Thread: Another Newbie with questions.

Greetings all, I have just jumped in big time into the world of straight shaving and forums. I have never felt compelled to join a community and submit a post before, but here goes. I have been shaving with a shavette for a couple of months and have been reading the information on this board to get confident enough to buy my first straight. Today I purchased a SS Pearlex Dovo from Tony Miller's site, along with a Latigo hanging strop and a Pasted 4 side Paddle strop. In additon I was able to snag a couple Ebay razors to practice stropping with.

I wanted to ask will I be able to upkeep my razor with this setup, or will I have to immediately try to find a hone, or send it out to the honmeister's after a month of use or less?

I also have been using Porasso shaving soap and the boar brush that they sell along with these items at Target. Could someone direct me on how to get in contact with the woman that sells shaving soap on here. I believe her name is colleen(sp?). Is the brush that I have fine for beginners? I seen a tweezerman badger brush on Ebay. Is that brush recommended.

I apologize for such a long first post, I hope it comes out alright. Thanks to anyone kind of enough to answer. Any information or suggestions you have are greatly appreciated.

I'll let other more experienced members answer your questions but just wanted to say
welcome and that it looks like you got some nice stuff to start with. Later,

Justin

Welcome coolhandlurk.

It looks like you have a great setup to start with so I wouldn't worry just yet. If you intend to hone your own razors then yes you will have to buy a hone eventually.

My suggestion would be to buy a hone and practice on your Ebayers until you are confident, until then if your shaving razor needs a touch up the paddle strop will do fine for a while. If the razor pulls too much then send it out to be honed by one of the guys here that offer there services. that's what I did until I could hone well enough to see to my own.

Don't worry too much about getting special brushes etc yet unless you just have to have it

Most of all take it slow and enjoy.

Welcome and ask as many questions as you feel you need to.

Dazza

Hi, and welcome, Colleen is a member here, she is in the members list. She also has a few(?) post in the forum for soaps. Again Welcome.

Philip

Originally Posted by coolhandlurk

Greetings all, I have just jumped in big time into the world of straight shaving and forums. I have never felt compelled to join a community and submit a post before, but here goes. I have been shaving with a shavette for a couple of months and have been reading the information on this board to get confident enough to buy my first straight. Today I purchased a SS Pearlex Dovo from Tony Miller's site, along with a Latigo hanging strop and a Pasted 4 side Paddle strop. In additon I was able to snag a couple Ebay razors to practice stropping with.

I wanted to ask will I be able to upkeep my razor with this setup, or will I have to immediately try to find a hone, or send it out to the honmeister's after a month of use or less?

I also have been using Porasso shaving soap and the boar brush that they sell along with these items at Target. Could someone direct me on how to get in contact with the woman that sells shaving soap on here. I believe her name is colleen(sp?). Is the brush that I have fine for beginners? I seen a tweezerman badger brush on Ebay. Is that brush recommended.

I apologize for such a long first post, I hope it comes out alright. Thanks to anyone kind of enough to answer. Any information or suggestions you have are greatly appreciated.

Congratulations on the switch and welcome! Given your experience with the shavette, I don't think you'll have much trouble transitioning to a straight; with what you've purchased from Tony, unless you drop or ding the razor you should be able to maintain it for many months. Over that time, if your decent into this addiction is anything like most of us, you'll purchase dozens of razors and at least a handful or two of hones. As has been said, once you get a hone, practice on your e-bay specials first.

Now on to the brush...and soaps...and creams... Did I say addiction? I ment addictions! The brush you have from Target is more than adequate. It is a boar brush which because of its very nature will be much more stiff than any badger brush. However, it is a fine brush and will give you a great lather with any decent quality soap or cream. If you do want to upgrade to a badger brush (and keep the cost reasonable) Crabtree and Evelyn has a very nice badger brush for $35. If you really want quality, you can easily spend hundreds (yes I said multiple C-notes) of dollars on top of the line badger brushes. There are some members that collect the damn things. My advise...get the C&E for $35 for comparison with your boar bristle brush. Spend another $13 to $15 on a high quality English creams (best value is Taylor of Old Bond Street, about $13 from several on-line retailers--my personal favorite scent is shaving shop). After that, you can begin to make some informed decisions about which of your acquisition disorders you want to succumb to. Yes, you'll likely go broke...but you'll be the best shaved bum on skid row!!

