Monday May 22 - Menthol Monday with Merkur in Matching May
Prep: hot shower
Razor: Merkur 34c / IP Super Platinum (1)
Brush: Jason
@jtspartan cypress handle with Maggard's 24mm 2-band badger knot
Soap: Stirling Iced Pineapple
Post: Rinse, alum, rinse, Clubman Osage Rub, Stirling Iced Pineapple splash
My last shave was last Monday. I had made it a menthol shave and really enjoyed it, so I repeated that. I used the same menthol-laden matching soap and splash set plus the extra menthol of the Osage Rub, but I switched to a Merkur razor in keeping with the other May Theme.
The Merkur 34c, as most of you probably know, is quite a mild razor. I find it more than adequately efficient, however. It reminds me, frankly, of shaving with a Gillette Tech with just a bit of extra heft to the razor.
I paired the German Merkur razor with an Israeli Personna Super Platinum - one of my favourite DE blades. I do not have any Merkur blades to use. Back when I was buying blades and razors before 2018, the Merkur
razors had an excellent reputation for solid German engineering and craftsmanship, but the Merkur
blades were widely considered to be dull and tuggy. Although to be fair, some people absolutely loved them and even their detractors acknowledged they were very very consistent in their dullness and tugginess...
Now, I built my stash of razor blades between about 2014 and 2018 and haven't bought any since. (My current supply should last for daily shaving for about 30 years longer than I could reasonably expect to live...). So I haven't really kept up with what is happening in the razor blade world. Do Merkur blades still have that reputation or have they changed?
Anyway, the badger brush did a very nice job of whipping up a smooth, icy-cold lather for me. And the sharp new blade in the hefty chunk of precision German engineering in my hand removed all my accumulated stubble in one pass.
The alum was silent, and then the Osage Rub topped by the Iced Pineapple splash chilled my face like a mid-winter blizzard wind..
Hope everyone had a good weekend and is starting a great week!
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