Some advice help here, if you please gentlemen. My foray into wetshaving began a couple years ago with mainly reading and dreaming of the day when I finally whip out my straight razor and impress friends and family with squeaky clean shaves looking smooth and James Bondish with my skills with the finely honed tool in my hands....or something like that. Well after reading and finally finishing med-school, I decided to treat myself with a beginner's start into wetshaving. I never had problems with my super hot shower shaves with a gilette and canned gel, but appreciated the mistique associated with the classic look. So, with no job, so to speak, I started slowly with a cheap brush (Body Shoppe artificial bristle for FREE...there was a coupon) and body shoppe tub-o-cream (the original, not the new Maca stuff) and started liking it. I bought a nice little razor to start off with when there was a wonderful sale on the Feather Portable razors. Obviously this great little razor came with the lovely Feather blades. I've worked with scalpel blades before, so no fear or more than a couple tiny nicks with these lovely little slivers of sharpened steel...but of course, nothing lasts forever. Now that I have been with this razor for a while, and no longer have the original blades (of course...) I am ready to get rid of the pharmacy blades I have been using for the past year and move on to better shaves. I know that everyone is going to tell me to move on to an assortment pack/sampler of blades, which is what I am planning on doing, but I have a question about the razor. With my birthday coming up, I am hoping for at least a tad bit of cash that I can use for something other than trying to feed my starving body with...so the question is what razor would you suggest? I have 2 that I have been looking at for a while....the Weishi (love the price, and has some nice reviews) that I can actually get directly from Hong Kong through a connection of mine, and of course the ever popular Merkur 34C which is usually recommended to all newbies. One thing I have sort of noticed...other than the 2 or 3 specialty/high end razors, Merkur only seems to have like 2 or 3 heads, and all the numbers seem just to be different handles...or am I wrong? Now, please note, folks, inexpensive is key right now, and I have no antique shops available to me for finding a hidden treasure trove of old, used razors in...so new and online is it for now. Did I start too aggressive? Is the technique I seemingly have developed with my Feather Port. going to screw me up in the future? Will our helpless hero ever finish this email??? These answers and more to come soon, so stay tuned...same Shave Time, same Shave Channel. Thanks, gracias and arigato gents
answers: no, no, and maybe. I'd recommend the merkur 34c. I've noticed the same thing about Merkur heads and I think you're right. That said, the merkur line is still known for making a good razor right now. Weishi is way mild. From what I've read (haven't used one myself) it'll be a major step down in terms of aggressiveness. Weishi also has a spotty track record in the quality control department. Before you spend any money, check out the classifieds here at TSD. I'd suggest you look for a user grade Gillette NEW. They'll be roughly similar to what you're used to with a Feather Portable. (I have used both). You might also wait and see if you can find a Muehle Pinsky R89 with the pre-redesign Fatip head. These show up every now and then and they're really great aggressive razors. A bit more than a Feather Portable, but if you like the Feather you'll probably like the MP. You might post a Want to Buy (WTB) ad for what you want in the classifieds. Somebody might have a user grade razor for much less than what you'll pay for new.
I have 7 Merkurs and the heads are much the same but the open combs are less aggressive and I use Feathers in them , the single bar variety are more aggressive than Weishis and I use milder blades in them. I started with the HD and I like it , its really going to feel heavier after a Feather razor. Merkurs in the $25 to $35 range are well made, great razors. I would look at all the online shaving vendors and go with the best price and cheapest shipping. Also some of the online barber supply houses have some of the cheaper Merkurs so you might check them out but finding them in stock can be unpredictable. Gillette Techs on ebay are way cheap. I've got them from $3 to $15 in good shape. I think they are better shavers than Weishis. Match a Feather blade with a Tech and it shaves better than anything I've got.
