Tag Archives: Gear

Review of the Merkur 39C slant bar razor

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Let me get straight to the point; a slant bar is not a good choice as your first razor. It is however an excellent second razor.

And it was my second razor too – bought after I had a year of experience with DE shaving – and while my first razor was bought more or less based on the description it had in the online store, my 39C was picked up after consulting various shaving blogs and forums.
The construction seems to be a mix of cast head and machined shaft, with a cast know on the end you unscrew to disassemble the razor. There is a split ring that should keep the bolt shaft inside the handle, but on mine that has loosened to the point where I can easily withdraw it for cleaning.
The 39C is a fairly hefty razor with a cast head and a long and heavy shaft – a very marked contrast with my 985CL travel razor. It is also an aggressive razor like any slant seems to be; it is not without reason one of the names given to the 39C online is the “sledgehammer”. If you have the technique down and keep a light touch, it’ll slide straight trough even several days worth of beard with about as much trouble as a combiner harvester have in mowing down a field of hay. It will leave your face significantly smoother than said field though…
The comparison to a hay field is rather apt once you consider how a slant works; it’s more akin to the action of a scythe than a knife in that it slices rather than chops – just resist the urge to swipe it over your cheeks.
The 39C is as mentioned aggressive – in fact it is my most aggressive razor so far – and as such I like to pair it with a reasonable mild blade. I have used Feather Hi Stainless blades, and it works wonderfully, but I realised I needed to be very much on the ball when using those – meaning I could either get a wonderful shave or a face full of nicks.
If you’re in the marked for a new slant you can’t go much wrong with a Merkur 39C in my opinion. If you prefer razors with short handles Merkur also makes the 37C which mates the same head with a shorter, lighter handle.

Review: Merkur 985CL

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The Merkur 985CL is a light weight travel razor that breaks down into four pieces: the top and bottom part of the head, the upper and lower handle. All the pieces fit together in a small leather pouch about 6cm square – or about 2 2/5th inches if you’re still using those.

The first thing I noticed about the 985CL – apart from the fact that it is an open comb razor – was the weight. The 985CL is made from aluminium, so it weights next to nothing in your hand. At first this was a little disconcerting – it was so light it was tempting to increase the pressure, and we all know that too much pressure leads to nicks, cuts and lacerations. The aluminium can also appear slightly slippery, but in reality it is no worse in that regard than a regular brass razor such as the Merkur 39C.
The 985CL is as mentioned an open comb razor, and as such is more aggressive than a bar razor. It is not an aggressive as a slant however, even when used with a wicked sharp blade like the Feather Hi Stainless. Some care must be taken with the grip on it, mostly due to the shortish handle and light weight. The balance of the 985CL is pretty good, since both the handle and the head is made from the same material.
In my experience the 985CL is a bit picky about what blades it likes; too sharp and the razor bites, too dull and it tugs badly. Best results for me so far have been with Wilkinson Swords and Lord Platinum blades, but I keep trying others.
Cleaning and maintaining the 985CL is easy as pie – it all comes apart. A bit of warm water and a toothbrush easily cleans all residue away, and if it gets really funky it should do well in the ultrasonic cleaner – however since it’s aluminium care must be taken when picking a detergent to go in with it.
There are two downsides to the 985CL, both relating to the way it breaks down and the travel pouch:

  • The upper part of the handle is meant to be stored in the hollow lower part. If care is not taken when putting them together, the two parts can accidentally screw themselves together. Getting them apart again can take some time…
  • There is no good way to store a spare blade or two in the pouch itself – they will end up mangled and bent. This means you’ll have to carry a pack of blades separably, which can cause a bit of trouble when you travel by air.

Overall I can recommend the Merkur 985CL if you need a lightweight razor for travelling and don’t mind paying a bit of attention while putting it away. Merkur also produces a similar model – the 933CL – with a closed comb, if that’s your preference.

