open comb always more aggressive than closed?

[dantes]

Hi,

I was just wondering why an open comb version should be always more aggressive than the closed version.

I understand an open comb (for given razor and blade) gives you more freedom in choosing your blade angle but that does not mean you have to choose a more aggressive posture.

Am I right?

[JayKay]

No. The open comb lacks the safety bar and in effect puts the blade closer to your face, which is why they are more aggressive. Some closed combs are as aggressive as open combs though due to large blade gaps.

[Lionhearted]

An open comb is just as safe as a safety bar. The teeth do the same job as the bar. The reason razor manufacturers switched designs is because closed bars are cheaper to make and aren't as easily damaged. There's a range of aggressiveness in open combs but generally the later models, such as the Gillette NEW are less aggressive than the pre-1920's Old Style.

How close the blade is to your face has nothing to do with the type of safety device — teeth, bar or wire. The angle is primarily determined by the curvature of the top plate and to a lesser extent by how far the blade edge is from the edge of the safety device and to an even lesser degree how far the blade is from the bottom plate (how the plate curves down). The blade angle of an open comb isn't adjustable as such and how the razor is held doesn't allow for any more variation than with a closed comb.

The open comb has the advantage of not clogging as easily as a closed comb and the teeth don't sweep away the lather around the hair as much as a closed bar which some think makes for a somewhat smoother gliding razor.

Richard

[AsylumGuido]

An open comb is just as safe as a safety bar. The teeth do the same job as the bar. The reason razor manufacturers switched designs is because closed bars are cheaper to make and aren't as easily damaged. There's a range of aggressiveness in open combs but generally the later models, such as the Gillette NEW are less aggressive than the pre-1920's Old Style.

How close the blade is to your face has nothing to do with the type of safety device — teeth, bar or wire. The angle is primarily determined by the curvature of the top plate and to a lesser extent by how far the blade edge is from the edge of the safety device and to an even lesser degree how far the blade is from the bottom plate (how the plate curves down). The blade angle of an open comb isn't adjustable as such and how the razor is held doesn't allow for any more variation than with a closed comb.

The open comb has the advantage of not clogging as easily as a closed comb and the teeth doesn't sweep away the lather around the hair as much as a closed bar which some think makes for a somewhat smoother gliding razor.

Richard

Now that's about the best explanation I've come across!

:signs107

[ThePossum]

An open comb is just as safe as a safety bar. The teeth do the same job as the bar. The reason razor manufacturers switched designs is because closed bars are cheaper to make and aren't as easily damaged. There's a range of aggressiveness in open combs but generally the later models, such as the Gillette NEW are less aggressive than the pre-1920's Old Style.

How close the blade is to your face has nothing to do with the type of safety device — teeth, bar or wire. The angle is primarily determined by the curvature of the top plate and to a lesser extent by how far the blade edge is from the edge of the safety device and to an even lesser degree how far the blade is from the bottom plate (how the plate curves down). The blade angle of an open comb isn't adjustable as such and how the razor is held doesn't allow for any more variation than with a closed comb.

The open comb has the advantage of not clogging as easily as a closed comb and the teeth doesn't sweep away the lather around the hair as much as a closed bar which some think makes for a somewhat smoother gliding razor.

Richard

Richard,

Well said. I am an almost exclusive open comb razor user. They get a bad rap from a lot of users because they are different looking. I love the open comb design basically for one reason. That being the comb makes "furrows" in the lather when I have the blade angle wrong. There is no way you get that kind of feed back from a solid guard bar razor.

I think too much is made of the aggressiveness of a razor. To me aggressiveness is more dependent on your shave technique and the sharpness of the blade rather than the razor.

Using an open comb razor gives me an excellent BBS shave almost everyday. The same can be said about a solid guard bar razor but I love the mystique that surrounds shaving with a razor that is nearly 100 years old (my 1909 single ring) or one that was made long before I was born and most likely used early on by someone like my dad. Guess that is why I suffer from RAD.

[fritz]

I also agree with Richard, Guido, and Pogo. But you don't have to use an antique razor just to get a good open comb. The Merkur 11C (open comb version of the 36C) is a very good razor. If you compare those two razors closely, you will see that the 11C has a much smaller range of angle for which you can actually cut whiskers, compared to the 36C. So with the 11C, you are either very close to the correct angle, or the blade isn't touching your skin at all.