Merkur Blades.Is there something I should know?

[Ricardo850]

Hi all, Newbie to the site here. After spending what feels like a lifetime searching for the perfect shave I bit the bullet about 18 months ago and bought a DE razor. My weapon of choice is a Merkur Futur with Merkur blades. The first year of shaving with this was an absolute joy but then, mysteriously, I started having trouble finding Merkur blades. I found a website which sold them for approx £1.50 cheaper than any others and decided to buy 3 packs thinking these would last me a very, VERY long time. I'm very disappointed to find that I'm not getting even one decent shave when using them. I'm currently using a new blade for each shave and I am cut to ribbons every single time. I've now decided to dump the ones I have left. I find it surprising that duff blades might be out there on the market and wondered if anyone had experience of dodgy blades when previously the make has been consistently good.
All the best, Ric

 

[Gruder]

Welcome to B&B Ric. Many folks around here have reported Merkur blades as being among the least effective, myself included. Ideally, you'll want to acquire a blade sampler so you can go about the task of figuring out which blade offers the best shave for your particular face. Barring that, though, I suppose it might be within the statistical realm of possibility to say that most any brand of blade stands a better chance of giving you a better shave than the Merkurs.

Let us know how it turns out, and stick around!

 

[Unknownsoldier]

I'm not a great fan of merkur, but do use them occasionally if I only want a quick shave. However try Dridiot on here, I bought a sampler from him and am finding I love two new blades, so give him go and I'm sure you'll find one you like then you can flog the rest on here

Tom

 

[Satch]

My first blades were Merkurs and they were really rough on my face to the extent it was very burned.

I used red personnas, crystals, and Derbys initially with a merkur 38 C barber pole razor.

I currently shave with a Futur and Feathers, Kai, and Derby blades.

Merkur makes great razors but the blades are the pits for me. Some folks like them but they are rough for me.

Satch

 

[Blondie]

The Merkur blades are certainly not the smoothest I have used. I tried the Derby's, and find them to be a very comfortable blade. I have three new brands coming for me to try. Bought some from melyus and dridiot. You can do better than the Merkurs.

 

[ClubmanRob]

The Merkur blade is one of the few out there that consistently give me a great shave. Most other ones I've tried just don't seem sharp enough.

 

[htownmmm]

For some(see above post!), Merkur blades work wonders- the rest of us wonder
how they can be called blades.

The sampler pack idea is your next stop; make sure it does not include merkurs!


marty

 

[GoldenMonkey]

Welcome, Ricardo!

A lot of guys start off with the Merks, as they tend to find them with the razors they buy, and it seems like a logical choice. The truth is they are really expensive in comparison to a lot of others, and they simply don't perform as well. Some people DO get good shaves with them, and I got...well, ok shaves with them. They just didn't last too long, and they were inconsistent in sharpness and quality. I could have just had a bum pack, but the advice to try a sampler pack is what most folks will tell you.

In answer to your question, I'm sure there is always the possiblity of a bad production run, and I'm sure there's variation in factories as well. Gillette for example has moved production of certain blades to different plants from time to time, and there's always a difference (sometimes better, it should be said...). I don't know about the Merks, but you'll find that overall most people here simply don't like them, and the variety of choices out there means that you'll find something more economical and better performing with ease.

 

[michiganlover]

Merkur's are garbage:

A) They cost more than any other blade out there, with the exception of Feathers, however, they are of very poor quality when compared to their price.

B) I found Merkur blade to skip, and pull on the first shave out, the way other blades do at the end of their life. Part of this could have been due to a relative newbies lack of technique (although I had been having great shaves with the Derby's the previous 10-15 shaves before this), but I am not about to buy a 10 pack of these overpriced blades to find out.

In a nutshell, many of us on this board have found the Merkur blades to be overpriced crap.

 

[MoJoe]

I was able to find some recently when I needed to replenish my stock. I guess that they are out there if you want them. You just need to look in the right place.

 

[mdunn]

as said,lots of guys dont like them, so if you did a WTB you could probably get a whole bunch that people got with samplers, but dont want to use.

 

[rm71]

as said,lots of guys dont like them, so if you did a WTB you could probably get a whole bunch that people got with samplers, but dont want to use.

+1 Good idea.

Welcome to B&B.

 

[Azza]

I found that the only razor the Merkurs worked well in was the Futur. I have a few other razors in my rotation so it just wasnt worth keeping the blades if they only worked well in one razor. Merkur blades, I wouldn't accept them even for free!

- Aaron