Luxury Razors

I felt on this review left on a notorious site regarding a well known safety razor, the Merkur Vision 2000. The Merkur Vision 2000 review is so harsh, it’s priceless:

I bought this after years of mucking around with Mach 3, Fusion and all the other gimmicy rubbish on the market. What I wanted was a really good, simple shave. This razor is billed as the dogs danglers - well made etc. Actually its build quality is very dissapointing - looks like it came out of a East German car plant circa 1963. Rough edges and an uneven gap between the blade and the razor edge. The blades made by the same company are also rubbish - Gillette or Wilkinson are miles better and half the price. I am now (after a month) going to replace this heap of junk and will melt it down for use as a spare ash tray for a Trabant.

Remember, this person wasn’t used to safety razors, and it takes time to train and perform a good shaving with this quality tools. So go around and read other reviews, you’ll see that the Merkur Vision 2000 is a great razor!

It has been said that this razor is unwieldy. I disagree: it is weighted and balanced so that you only need the lightest grip. Let the razor do the work! i find it very satisfying in the hand. The shave is astonishingly good, (read: a little terrifying to the beginner!) especially if you take the time to fiddle with the tension settings until you find what suits you best. It is, however, too easy accidentally to change the tension setting in the course of the shave, so take care. Also, there is an awful lot of razor between the sides and edges of the blade and the skin, which can make some detail work tricky…

You know my love to Merkur razors, so today I decided to do a quick review of the Merkur 38C from Dovo Solingen. A few words to describe this razor: Heavy duty, long handled razor from the German craftsmen! Merkur have combined the best features of their most popular razors to come up with this year’s most anticipated shaving tool!

Features:
- Chrome plated solid brass core
- Long handle (3.75 inches) with stylish barber pole design
- Weighty (4oz) and solid design that feels great in your hand
- Two part razor with turning knob at the base of the handle that releases the screw rod for razor replacement
- Comes in stylish Merkur presentation tin
- 10 Free Merkur double edged razor blades included

This heavy duty razor is a must buy for those serious about using the very best in workmanship. You can buy the Merkur 38C for £29.99.

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This is a mini review of the Parker Model 84 Metal. This has a screw down safety razor head, with individual styling, gunmetal type finish and brass decorative artwork on the handle. The picture really does not do it justice, the Parker Model 84 looks absolutely fantastic.

The razor is three piece and of medium weight. The handle is hollow with a standard base and the top plate has 4 ‘lugs’ to hold the blade in place. This is the same design as the 1951 Gillette Tech.

The Parker Model 84 Metal Safety Razor is available at £19.99

Before the invention of the first safety razor, or the razor as we know it nowadays, men were using straight razor, and, as you might imagine, did not have any security system to protect their users. As straight razor requires very accurate skills, many accidents occurred, from minor cuts to sever ones (as you could remember from some old comedy when a barber accidentally cut its customer ear).

In the late 18th century, a Frenchman, Jean-Jacques Perret , invented the first safety razor. He was inspired by the joiner’s plane, which are used to flatten, reduce the thickness of, and impart a smooth surface to a rough piece of lumber.

As he had a passion for this field, he also wrote a book called Pogonotomy or the Art of Learning to Shave Oneself.

In the late 1820s, a similar system was created in Sheffield, England. Later, in the 19th century, single-edge blade mounted on a hoe-shaped handle became fashionable and was available in Britain and Germany.

The first American safety razor was patented in 1880 by the Kampfe Brothers, the razor was being described as “a small blade held in a suitable frame and provided with a guard to prevent the edge of the razor from cutting into the skin”. This new razor featured a wire-skin guard on top of the razors-edge.

In 1901, An American inventor named King Camp Gillette and his partner William Nickerson designed a safety razor with disposable blades (as previous system required to sharpen regularly the blade).

Gillette realised that by selling an inexpensive razor and disposable blade, he could create a new market and generate large profits. In 1902, the manufacturing of this new generation of razors began. It was in 1904 that the sales skyrocketed with total sales for the new safety razor reaching 90000 razors and 123000 blades. The design behind Gillette’s safety razor was based on a thin blade covered by the razor housing, therefore protecting the skin against deep cuts. From this time, people stopped going to barber shops (or ask family members), and started shaving themselves from their own bathrooms.