My Take on the Merkur 180 Safety Razor

I get the impression you are new to the DE, and I'm not sure if you were looking for input, but I'll give my thoughts anyway, for anyone else new to DEs.
Get yourself a brush and soap man! Also avoid scrubbing over areas lots of times without soap in it, its a great way to do damage.

Lighten up your touch there, and you will reduce your cuts, you look like you are going pretty heavy handed, like you would with a cartridge. It does take some practice though. I think your chin cut may have been due to angle. you want the handle to be closer to 90degrees to your face (obviously, true 90 would hold the blade off your face) instead of parallel to your face like a cartridge razor.
of course merkur recommends using their blades, but all DE blades will fit, and you will find they all shave a bit differently. But trying a variety, you will find a blade that works best for your face.

All in all it looks like its working for you, so do whatever seems to work best for you.
 
Nathan Dewey said:
Does the brush make that much difference?
Click to expand...

Yes a brush makes a big difference. While exfoliating and prepping the whiskers by lifting action it's much more effective than applying cream/soap by hand. I agree with the gent from Oz; lighten the touch, get used to the angle your face likes and practice. I own a 180/23C, and for the price and simplicity it's hard to beat. If there was a choice of only owning one safety razor this would be a good candidate.
 
Soap is also, in theory, less full of chemicals (shaving cream is caustic enough to weaken hair). canned creame isn't that much of an improvement.
Keep on rockin
 
It does take some practice. I recently bought a cheap butterfly opening shaving set to dip my toe into wet shaving. It's a piece of junk, but the proof of concept has inspired me to get a Merkur for Christmas.

Even with cheap blades and a cheap razor and a cheap brush, I've had less irritation shaving than I ever had with multiblade razors. Part of the reason I've worn a beard for the last 4 years is because I hated roughing up my face.

I concur, a good soap is almost a have-to item. I bought mine at a local mom n pop soap shop downtown. Gives a good shave and has a clean cinnamon smell and freah finish.

Good luck! Keep with it!
 
Just wanted to say, definitely not trying to be critical, or saying that there is a way you must do things. just trying to help out. There are as many ways to shave as there are guys who do, and there are as many or more reasons for what those methods are. Some really good pointers can be found on youtube by mantic59. He's done a great series of vids regarding DE shaving, and some of the finer details.
 
[video=youtube;Ojknj8cXp_A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojknj8cXp_A&feature=c4-overview&list=UUcUv7Vdrd8xEmQpHvN4Hj4g[/video]
 
Sounds like you are on the right track man. "not fancy or foppish" best line I've heard in a long time. Of course there are enough fancy soaps to get into that category, but that's beside the point.
I'm glad its working out for you. Keep on it!
 
I use a Merkur Futur, I think. Don't remember anymore. Bought something like 400 Derby blades blind and just figured it would work out. It's good enough for me. There's a girly soap store that has a few men's products, like C&O Bigelow shaving cream in the green tube. They have a buy 4 get 3 free sale and I stack a $10 off coupon, got enough shaving supplies to last me for decades now.
The one thing I do different than Mantic et al is to shower first and then shave. I stick my face in the hot water for a minute before I get out of the shower and then immediately shave.
 
Looks like its working for you man. Congrats. As a guy that's twice your age, I can tell you it is THE best shaving method I have found. I'm 43, been shaving since I was 15-16. That's 28 years of shaving. I bought the "hype" about razors- more blades is better. Oh, if two blades are good, three must be awesome. If three are good.....you get the idea. I found that my face was always dry and tender after shaving. I resorted to only shaving every other day.

About 18 months ago I discovered DE razor shaving. I won't go back the the Mach 7 thousand super shaver faceinator ever again. :) Give me my 1970 Gillette SS and a Feather blade and I'm super satisfied.

This is a long winded way of saying: stay at it, it's worth it.
 
Glad to see that the brush has improved things. You don't HAVE to go overboard on brushes either, I've got an expensive Silver Tip Badger, yes it's nice but frankly not that much better than an ordinary Badger or cheapo Boar. Will last longer I hope! The key about brushes it that they really prepare the beard at the roots, canned crap just puts a glide barrier over it, hence the irritation and ingrowing bristle horror :eek: For me, a quality lather is more important than extravagent razor or blades (I do prefer Feather where possible though) Whipping up a good lather doesn't take long and the results are impressive, your skin will look fresher and more healthy with brush use no question there. DE saves money, cuts closer smoother, is more interesting/authentic AND it is less wasteful on resources:plastic chuck away, expensive packaging, inane adverts and bloody expensive cartridges!
 
Got myself a Merkur 1906 stubby open comb for Christmas. Man, even with plain jane shark blades it's an incredible shave. No better way to shave imho.
 
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