Pre: Maggard Razors PSO – Lime

Brush: Shea Moisture Shave Synthetic

Soap: Coates Original Almond Shaving Cream for Dry Skin

Razor: Merkur 41C OC

Blade: Astra SP

Splash: Wal-Mart Witch Hazel 86%

Post: Gillette After Shave Gel

Funny how things work out sometimes! I was just posting yesterday that I thought my Tech might be getting too mild for me, and what pops up in the mail, totally unexpected? An open comb razor! Perfect timing!

I was excited to try the Merkur 41C this morning, and I was nervous at the same time. I was a little gun shy of OC razors in general because of many many people praising their aggressiveness. The 41C has decidedly mixed reviews as to its aggressive nature. So I tossed in one of my favorite blades, the Astra SP; and used one of my favorite soaps, the Coates, just to eliminate any non razor issues. I wanted to solely concentrate on its performance.

First I examined the razor. The construction looks top notch. No flaws that I could detect. It’s supposedly nickle plated as opposed to chrome plated. I don’t know if thats an advantage or not but it looks pretty darn good. The first thing I noticed was the blade exposure. It’s very comparable to the blade exposure on my Tech. In other words not very exposed at all. Next I checked out the blade gap. The gap is almost non-existent. The blade is practically sitting on the comb. Now to my understanding, the blade gap is one of the factors that determines whether a razor is aggressive or not.

Comparing blade exposure to Tech:

Checking out blade gap:

My final observation was that the handle is very short. Around 3 inches. And as beautiful as the handle is, I think I prefer knurling for a better grip. This grip isn’t exactly slippery but I wasn’t as confident with it.

Now, all that being said, I had an excellent shave with the 41C! It paired up very nicely with the Astra blade. Smooth and clean cut with minor touch up. Mostly because I was slightly more tentative in my shave, this being the first shave with this razor. Turned out a DFS on the dome and nearly BBS on the neck. I can say already that this razor is going into the daily rotation. I think the next blade I’ll try in it will be a Feather or a Voskhod. Enjoy your day!