Thread: Just got a new DE...A merkur progress

I have been using a Merkur Futura for years now . I have 2 of them one in chrome and the other in brushed steel. The brushed steel is by far the favorite.

Any how the future shave great but can be aggressive to a point that it is rough on the skin. I have been using a SR for the most part these days and then going over it with the DE. The problem being the future is just to aggressive for this task. To make a long story short I bought a progress to use.

The razor is very nice and shaves well. I used it on a 10 hour old beard one morning and found it to shave great. It gave me a fairly close shave with no irritation or burn. I had it set on the 3 setting. The hard part to get use to is the serrated like safty bar. Other than that it shaved fine.
The razor doesn't seem to have the heft that my other Merkur razors have. I think the metal alloy may be different, but I don't know.

It seems like a razor that will be around for a while. The problem now is that my SR shaves are getting good enough that I don't need a DE to touch up with.

It's all about having fun.
I do both DE and Straight shaves just to mix it up.

Me too....one gives what the other cant. It is nice to be able to have choices and something different. I am trying to get my daughter to use a DE razor.

I have the Futur and I used to have the Progress, I'd take the Progress any day over the Futur, but I sold mine years ago.

These days, the bog standard Merkur HD is what I reach for if I want a DE, otherwise it's a straight.

I used to wear a uniform, and my appearance was important. Note I said appearence, nobody was going to touch my face during working hours, so I could settle for adequate appearance when I started straight shaving... As long as it looked good enough, I left the DE alone. As it turned out for me, a single pass was plenty good for appearence, so my switch to a straight happened instantly. As I became more comfortable with the straight, my shaves got better and I eventually went to a 2 pass shave that was equal to a 3 pass DE shave with less irritation.

I still keep the HD for travel or when I'm not feeling well, and don't trust myself, but otherwise I use a straight.

As for that Merkur Progress, to be honest, I've been thinking of getting another one, even though I distinctly remember deciding that it felt exactly the same as an HD in use, at my favorite setting.... That is likely the curse of lousy memory..... wanting a razor I've already had in the past, I mean.

Regards

Christian