Thread: Getting started, new to straight razor

Hi I am new to straight razor shaving. My friend has had a straight razor for a while, but he's not the kind of person I would take advice from. I've never used one before but I've always wanted to use one since I was a kid. I have done a little bit of research and still haven't found one that I'm set on buying. The only thing I'm 100% sure that I want is a 6/8 straight razor. As for brand and price, I'm really not sure. I found this site and figured I would ask for help here and see what comes up. All advice is appreciated.

Hi, Im Andrew. Im in a similar situation to you, new to this and have only ordered my first razor (hasn't arrived yet). Its great you have found this forum... I have found the members to be so helpful, and very generous with their time and knowledge.

I was wondering, why are you sure you want a 6/8 razor? Not asking because I question your choice, only because I am still looking to buy a good razor (the one I ordered is just basic to start, learn how to hone, shave etc)

I read somewhere that 6/8 is basically in the middle. Most people start with 5/8 from what I read but 6/8 seems to be something I would start with instead. I haven't ordered mine yet so I'm open to other opinions still. I plan to order mine within a day though so I'm trying to learn all I can before I decide. Even though I can't ask my friend for buying advice, he does sharpen all of his knives and his razors so I can ask for help on that. That is probably the only thing I would trust him with lol.

He's good at carving things and such but not good at making good decisions/buys if ya know what I mean. Normally I would go to my roommate for this sort of thing but he doesn't grow any facial hair, maybe a few whiskers every x amount of months but I've never noticed any. On top of that he seems to be scared of sharp objects like this.

Hi jerkface38 for new razors dovo, Ralf Aust, theirs issard and revisor are all well respected known brands, or there is usually a sellection available through the classifieds / vendors corner here.
Whatever you get ensure it has been hand honed.
You will also need a strop, soap/cream, brush as a minimum.

Do you think the classifieds are a good place to look? I was considering buying one from there but I'm always a little bit weary of things like that. I was thinking about getting the 6/8 Charlex 'Charles Hake' Solingen or the 6/8 Hugo Köller Solingen. It seems like dovo is also a good choice though so I'm considering one of theirs just to start learning. Would you be against me learning with one of the razors I listed or do you think it would be about the same?

For new razors your choices are Boker, Dovo, Thiers-Issard, Ralf Aust and Revisor. While a 5/8 round point is the razor many start with over time you will want to try them all. Over the years I have used everything from a 3/8 to a 12/8 but now mainly use razors in the 5/8 to 6/8 range with 11/16 being my favorite size (DD, BB and Bokers)

The razors you mentioned from the classifieds would be fine choices as well. contact the sellers before purchasing and ask any questions you might have. the classifieds here are generally pretty good and if the sellers says they are shave ready you have a real good chance of it being true, at least to that persons standards, YMMV.

enjoy,
jim

Thank you very much, I will try to keep up with the thread. I can't wait for my first shave I'll probably take an hour to do it though because I don't want to cut myself. I will contact the sellers first and see what they say about it.

The classifieds here are a great place to buy razors; most of mine have come from there, and I've never had a problem. One of the bonuses of dealing in the classifieds is that most of those guys are experienced straight shavers, so you can reasonably trust their claims of "shave ready" (unlike ebay, for example). But, as suggested before, just ask questions when you have them. Good luck!

From one relatively newbie to another welcome to the board. I can vouch that the members here are very helpful and very knowledgeable.

I started with a shavette, this is to practice the skills necessary for a straight razor shave rather than trying to learn a load of new skills at once (shaving, stropping, lathering the brush, honing etc.) and to concentrate on one at a time. I've written more about that in other posts.

Anyway good luck in finding your straight razor, there is a guy called Taylor1000 that sells vintage straight razors for beginners for reasonable prices and will hone them to shave ready grade before posting to you. I believe there is a US and UK dealer so contact him to find out. Kropp is apparently a good starter razor too. But he labels his razors "suitable for beginners" if you are unsure and also if your razor is over £50 the honing (shave ready prep) is free, if its under £50 then you only have to pay £5 to have this service.

Cheers,

Strops

Try several! My first was extremely small and it worked like a champ. Still use it in rotation. I do have a very large one and the adrenaline rush is great when I use that one. It is probably one of the sharpest I have and it is neat to watch that large blade. It is a bit much under the nose though. I have about a dozen (all different sizes) and I find the variety to be very refreshing. Over the past month I have focused on one (about 6/8) so I can work on my technique a bit. Enjoying that quite a bit. I would pick something middle of the road to start with than pick something significantly different for your second. One is enough unless you need to send it out for sharpening. Then, having a backup works great. Several here on the board have developed a strange disease where they simply cannot stop purchasing/acquiring either razors, strops, or other 'stuff' associated with wet shaving.

Pick one to get started. Spend several months with that one. Enjoy yourself and have fun!
Scott