Review: Parker 22R

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I will admit to a slight bias in this review: the Parker 22R was my first DE razor, and my only razor for the first year. With that out of the way, here we go:



The Parker 22R is a Twist To Open (TTO) safety razor with a heavily machined grip. The razor is of mixed cast and machined construction, and is made of brass with a gun metal finish.
For some reason the various Parker razors seems to have gained a reputation online for poor quality control; to me this just don’t jive. Not only is my 22R still as tight and smooth in it’s operation as the day it was when I unpacked it, but it survived all the mistakes I did when I started shaving, a year in Africa and being disassembled for cleaning more than once. No low quality razors would survive that – especially not one with a TTO head.
The 22R is a lang handled razor, but not particular heavy. It is also a fairly aggressive razor, which will punish a newbie fairly fast if too much pressure is applied when shaving. While this can be a good thing – adapt or die from facial lacerations – it can also turn a newcomer away from the joy that traditional wetshaving can be.
As mentioned the 22R is aggressive. It can do well with a very sharp blade – I was exclusively using Feather Hi Stainless blades in it while I was in Africa – but a light touch is needed. It also shaves very well with a milder blade, and maintains a very good blade alignment with little effort – just drop the blade in any old how and close the doors.
The balance of the 22R is a little different than my other DE razors, a little lighter in the head, a little heavier in the handle. Makes it easier to maintain a very light pressure though, so I think it’s a good thing. It can also be a little fiddly to clean, something it has in common with other TTO razors, but a little bit of preventative maintenance and a little bit of common sense goes a long way to alleviate that.
Overall I will definitely recommend this razor – I found it a very good razor when I started wetshaving, and I feel it’ll be welcome in any experienced wetshavers rotation.

Blades

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Blades come in all forms and sizes… uhm, no. The beauty of traditional DE wetshaving is that blades do NOT differer in form or size – they are all the same as far as physical dimensions go. They are conceptually different from cartridge blades in that regard; while each different cartridge requires it’s own proprietary razor (with a couple of honourable exceptions), all DE blades fits in all DE razors.

That does not mean that all DE blades are created equal – far from it. The differences in the actual blade might be minute, but the difference in opinion can make you wonder if people are even talking about the same blade. And just to make life even more interesting a blade can behave radically different in tow different razors.

Some things almost everyone can agree upon: Feather blades are really, really sharp, carbon steel blades rust more easily, and mind your fingertips.

There is no such thing as “the best blade”, but there is such a thing as “the blade that works best for you in your razor”. After you have honed your technique somewhat  and can get a consistently good shave using a DE razor, you might/could/should get hold of a sampler pack or ten. Most online shaving suppliers offers them, either as a selection of popular blades or as a selection of blades from a given country, region or manufacturer. The basic idea is the same; try the various blades and see which one works best for you. It could be that the blade you used previously works best – it could be that you can never go back to that first blade again.

It’s all part of the journey of discovery. Who knows where you might end up?

Shaving brushes

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Just like a good lather is alpha and omega for an enjoyable shave, a good brush is alpha and omega for building a good lather. Luckily good brushes are easy to come by, both cheap and less cheap. If you’re just starting out, a synthetic brush from Body Shop or a similar place is more than good enough. Modern synthetic is – apparently – a decent match for boar bristles, but with the added benefit of drying quickly. This also make them excellent brushes for travelling.

Choosing between boar and badger is a subject that is often discussed at great length in various online forums. Personally I have developed a liking for the third option; horse hair brushes. Not only are they cruelty free, being made from mane trimmings, but they also combines a solid backbone, springiness and the ability to hold plenty of water – all qualities that makes them excellent in my opinion when it comes to building a good lather. I also like my boar brush, especially when it comes to building lather from a soft cream, but I’ve yet to try a badger brush… good badger brushes are not cheap.

Much like finding the perfect blade, the perfect brush is a matter of personal preference. At the same time you don’t need to have to perfect brush to get a really good shave, so don’t worry too much about finding it right away.

