Muhle R41: First shave

[Ad Astra]

Last week I noticed you could get the notorious/legendary/hated/loved/feared Muhle R41 head for about a third of the razor - and thought, "shoot, I have tons of handles."

It came yesterday. Technically an open comb, it's really both ... Seems like a good idea; bar and comb kinda combined.

MÜHLE Shaving Culture | Razors | purchase online

Popped in a Dorco Prime Platinum - with one shave already on it - and took it for a spin this morning.

As soon as razor touched face, my eyes opened - wide. You are being kissed but a raw blade here! It reminded me of my most-dangerous Single Ring - blade feel is up there with a shavette. Warning signs appear!

With the lightest of touches, I carefully shaved - with respect to the exposure/blade feel, which is considerable. Not a beginner's razor, no.

Aggressive vs. Efficient: to me, an efficient razor is one where a second and third pass remove nothing, because the first pass got it all. It does not have to be aggressive to do this; my 1941 Ranger Tech gives you a glass-smooth face without being mean. Aggressive, on the other hand, means a close shave, yes, but possibly at the expense of removing your whole top layer of skin. You can really FEEL an aggressive Old Type or Single Ring, and need to tread with care. ATG is especially dangerous.

Muhle R41 falls under "aggressive." I got a super-smooth shave, yes, but I wasn't exactly relaxed while doing it. I have the impression (with only one shave in, of course) you'd best be really careful with this razor or you will need to have not just alum, but styptic pencil ready.

So. Who's a fan? A lot of people have them here! But when is it chosen?


AA

 

[emwolf]

Nice review and matches my experience. I like the R41 baseplate with a heavier handle and a DOC top plate, much smoother, more comfortable shave.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

Agree with these comments. It works. Well. But it wasn't much fun.

Mac

 

[Ad Astra]

Nice review and matches my experience. I like the R41 baseplate with a heavier handle and a DOC top plate, much smoother, more comfortable shave.

Interesting! I do like the baseplate. Have to see what I can mix-and-match.


AA

 

[Ad Astra]

Agree with these comments. It works. Well. But it wasn't much fun.

Mac

Yeah, this reminds me of why I don't use a straight razor, either.

I try to zone out and relax while shaving, and this was like driving on a mountain road ... at night ... and it's snowing ... with snow changing to freezing rain ...


AA

 

[ackvil]

If your beard grows in one or two directions this razor can be fine. But for me, it's a horror. The grain of my beard particularly on my neck changes in so many directions and then in spots swirls so that a WTG pass in meaningless. I look to see in what direction my beard grows the most and that becomes my WTG pass realizing that in some spots it may be XTG and ATG. My beard is such that it would be impossible to do a WTG pass since I would be changing direction ever inch or so on my neck. For me, the ONLY way I can get a decent shave is to do a 4-pass shave - which was a disaster with the R.41. The first pass with the R.41 was fine when it was WTG but horrible elsewhere. No matter how light a touch I did on my neck I got irritation.

 

[Dog Whiskerer]

I had a lot of trepidation before my first shave with an R41. But when I didn't slice off any parts of my face, I relaxed. Subsequent shaves have been less stressful. I respect my Muhle, but I don't fear it.

I would call it super efficient. I can mow down two days growth in one pass plus touch up.

 

[Ad Astra]

If your beard grows in one or two directions this razor can be fine. But for me, it's a horror. The grain of my beard particularly on my neck changes in so many directions and then in spots swirls so that a WTG pass in meaningless. I look to see in what direction my beard grows the most and that becomes my WTG pass realizing that in some spots it may be XTG and ATG. My beard is such that it would be impossible to do a WTG pass since I would be changing direction ever inch or so on my neck. For me, the ONLY way I can get a decent shave is to do a 4-pass shave - which was a disaster with the R.41. The first pass with the R.41 was fine when it was WTG but horrible elsewhere. No matter how light a touch I did on my neck I got irritation.

Agree. Taking R41 ATG is immediately felt as a bad thing!

Something like a Tech or Blue Tip, though goes super smooth ATG...

AA

 

[Ad Astra]

I had a lot of trepidation before my first shave with an R41. But when I didn't slice off any parts of my face, I relaxed. Subsequent shaves have been less stressful. I respect my Muhle, but I don't fear it.

I would call it super efficient. I can mow down two days growth in one pass plus touch up.

Will agree the second and third pass were *much* less risky ... a fun razor to experiment with, for sure.


AA

 

[jdp93]

Great review @Ad Astra . I love this razor, and it is actually the only DE razor I use any more. I'm mostly a straight razor shaver, but when I am on the road, I use a DE, and the R41 is my choice. You'll have to experiment with the best handle for you. I found that the bulldog handle works perfectly with the R41 head. Throw one of those on there if you've got one.

 

[Ad Astra]

Great review @Ad Astra . I love this razor, and it is actually the only DE razor I use any more. I'm mostly a straight razor shaver, but when I am on the road, I use a DE, and the R41 is my choice. You'll have to experiment with the best handle for you. I found that the bulldog handle works perfectly with the R41 head. Throw one of those on there if you've got one.

Thanks. Well, I've got 40-50 razors at this (crazy/stupid) point, and R41 made a vivid impression!

Wanted to make some notes here while it was fresh-in-mind. This razor promotes focus!

Do have the RR barberpole handle; what I used today was an ED coated thick bar handle in black - closest at hand.


