It’s time to start breaking in the new razors, and I’ll be starting with the Mühle R89.
The Mühle R89 is often referred to as a fairly mild razor, good for starters, but is also a solid, well engineered and made razor that serves experienced shavers well.
I’m excited to try it out, and I’ve decided to pair it with one of my favorite more aggressive blades: the Gillette Perma-Sharp, which should make for some pretty good shaves.
I’ll also be giving the Taylor of Old Bond Street Jermyn Street sensitive skin shaving cream its first go this week, so I’m really looking forward to these shaves.
Let’s get into it.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #240. The Proraso Sunday Mühle Perma-Sharp shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Mühle R89
- Blade: Gillette Perma-Sharp
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Protective pre-shave cream (blue)
- Brush: Proraso boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Protective shave soap (blue)
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Protective aftershave balm (blue)
- Stats: 5th consecutive almost perfect shave, 64th overall almost perfect shave, 1st shave and 1st almost perfect shave with the Mühle razor, first shave with the Perma-Sharp blade since mid-August 2025.
I was so excited for this shave this morning, and it delivered in just about every way.
I’ll give a full review of the Mühle after all of this week’s shaves, but my first impression is that it’s a very nice, capable razor. It’s mild, probably Henson mild equivalent mild, but also very comfortable. The weight of it helped it glide smoothly. In the end, I had no irritation at all this morning, though the mildness meant I really needed to work to get a close shave.
I’m glad I paired it with the Perma-Sharp blade. First off, I haven’t used that blade since August, but it really is one of my favorites for delivering great sharpness and accuracy with comfort. And this seems to be a perfect pairing for it. I’ll look forward to other great pairings coming up, like with the Astra green, 7 O’Clock green, and others.
The whole of the Proraso blue line helped make this a quality shave with wonderful slickness and protection, and even with no irritation, the balm just helps make my face feel comfortable and smooth after the shave.
All-in-all, this was an outstanding first shave for the Mühle, and I look forward to many, many more.
Comfort: 25 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 of 25
Overall: 24 of 25
Sunday’s Shave, #241. The TOBS Jermyn Street shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Mühle R89
- Blade: Gillette Perma-Sharp
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave soap
- Brush: Yaqi Rainbow synthetic
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Taylor of Old Bond Street Jermyn Street shaving cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Soothing Post Shave balm
- Stats: 65th almost perfect shave, 4th almost perfect shave with the Perma-Sharp and second with the Mühle,
Okay, let me address the elephant on the page…I screwed up in grabbing the items for this week’s shave: I didn’t grab tomorrow’s lather, and I grabbed the Barbasol 1919 lather and not aftershave. Since I write this the week before it gets posted, I can fix the photo at the top of the post, but I’m not going to re-stage the picture for today’s shave. So just imagine the cream-colored Barbasol 1919 aftershave cream there instead.
Except that’s not what I actually used. Instead of coming downstairs from the bathroom to grab the planned aftershave, I just used the Nivea balm.
So let’s actually talk about the shave.
The Mühle has a very similar plate or comb design to the King C Gillette, and today, for some reason, it bothered me more than it did on Sunday. What’s the problem? the corners of the comb/plate/guard are sharp and very squared off, and on my neck, that can drag or poke and scratch.
But the shave was great–not quite as comfortable as Sunday’s shave, but slightly closer and really good. The TOBS Jermyn Street for Sensitive Skin shaving cream lathered very well, and has a pleasant, light scent. And the rest of the shave was really satisfying.
Now, pardon me while I update the photo up top…
Comfort: 24 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #242. The Mühle Nivea shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Mühle R89
- Blade: Gillette Perma-Sharp
- Pre-Shave: Stirling Soap Co. Unscented pre-shave soap
- Lather: Nivea Sensitive Shave Gel
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Soothing Post Shave balm
- Stats: 66th almost perfect shave, 7th in a row. First Perma-Sharp shaves since August 2025, first shave with the Nivea shave gel since early December 2025.
Yeah, I really like the Mühle. These have been some great shaves, and I’m really looking forward to more with some other blades. The shaves all have been very comfortable, and surprisingly close, even before the extra strokes needed to clean up the last of the stubble.
And, since it’s been six months since I last used the Perma-Sharp, I need to ask myself why I hadn’t come back. This is a great blade.
To this shave: it was a great one. Comfortable, close, nicely protected by the lather, and a great finish with the balm. In a pinch, this is a great shave I need to come back to.
Comfort: 24 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25