Your second, third and so on DE razor

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At some point you’re likely to want to pick up a second razor, either for a perceived need (like traveling), for giving yourself an even better shave, or simply for the pure joy of it. While recommending a second razor is even harder than recommending the first, here goes:
A slant bar is a good second razor if your goal is to improve your shave or experiment. The Merkur  39C  was my second razor, and one I can heartily recommend. The Merkur 37C has the same head, but with a short handle for those who prefer that.
A travel razor like the Merkur  985CL or 933CL is always a good option if you need or want a highly portable piece of kit. They break down into a tiny pouch about 4cm square, and are just as good as a normal razor when assembled. They are however quite lightweight wth short handles, so they do require a slight adjustment in technique. As an aside; if you want something even lighter – ie; you’re traveling somewhere where a few grams of weight is make-or-break – you can leave one section of the handle at home. Mind you, I have not tried to shave with a razor that has a one inch handle…
Other than that, experiment. If your first razor was a cheap one, you might want to treat yourself to a more expensive piece of modern craftsmanship. If your first razor was a closed comb, try an open comb as the second – or vice versa. Try an adjustable razor, or get a true cheapo from a no-brand manufacturer and try that. Hit the flea markets and eBay and try out some real vintage razors. Not even your imagination is the limit when it comes to options.

Shaving sticks, soaps and creams

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A good lather is alpha and omega when it comes to a really enjoyable shave. My first recommendation would be to throw out the cans of pressurised foam… go ahead, the rest of this post will wait for you.

Done? Good.

When it comes to lathering, some people prefer hard soaps, some prefer soft creams or and some like plain sticks. In all cases the goal is to turn in into lather, and in my experience all three does that just as well once you know how. Soaps and creams can be built into lather in a scuttle, a bowl or directly on the face, while sticks should be used to build lather on the face only, even if there is nothing stopping you from building lather from a stick in a bowl. Some people even will grate or squeeze a stick into a container to use as a regular soap, something which should tell you there really is no big difference between the two.
The difference between the three isn’t all that great. Shaving soap is usually hard, like a bar soap, and often comes (or is placed) in a bowl or tub. Shaving cream at its most basic is just a shaving soap that is soft, and will usually come in a tub or tube. And a shaving stick is simply a piece of shaving soap that is shaped so you can rub it directly onto your stubbles. A stick can be packaged in a hard plastic tube or simply wrapped in foil paper.
In the end it comes down to personal preferences; I started out with shaving cream in a tube, but now uses all three kinds with more or less equal frequency.

Your first DE razor

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My first DE razor – bought as part of a “beginners kit” –  was a Parker R22, a fairly aggressive razor but controllable enough to be a good introduction to old fashioned wetshaving. There is a lot of talk online about Parker having QA issues, so while my Parker is near perfect this isn’t necessarily true for all Parkers out there. It’s also a Twist To Open – also known as a butterfly – which makes it easier to change blades, but harder to keep clean.
The Feather Popular has gotten consistently good reviews and is considered a mild razor. It is also quite cheap, so if you’re not sure if wetshaving is for you this could be a good choice for a first DE razor. Like my Parker 22R it’s a Twist To Open.
The Wilkinson Sword Classic has many of the same qualities as the Feather Popular and can be easier to get hold of in some parts of the world. If online reviews are to be trusted, it is somewhat more aggressive but still plenty mild enough for a beginner.
Checking your fathers or grandfathers shaving kit might yield treasures – many people out there uses razors older than themselves every day… a decent DE razors simply wont wear out. Just be sure to clean it well and properly before using – I would suggest disassembling any finds, clean them with alcohol and a toothbrush before giving it a dip in an ultrasonic bath.
There are plenty of razors out there that will be a perfect first razor, catering to any wallet. I would however suggest staying with known brands for the first razor – if nothing else than for peace of mind and the relative ease it’ll be to find reviews online.
A word of caution: Do NOT get a slant-bar as your first razor. They are quite aggressive, and require a fair bit of skill to use properly.