Thread: Parker vs Merkur (Travel)

Originally Posted by Obie

Gentlemen,

I owned the Merkur travel razor and found it convenient. Eventually, though, I gave it up because it was too small. Now when I travel, I have a straight razor as my main shaving tool backed up with the Feather Artist Club DX and the Gillette Red Tip.

I travel a lot, often away three nights a week.
If I'm checking a bag I bring the Feather DX folding and a few spare blades. Like Obie I will also have a DE, in my case an early Super Speed TTO or a Red Tip Super Speed.
Ditto if I travel to the same place every week, I find a way to safely leave a Feather "something" - the Hotel that I travel to now gave me a safety deposit box. They don't use them since the rooms now have safes and the Manager let me "rent" one.
If I can't check or stow its a Cart, but I bring my travel brush and a stick of something.

And your Straight may just need a proper honing to get it Shave ready, and check the Wiki for help with stropping.
To paraphrase Obie - "comfort first" - for many a well prepared conventional Straight is the most comfortable shave..(YMMV)

The Feather that Obie and I speak off offer incredible edges with the the weight and balance of a solid 6/8 conventional straight.

Smooth shaving...

Thanks to everyone who gave your opinions and thoughts. It really did help me. After much thought and consideration I decided against getting the travel sized razors and instead bought the Edwin Jagger DE89LBL. I figured if I'm going to get something it might as well be something good and something I feel comfortable with. I searched these forums for past threads on the DE89 and could not find much bad about them. I also wanted to thank KindestCutOfAll for his idea about the soap dish. I had not thought of thought and I think that is what I will be doing. I was worried a full size safety razor would take up too much space but I after reading that I think I'll be able to fit everything I need in my Dopp kit.

Just on a side, if anyone is looking for an Edwin Jagger DE89 Amazon has some really affordable priced ones and if you have prime they fall under free shipping. That also helped make the decision. Also found an Edwin Jagger travel brush on Ebay that under $25 so I think I made out pretty good. I can't wait to get it here and try it out.

On a final note, I know in my original I mentioned I hadn't used the straight in a while. I used it tonight on a 3 day growth and it was awesome. First time in a while I felt I had got a good shave out of a straight so hopefully my technique is improving.

Thanks again to everyone.