53 years old. shaving with gilletes since eighties. after the last 10 years with gillette fusion (now using the proglide and proshield flexball with great results) i am becoming interested in traditional shaving (i am already a wet shaver since i have never used canned foams or gel but instead brushes and artisan soap with my fusions -and previously mach3 and sensors). my wife has given a gift (a qshave 700 - futur clone) and in the meantime - it takes a month from china - i'm getting an EJ 89de or another "not adjustable from amazon. I would like to know, since i have an incredibly thick and coarse beard (with whatever razor i use i have a sand paper at 6 pm even with a perfect BBS after shave) , if you think EJ89 is a waste of money or not. thanks in advance!
Welcome to TSD @schwarzy65! I have a Ming Shi 2000s (Merkur Futur clone) and find it treats me well on around 4-1/2 or 5. From those that have the original these dirt cheap copies are a faithful reproduction. That EJ 89 may be like my Muhle R89 Grande - same cap & base, different handle. Fairly mild DE meaning when you get the angle of attack right it shaves well. I'd suspect you'd find it less than desirable once that Chinese DE arrives. So much of this is YOMV (your opinion may vary) that you may like the model 89. There are enough of them around in the used razor market you might save a few bucks checking The Marketplace.
Click on the words in my previous post - it's a link. It's buried inside other forum titles ; Home > Forums > The Mall > The Marketplace ; Classifieds, Freebies, & Want to buy. Be sure you read The Rules if you decide to place an ad. As a new member you're good to go right now in the WTB section.
i was interested in an used ej or merkur 34c but perhaps it's not convenient since buying from italy the shipping cost would me more than the advantage of buying an used item. maybe i will have to get them from amazon
Welcome from Canada. Give the vintage razors a try, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how well they had it figured out back then.
Welcome to TSD schwarzy65. I hope you enjoy as much as I do. There are a lot of very experienced and friendly wet shavers here who are very happy to help if you ask for it. I know because they have helped me with several issues. EJ 89 was my first DE razor and I thought it was great but I have just a medium beard (I've since moved on to more premium razors). You also my want to consider the Rockwell 6C. It is a great shaver and has 6 baseplate settings so that you can select what is right for you. Its not nearly my most expensive razor but always gives me a great shave.
The bright side is daily shaving. I'd learn the mild razor, once there, you'll have arrived at good technique.