AA

 

[saxtont47]

I am a fan ...I shaved for about a year with 2 "mild" razors (feather AS-D2 and merkhir 34c) , this summer I tried a straight razor (the ultimate in "aggressive") but the time and focus required with those relegated them to weekend shaving only for me (at least until I retire) and starting in October, I went on a 2 month bender of acquiring several razors that fall bewteen the medium up and high range of efficiency, one of the first ones was the r41 with a stainless steel handle..I have about 8 shaves with the razor, and found it be efficient and quite agressive as you have stated. I enjoy it when I really want to focus on my technique, or I want to do a two pass shave...it demands my respect and attention (along those lines, I recently used my feather for a shave for the first time in months and found that I enjoyed the focus it demanded from me as well...the months of using more seems to have showed me how to get more out of that razor) .. if I had to limit myself to a small number of razors (less than 3), I don't think that the r41 (nor the feather) would make the cut, as I have some daily driver type razors that are both efficient and comfortable that Id keep ahead of it, but since I don't need to do that I plan to keep it (and the feather) to use it when I feel like a bit of a challenge.



Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[HereticHermit]

On unpreped tough whiskers the blade chatter on R41 is something else. There is zero support from Base plate and blade chatter is magnified many fold due to that.
It is very effective scalpel to take a skin layer off but it comes at a cost.

 

[Esox]

Muhle R41 falls under "aggressive." I got a super-smooth shave, yes, but I wasn't exactly relaxed while doing it. I have the impression (with only one shave in, of course) you'd best be really careful with this razor or you will need to have not just alum, but styptic pencil ready.

So. Who's a fan? A lot of people have them here! But when is it chosen?

Once you find your angle/pressure combination it will be a lot tamer.

I use mine like below. The red line being the level of my skin.

With a fresh Feather blade its a nice, smooth, comfortable shave, but it is done very slowly and cautiously compared to my Grande or Old Types. As sharp as Feather blades are, on my second shave with the same blade, that razor bit me twice where it shouldnt have. The first shave with a Feather blade though, I admit, is pretty good.

My other favorite blades have fallen short. A Derby Extra that gives me an outstanding shave in my Grande and other razors, skipped WTG on my cheeks first pass. A Polsilver also fell short XTG on my neck first pass.

If your beard grows in one or two directions this razor can be fine. But for me, it's a horror.

I found this too. Simple N-S strokes WTG/XTG are fine. ATG is another matter. I had to change my second pass from ATG with this razor to directly XTG and only shave ATG on my third pass and cleanups.

To BBS my swirls I need to shave in five directions to whittle the stubble down slowly enough so the blade wont skip. I shave the same areas with my Grande and MMOC in two directions.

 

[Ad Astra]

Once you find your angle/pressure combination it will be a lot tamer.

I use mine like below. The red line being the level of my skin.

View attachment 944023

With a fresh Feather blade its a nice, smooth, comfortable shave, but it is done very slowly and cautiously compared to my Grande or Old Types. As sharp as Feather blades are, on my second shave with the same blade, that razor bit me twice where it shouldnt have. The first shave with a Feather blade though, I admit, is pretty good.

My other favorite blades have fallen short. A Derby Extra that gives me an outstanding shave in my Grande and other razors, skipped WTG on my cheeks first pass. A Polsilver also fell short XTG on my neck first pass.



I found this too. Simple N-S strokes WTG/XTG are fine. ATG is another matter. I had to change my second pass from ATG with this razor to directly XTG and only shave ATG on my third pass and cleanups.

To BBS my swirls I need to shave in five directions to whittle the stubble down slowly enough so the blade wont skip. I shave the same areas with my Grande and MMOC in two directions.

Mike, nice analysis. Pressure level for me is about zero! And I've got some wierd mapping going on as well... WTG, XTG, ATG are all angles, and I must use combinations of angles, too.


AA

 

[Esox]

Mike, nice analysis. Pressure level for me is about zero! And I've got some wierd mapping going on as well... WTG, XTG, ATG are all angles, and I must use combinations of angles, too.


AA

Keep using the R41. You'll learn your map intimately lol.

Or, get an MMOC. It shrugs at direction of growth with enough blade feel to open your eyes even wider if you so desire lol.

MMOC/PTFE for its 4th shave.

WK.

Maggard Synthetic.

~100 hours since last shave. I dont think it would matter if it was around 200 hours.

Single buffing pass ATG. One clean up. The MMOC is all business and this was business as usual.

Nice comfy BBS. What more could be asked for.

 

[bdehne]

I like to use the R41 on Sunday mornings. I don't shave on Saturdays. It does a great job on 2 days growth. I normally only do 2 passes with the 41 with some atg clean up under the chin. I find it too aggressive to use more than 3 days in a row. I find it to be very smooth but I have to focus on slower strokes with no pressure.

 

[shaversnapper]

Great review @Ad Astra . I love this razor, and it is actually the only DE razor I use any more. I'm mostly a straight razor shaver, but when I am on the road, I use a DE, and the R41 is my choice. You'll have to experiment with the best handle for you. I found that the bulldog handle works perfectly with the R41 head. Throw one of those on there if you've got one.

What specifically is it about the bulldog handle? Is it just the weight or is there something special about the bulldog?

What I mean is, if it’s weight only, what can the bulldog do that say, a Maggard MR”X” couldn’t also accomplish for a couple bucks less?

As you might tell I’ve been obsessing about this for a couple days. Time to man up and ask.

 

[shave/brush]

I could never get a smooth shave with the R41. I didn't find it any more aggressive than my Fatip Grande but the Fatip is much smoother and shaves just as close. I don't see what people like about this razor.

 

[Parallax]

What specifically is it about the bulldog handle? Is it just the weight or is there something special about the bulldog?

What I mean is, if it’s weight only, what can the bulldog do that say, a Maggard MR”X” couldn’t also accomplish for a couple bucks less?

As you might tell I’ve been obsessing about this for a couple days. Time to man up and ask.

Handles are a matter of taste. I like the Bulldog on the R41 better than I like it on any other razor I've used. But I can't really say why. They just seem to go well together. Don't have a Maggard handle so I can't compare.