Finally it arrived! The Mingshi 5000s I ordered on Aliexpress.
I do not own the Merkur Progress myself but read that a owner of both razors said that number 7 on the Mingshi is like number 4 on the Progress. With that in mind I started to shave. Now I have shaved twice with it and I must say I am pleased with the shaves I get. BBS on both shaves! It has a regular shaving angle, not too wide but intuitive. The razor is very smooth and efficient, even when you do not feel much blade. It feels a bit like Mühle R41. But Mingshi 5000s has a nice sound. You hear the whiskers get cut. It has a thin cap and therefore it is easy to shave under the nose. And it does not clog. Blade gaps are even (Notice it is branded RM not Mingshi!) and plating is nice and thick. (I dropped it down in the basin, metal against against metal at the bottom and it didnt get a scratch!) I noticed that plating on the handle has some inpurity in it. I you look closely you find a few small bumps but covered with thick plating so it is totally OK. But maybe it is because of that some people report about plating loss? I must say Mingshi really done it good with the blade gaps on this model. It matches in blade gaps quite well with Rockwell 6S I think. But Mingshi goes further, able to get more aggessive! And that Rockwell is a damn good razor, one of the best you can get. First shave I had not shaved in five days. I loaded it with a new Gillette Black platinum. Usually I leap the risk of nicking myself with a sharp new blade or get a razorburn. Therefore I usually put new blades in a more dull razor. (Like Rockwell 6s with plate 4, postwar Gillette Tech and similar razors. The list of slightly less aggressive razors is long. I know I got RAD.) But this time I set the Mingshi on 7 for shave WTG. For shave XTG and ATG I set it on 4. I nicked myself in the back of my head twice! I have a small bump on the right on the back of my head and I use it as a razor test. The best razors does not nick the lump but is still top efficient. Like Rockwell 6s with plate 5 or the frankenrazor Yaqi Mellon cap/Pearl OC baseplate but also Yaqi Top aggessive! But Minghsi 5000s nicked me with a brand new blade that is quite aggressive so I thought it is forgivable. Unfortunately I readjusted the dial up to 9 by mistake somewhere while I was shaving the neck. Probably therefore I got the second nick in the left back of my head behind my ear. I like to hold my razors far down on the handle, tilting the razor and let it shave with only its own weight especially with new blades or aggressive razors. With extremely aggressive razors I therefore prefer them with a long handle. You can not change the handle on the Mingshi 5000s so before the second shave I put a rubber o-ring about 2 cm above the dial so I could keep my fingers there not readjusting the dial and it worked. So first shave then got me BBS with a light almost not noticeable razorburn in the face and in spots on the back of my head. And I got two nicks in the back of my head! But it was with a brand new blade... Second shave I had four days since last shave. This time I set the dial to 6 for shaving WTG. I set the dial to 4 again for shaving XTG and ATG. I got BBS but did not get nicked or got any razorburn at all this time! But I felt it was really close nicking me on the bump in the back of my head. I think this is because of a slightly more straight blade angle and a slightly more stiff blade than the razors that really hit the sweet spot of DE-razors. But therefore I compare the Mingshi 5000s with the Yaqi Telstar that got the same character. And the Telstar is a really good razor but the Mingshi 5000s got the advantage of being adjustable! Maybe I will get even better results with 5 WTG and maybe 3 XTG and ATG next shave? Usually you need to get some shaves in a row to learn a new razor. Anyway at 4$, shipping included I think everyone should buy one because it is a really good razor and the best buy right now! It is a steal!
