Shaving: Merkur Safety Razors

[AvivaSimplex]

I took up the whole thing a couple months ago, with the beaver hair brush, Merkur razor and blades, and Proraso shaving soap. In order to get that baby's-butt clean shave, I still have to shave against the grain. Specifically, I do one shave with the grain and then another against it. I switched to Derby brand blades, which are a little duller than Merkur, and I get zero irritation from the second time through.