Thread: Merkur Futur Safety Razor

I have a Merkur Futur Matte Chrome for sale. Comes with an assortment of blades. I tried it a couple times only. Straight/safety shaving just isn't for me I guess.

I purchased it from West Coast Shaving for $68. I will take $48 and ship it for free within the US.

Hmmm, how can I get away with this purchase without the wife knowing?

I must say, it's a very nice design and immaculately engineered. I would give anything to be able to use it. I hate the thought of throwing away disposable razors and love the coolness factor of a straight/safety. I just don't understand why my neck is so darn sensitive. I have since tried multiple barber cuts and they are all flabbergasted at my skin being so sensitive! Ugh.

Have you tried mapping your whisker directions and shaving only with the grain?

What rolodave said, when I first tried the single blade thing I had to do this, also realising that when people told me zero pressure on the blade, really meant it... While I'm still not getting super close, my neck isn't irritated.

My neck and face are very sensitive I can barely shave with a straight every other day , pushing it ,but I can barely shave with a cartridge razor once or twice a week with out major discomfort . If straight/safety shaving is not for you that's ok but I would urge you to try a little longer try more soaps ,creams , and technique ,different angles , less passes till your skin get more accustomed to it . I think you will find a straight /safety shave is at least 5 times as less irritating and more comfortable than a cartridge razor . Straight shaving has made me go from hating to shave and only shaving maybe once a week (on what us married guys call that lucky night ) to looking forward to and craving my next shave .
Just my 2

The futur is a good razor. Give it some time. Try different blades and dial it down to 4 or less.

Sent from a moto x far far away

The fact that people are trying to talk you out of selling nice gear at a nice price rather than trying to take advantage of your frustration is exactly what I like so much about this forum. I'm not that experience compared to others, but I'm wondering if it might be worth another try with the mekur but with leaving everything else unchanged from the shaving ritual with which you have success with the Meijer razor, or conversely, using whatever shave brush & soap you used with the mekur, but with your Meijer razor, just to see if you can identify the variable causing the irritation.

It's an adjustable razor - what do you have it set at? What blades have you used?

I don't like the Futur as *I* found it too heavy for me, I prefer lighter razors in the Merkur family. This would likely NOT be the primary cause of your woes. While I don't *like* the Futur, I can get a decent shave from it. So here are my tips on DE shaving, should you decide to give it another whirl.

1. If you have success with any of the newfangled multibladed monstrosities out there, it is because the razor takes away your ability to adjust the shaving angle. In other words, you CANNOT hold it wrong... you can MOVE it wrong, which is why you have issues with nicks on sharp Mach razors, and you would have the same issue with a DE razor if allowed to move in the wrong direction.

2. DE razors put YOU in the drivers seat. If your shave is not close, or it's scraping and you feel raw afterwards, or you get nicks and bleed from it, it is because YOU control it 100% of the time and have allowed it to go off the rails, it will never correct for incorrect angles or movements. My emphasis on YOU or MOVE is to simply point out what I mean, it does not mean I'm accusing you of anything, I'm just trying to point out where the issue lies.

3. The correct way to start a shaving stroke with any DE razor is to start with the top cap against your face and the handle sticking straight out. Now you will drop the handle until the blade just starts cutting your beard and you keep this angle between the skin and the blade for the full stroke. As your face is not flat, YOU must adjust the angle as you go... Apply no pressure to the head, allow the weight of the razor to do that for you. In the case of the Futur, I found it so heavy that I had to actively keep some of that weight off my face, thus my dislike of the razor. But, my dislike is MY finding, others have different results, so these sorts of preferences only apply to the individual.

4. If you start with the safety bar against the skin and raise the handle until the blade starts cutting, you are scraping the blade against the skin! If you add pressure, it gets worse and you will be raw and red after shaving and your beard may not have been shaved as close as you would like. Many attempt to adjust the settings on an adjustable razor to make it "less aggressive" but trying to adjust away improper technique is rarely successful.

5. Adjustable safety razors are fun, have dodads you can twiddle, and most gents can't seem to stop playing with the settings. I have had 3 different adjustable Merkur razors and all three ended up getting set to the same settings as a fixed Merkur HD, which is now my only DE razor.

6. There is this "issue" of Merkur Vs Gillette I would like to mention. I have found over the years that gents are rather polarized about such razors. I for example, cannot get a decent shave out of a Gillette razor to save my life, and I have tried and tried. Other gents swear the other way, only shaving with Gillette razors and nothing else.... I cannot explain why this is, but it just is.

7. All that remains is the prep work.... Lots of water with soap or cream (none of that Gel or Foam out of an aerosol can, it does not work), warm wet beard and everything else should fall into place.

8. About nicks and cuts with razors. Generally, it's very hard to cut your skin if properly lubricated with lather if you use a push cut. But, if you allow the head of any razor to move even the slightest bit sideways, cuts can happen very quickly. Small pimples and the like CAN get knocked off in spite of correct razor head movement, but these end up being what we refer to as weepers.... rarely causing any issues and are usually healed and gone by the next shave or two.

9. And last, but not least... you must learn when to say when. Sometimes, it is simply not possible to shave BBS (Baby Butt Smooth) over ones entire face. I have such a spot where there is simply nothing I can do but accept a slight stubble feel in that area, no matter the type of razor. If I attempt to remove that last little bit in that area, my results are either ingrown hairs or a blood bath, with the stubble remaining. So... I chalk it up to life and luck of the draw and I just don't worry about it any more.

I hope this helps you out.

Regards

Christian