I've been wet shaving for 6 months, so still relatively new. Been using the Muhle r89 and really love it. Curiosity got me, and I just had my first shave with the Muhle r41. I use pre-shave oil and Proraso shave cream. Long story short, I had a very close shave but it wasn't for me. It's definitely very aggressive - which is great - but it felt like it was tugging, as opposed to cutting, the hair. I had 3 days of thick, coarse growth. Anyway, may have been poor technique - who knows? Going back to the r89.