with a three-pass BBS shave, I did my usual witch hazel splash, followed by a Stirling Soap Co. aftershave. I was expecting quite a bit of burn like normal but, again, I'll be damned if I didn't have LESS burn than usual!

I've shaved with it a couple of times since then with repeatable results: a BBS shave and less burn than I normally get.

I'm sold. If this one ever gets Zamak rot, I'd definitely buy another.

Now the Feather blade part, I've always found them to be too harsh. For some reason I decided to give them a try after years of swearing them off. Loaded one up in the Game Changer .68 and somehow it just clicked. Now I'm spoiled for other blades.

As long as you don’t drop it or scuff it up too much, it should last a very long time. Zamack rears it’s ugly head mainly on Zamack threads, so you really don’t have that worry with this adjustable.
 
I love my progresses!! Had the long handle and the short handle long knob mergress for years.
Just grabbed the short handle and it's great too!! Although I have to do some math.
My old ones at zero are between + and 1
The new one is between 5 and +.
So to replicate I have to subtract 1 from settings on the older ones.
 
I have the Variant but use a Progress top cap (Smoother and more aggressive per setting). I just re-clocked the adjustment using Mantic59’s handle turn method he uses for the Progress.
 
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