Merkur Safety Razors, Made in Solingen Since 1896
Merkur builds double edge safety razors in Solingen, Germany, and the range runs from plain closed comb models through open comb, slant bar and dial adjustable designs. That spread is why the name comes up so often for a first traditional razor and again for shavers who have moved on to something more demanding. Alongside the razors themselves, Merkur also produces blades, brushes and replacement parts.
The company was started in 1896 by Emil Hermes in Solingen, and the name is a nod to his own surname: Merkur is the Roman equivalent of the Greek messenger god Hermes. It stayed in family hands for decades, passing to Emil's sons Erich and Hans, until the Kirschbaum family took a controlling stake in January 1996. Ulrich Wiethoff, who had already spent years shaping Merkur's products, became sole shareholder in 2021, and the operation moved to Nordstrasse in Solingen the year after.
Made in Solingen is a legal claim rather than a marketing one. Germany's Solingen Regulation reserves the name for cutlery whose major manufacturing and finishing stages all happen in the Solingen industrial area, so a razor stamped that way was genuinely built there. The construction is worth knowing too: the 34C, to take one example, has a brass handle and a die cast zinc head, galvanised and bright chrome plated, weighing 78 grams.
That weight is the whole idea behind a Merkur. The head sits on the face under its own mass, so you guide the razor rather than press it, and it takes ordinary double edge blades instead of a proprietary cartridge. Every Merkur razor on this page ships from Shaving.ie with fast delivery across Ireland.
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