I am new to DE shaving and had been using an electric razor for seven or eight years. After listening to an interview Mantic59 gave on an Art of Manliness podcast, I decided to give it a try. I bought a Merker Heavy Classic, silver tip badger hair brush, sandlewood shave cream, etc. I used Derby blades in my Merker and, for the life of me, I could not get a close shave. I studied the videos, took my time, worked on my technique—nothing worked. I honestly got a much closer shave with my electric razor and I found myself chasing my DE shave with my electric razor.
I was considering reaching out to the DE community (or Mantic59 himself) for advice but as I pontificated the issue, I thought maybe my razor wasn’t aggressive enough. Maybe to compensate, I need a sharper blade…. So I bought some Feather blades. Bang, instant baby butt smoothness.