I continue to shave with my latest (and likely final) razor acquisition: the Merkur 15C open comb. I truly suspect that in this razor I've found my holy grail of shaving.
I shave most every day. Therefore I don't need huge capacity in a razor, which has made my other preferred shaving instrument, my Merkur 33C Classic razor, a wonderful choice; it's face friendly, and has enough capacity to allow a truly fine shave every day.
The 15C has some similar characteristics. Specifically, it's a joy to use for my daily shave. Yesterday, with a sharp and coated blade, I took 2 passes (cross grain, then against grain) and a bit of extra buffing to get a near-baby-smooth shave. It looked great and felt good to the hand. It's the kind of shave that stays good for the entire day.
If a person has sensitive skin as I do, there's no need to have a razor of more aggressive design. Yet because of its baseplate, this one has capacity that is way more than enough to do the job, and is designed to still provide a smooth, close, comfortable shave.
In a move unusual for me, today I skipped my daily shave -- as part of an experiment. Tomorrow, with a two-day growth, I'll shave again with the 15C open comb to begin to explore its theoretically-unlimited beard-mowing capacity -- owing, of course, to its comb baseplate instead of the more common safety bar.
To restate from earlier posts, although many DE users think of an open-comb design as being very aggressive and potentially harsh, this is not necessarily true. (Though anyone who has read and understood my explanation of razor characteristics would already know that.) This Merkur 15C proves it. The razor is mild shaving owing to its moderately-low blade exposure and reveal, combined with its face-friendly blade angle. Yet it has large capacity because of the open comb, which unlike a safety bar, can be designed to offer good skin protection without limiting its ability to cope with longer hair.
So tomorrow is my first 15C shave with more than a day's growth. Stay tuned.
Happy shaving!
 |
| The Merkur 15C. A great daily shaver of open-comb design. |
I shave most every day. Therefore I don't need huge capacity in a razor, which has made my other preferred shaving instrument, my Merkur 33C Classic razor, a wonderful choice; it's face friendly, and has enough capacity to allow a truly fine shave every day.
 |
| The Merkur 33C Classic. Another excellent daily shaver of straight-bar design. The straight bar may limit razor capacity when shaving much longer hair. |
The 15C has some similar characteristics. Specifically, it's a joy to use for my daily shave. Yesterday, with a sharp and coated blade, I took 2 passes (cross grain, then against grain) and a bit of extra buffing to get a near-baby-smooth shave. It looked great and felt good to the hand. It's the kind of shave that stays good for the entire day.
If a person has sensitive skin as I do, there's no need to have a razor of more aggressive design. Yet because of its baseplate, this one has capacity that is way more than enough to do the job, and is designed to still provide a smooth, close, comfortable shave.
In a move unusual for me, today I skipped my daily shave -- as part of an experiment. Tomorrow, with a two-day growth, I'll shave again with the 15C open comb to begin to explore its theoretically-unlimited beard-mowing capacity -- owing, of course, to its comb baseplate instead of the more common safety bar.
To restate from earlier posts, although many DE users think of an open-comb design as being very aggressive and potentially harsh, this is not necessarily true. (Though anyone who has read and understood my explanation of razor characteristics would already know that.) This Merkur 15C proves it. The razor is mild shaving owing to its moderately-low blade exposure and reveal, combined with its face-friendly blade angle. Yet it has large capacity because of the open comb, which unlike a safety bar, can be designed to offer good skin protection without limiting its ability to cope with longer hair.
 |
| The 15C allows the blade close to the skin for a smooth outcome, but the tooth gaps in the comb tend to channel hair of any length to the blade, thus not limiting the capacity of the razor. |
So tomorrow is my first 15C shave with more than a day's growth. Stay tuned.
Happy shaving!
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