Just one addicts opinion,
Ed

Welcome to the fun house!!

You've got a decent setup that should let you enjoy your shaves for a while.

Will you immediately have to get a hone?? No, you've got the tools to maintain that edge for a while.

Colleens' contact info: Churley (for sending PM) ; thegentlemensquarter@verizon.net (for emailing directly)

As for your brush: I've used the Proraso brush from Target and really enjoyed it. As Ed said, you will get a good lather with it using a quality soap. I've switched to the Tweezerman becuase is was a cheap way to try bader and now the Target brush is very lonely amongst my shaving gear. I can't believe how much of a difference even cheap badger makes. That said, you don't need a badger (yet )

Lastly, don't worry about the length of your posts. The more questions you ask, the more you'll learn and that's what we're here for - to learn from each other.

Originally Posted by floridaboy

Hi, and welcome, Colleen is a member here, she is in the members list. She also has a few(?) post in the forum for soaps. Again Welcome.

Philip

A few posts

I'm waiting for Guiness Book of Records to create a new category for her.

You're off on the right foot and getting some great advice from the rabble. There's little for me to add except, as you start, take your time and really try to pay attention to what is happening on the strop. It's the primary new technique you will be working with having used a shavette and bad stropping can run a fine edge in short order if you rush it.

Keep us posted.

X

Forgive me if this reply does not post correctly, as I am still trying to figure out posting and forums.

Thank you Jaegerhund, Aussie, Floridaboy, ForestryProf, Steve, and Xman for the warm welcome and encouragement.

Floridaboy and Steve thanks for the heads up on colleen's info I will try to get in touch with her as you suggested. Do you recommend any particular scents? Steve thank you for the info on my brush.

ForestryProf thank you for the information and suggestions on products and the heads up on the inevitable addiction caused by shaving with a straight. You really suprised me that a brush could cost so much money.

Xman thanks I will pay close attention as you said to the strop and stropping when my products arrive. I am very nervous about ruining my strop or razor. I am sure once I have the products in hand more questions will follow.

I had a few more questions that were brought on by reading some posts. What is BBS? Also, what is a swaty? I have a question about shaving products as well but I don't know if I should post them here or elsewhere.

I was wondering if anyone can recommend an aftershave or something that is not so strongly scented? My wife suffers from migraines, and strong scents can trigger them. As of now after I shave with my shavette, I splash alcohol on my face and then follow up with witch hazel. Again thanks everyone and if I am posting incorrectly or I need to ask these questions some where else. Please advise.

Hi,
Welcome to the forum, sounds like you are actually off to a great start (I got my start hacking myself to ribbons with a Pakistani POS before replacing it with a smoooooth Dovo...)
There are a lot of acronyms people use on here. BBS=Baby Butt Smooth.
A Swaty (one of my first hones incidentally) is a brand of barbers' hone made years ago that people seek out. There are several different versions, and the hone is named after the original maker in Austria, Franz Swaty. There are also some other versions out there, not necessarily made by him, that are also called Swaty's, such as the Pike "American Swaty" also you will hear of the "two-line Swaty" or the "Three-line Swaty". This simply means the stamp on the hone is written in either two lines, or three...search ebay for "swaty" and you will usually come up with a few hits, like this one. Just an example, I don't know the seller nor is this an endorsement, but should give you an idea. The hone (not the box) is a 2 line Austrian Swaty. In fact there is still a factory making abrasive grinding wheels and disks etc. in Slovenia to this day, but I couldnt' find hones on their site.
Hope this helps a bit.
John P.