Noob to Straight Razors.

Hello all, I just got off of Active Duty Army and we weren't permitted Straight Razors but I've always wanted to use one. My budget is pretty tight. I've purchased the $25 "gentlemans shaving kit" from wal-Mart. It included a brush, mug and soap puck. I believe all I need now is a SR, a strop, and oil. I'm new to all of this and have watched a few videos from Lynn as well as read his SR for beginners article on here.

I am considering purchasing a SR from whippeddog.com since
It seems to be the cheapest and they are "shave ready". Has anyone had experience with them?
Also do I need a honing stone and all that other fancy jazz? Am I missing anything?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated,
Thank you,
-Scott.

ScottyK9, welcome to SRP. You are thinking in the right way. Limited budget aside, going with whippeddog.com is an intelligent solution. His blades don't win beauty contest, but the will win the shaving contest. It will come shave ready. He has several price points to look at. I've had a few from him and I was quite pleased with them. His basic strops will also be a good intro to straight razor shaving. I take it the "gentleman's shaving kit" is the VDH variety. Again a good basic beginning. If you are careful in your stropping you shouldn't need a honing stone (as you put it) for a few months. The art and skill of honing a razor from bevel to shave ready edge is a slow learning curve. Concentrate for the next several months on learning to use your straight edge properly, and that includes stropping. So enough you will find that your edge needs re-freshening. Told that goal read up on barbers hones and chrome oxide, a less expensive way to go till you can get some one on one experience with a mentor on the how to hone from start to finish.

I would suggest that you revise your info so we can see where you are. There are mentors and willing SRP members all over the place that can, and happily will, give you face to face tutoring and answer a lot of your questions.

+1 on Whippeddog! Got my first straight from him. He doesn't "restore" them, but he does hone them and they are shave ready out of the box. Plus, he's a great guy to deal with. Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your service!

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Originally Posted by Razorfeld

ScottyK9, welcome to SRP. You are thinking in the right way. Limited budget aside, going with whippeddog.com is an intelligent solution. His blades don't win beauty contest, but the will win the shaving contest. It will come shave ready. He has several price points to look at. I've had a few from him and I was quite pleased with them. His basic strops will also be a good intro to straight razor shaving. I take it the "gentleman's shaving kit" is the VDH variety. Again a good basic beginning. If you are careful in your stropping you shouldn't need a honing stone (as you put it) for a few months. The art and skill of honing a razor from bevel to shave ready edge is a slow learning curve. Concentrate for the next several months on learning to use your straight edge properly, and that includes stropping. So enough you will find that your edge needs re-freshening. Told that goal read up on barbers hones and chrome oxide, a less expensive way to go till you can get some one on one experience with a mentor on the how to hone from start to finish.

I would suggest that you revise your info so we can see where you are. There are mentors and willing SRP members all over the place that can, and happily will, give you face to face tutoring and answer a lot of your questions.

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Sounds good. I will be ordering one from him tonight. Besides one of his strops what will I need after that? And yes it was the Van der whatever brand. I will look into the stones thank you.

Thank you for all the information and kind words. I have updated my info.

Thank you
~Scott.

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Originally Posted by billyc4362

+1 on Whippeddog! Got my first straight from him. He doesn't "restore" them, but he does hone them and they are shave ready out of the box. Plus, he's a great guy to deal with. Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your service!

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Sounds good to me! I will be ording from him tonight, I'm super excited. And again thank you so much, I didn't mean to put it in there as like "hey look at me" lol, more as so you guys kinda know where I'm coming from. Shaving has always been a chore rather than a hobby and really an art form.

Thank you,
~Scott.

ScottyK9, there are a lot of SRP members in Florida. If you go to the membership list and under advanced search put in your city and see what comes up. If no one try easy driving cities to you and see who surfaces. I'd suggest a few I know in Florida but I don't know the geography of the state.

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Originally Posted by Razorfeld

ScottyK9, there are a lot of SRP members in Florida. If you go to the membership list and under advanced search put in your city and see what comes up. If no one try easy driving cities to you and see who surfaces. I'd suggest a few I know in Florida but I don't know the geography of the state.

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Will do, thank you. To be specific I live in Orlando and work for disney.

Hi and welcome. Sounds like you have done your research. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask.

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Originally Posted by eddy79

Hi and welcome. Sounds like you have done your research. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask.

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Hello and thank you guys for everything. I feel almost at home here. Hahah :)

~Scott.

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Originally Posted by ScottyK9

Sounds good to me! I will be ording from him tonight, I'm super excited. And again thank you so much, I didn't mean to put it in there as like "hey look at me" lol, more as so you guys kinda know where I'm coming from. Shaving has always been a chore rather than a hobby and really an art form.

Thank you,
~Scott.

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Didn't think you were putting it out there like, "Hey look at me". Both my older brothers served in the Navy. The eldest did 6 years, my other brother did 8 active duty, and has been in the Pa National Guard for the last 20+, and did a tour in Iraq. I know what you guys go through, what a sacrifice it is, and how thankless it can be.

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Originally Posted by ScottyK9

I didn't mean to put it in there as like "hey look at me" lol, more as so you guys kinda know where I'm coming from.
~Scott.

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I doubt anybody took it that way. Many of the gentlemen (and perhaps some of the ladies also) served in the armed forces of their respective country, and most of us on the board sincerely appreciate your service to your country. (There is a thread on here somewhere that the members list their service -- looking for you to add yours)

Looks like you are ready to start. Don't get discouraged from any blood the first few times -- it's pretty much a right of passage. Good luck, and continue to study the board and videos -- lots of good information here.

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Originally Posted by BDRebel

I doubt anybody took it that way. Many of the gentlemen (and perhaps some of the ladies also) served in the armed forces of their respective country, and most of us on the board sincerely appreciate your service to your country. (There is a thread on here somewhere that the members list their service -- looking for you to add yours)

Looks like you are ready to start. Don't get discouraged from any blood the first few times -- it's pretty much a right of passage. Good luck, and continue to study the board and videos -- lots of good information here.

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Thank you and it really does mean a lot me and many others. Well I'm sure I'll get a good but of blood out of myself, haha.

It seems I am nearly ready to start I am waiting on Larry @ whippeddog to get back to me and send me an invoice. Not sure how that works sent him an order and haven't heard anything but it must be the holiday.

Thank you,
~Scott.

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Originally Posted by billyc4362

Didn't think you were putting it out there like, "Hey look at me". Both my older brothers served in the Navy. The eldest did 6 years, my other brother did 8 active duty, and has been in the Pa National Guard for the last 20+, and did a tour in Iraq. I know what you guys go through, what a sacrifice it is, and how thankless it can be.

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Thank you and it means a lot more than you know. I'll probably be going National Guard eventually. When you get a chance thank them for me. I appreciate it greatly.

~Scott.

The anticipation of receiving it all is killing me!!! Larry said it should take 4 days to process and then another 3+ to ship. Oh man am
I excited.

~Scotty.

I'm happy for you Bro'

Alright so I got it today. It's a Sheffield Extra Hollow Ground 5/8" razor. Did my first strop and shave with it today, had a lot if tugging and pulling on my 1/4 inch facial hair. I filmed a video and took a better picture with my dslr, I'm out now but any advice would be good. Haven't had much luck with the jawbone and neck area or upper lip and chin.

Attachment 164169

Thank you,
-Scott.

Larry's razors come shave ready. Stropping not necessary. Being new with stropping, you may have taken the edge off the razor. (have done so myself on my second shave) If you got the poor man's strop kit try refreshing the edge. When stropping the razor, pull firmly on the leather and strop lightly. Also when shaving make sure the first pass is with the direction of beard growth. Learning technique is about figuring out your face and adjusting to it. I've only been doing it a couple of weeks but the shaves are getting consistently better as I learn. Keep it up! Good luck.

[QUOTE=ScottyK9;1329797]Alright so I got it today. It's a Sheffield Extra Hollow Ground 5/8" razor. Did my first strop and shave with it today, had a lot if tugging and pulling on my 1/4 inch facial hair. I filmed a video and took a better picture with my dslr, I'm out now but any advice would be good. Haven't had much luck with the jawbone and neck area or upper lip and chin.

Attachment 164169



You may have rounded the edge over when you stropped it, common newb mistake. Also, you probably shouldn't have stropped it at all. When I got mine from Larry, he put a note with it saying NOT to strop it until after you shave with it the first time. My advice is to try and find a member close to you to evaluate the edge, and if need be hone it for you.

I would also recommend that you watch some you tube videos. Lynn, GeoFatboy, and Mantic 59 have some good videos. There are other factors that will cause tugging: face prep, lather, blade angle, pressure. I'm still guilty of using too much pressure at times, 25 years of cartridge shaving ingrains a multitude of bad habits.

You're going through the same stuff that most of us went through in the beginning, don't let it get you down. Once you start getting the basics down, your shaves will improve.

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Originally Posted by SteveTheCanuck

Larry's razors come shave ready. Stropping not necessary. Being new with stropping, you may have taken the edge off the razor. (have done so myself on my second shave) If you got the poor man's strop kit try refreshing the edge. When stropping the razor, pull firmly on the leather and strop lightly. Also when shaving make sure the first pass is with the direction of beard growth. Learning technique is about figuring out your face and adjusting to it. I've only been doing it a couple of weeks but the shaves are getting consistently better as I learn. Keep it up! Good luck.

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Steve, thank you for replying to my post. Firstly I stropped the razor after shaving but not before. I watched Lynn's video on stropping, twice and then stropped it. Only after I had shaved though. Yes it is quite odd shaving with my left hand also I can barely see what I am shaving when I shave it. Haha. Did well, no cuts and it seemed to be pulling rather than gliding, granted I didn't apply much pressure. Also I don't know much about this razor, hopefully it's as good as a Dovo. I don't know.


Thank you,
~Scott.

[QUOTE=billyc4362;1329820]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScottyK9

Alright so I got it today. It's a Sheffield Extra Hollow Ground 5/8" razor. Did my first strop and shave with it today, had a lot if tugging and pulling on my 1/4 inch facial hair. I filmed a video and took a better picture with my dslr, I'm out now but any advice would be good. Haven't had much luck with the jawbone and neck area or upper lip and chin.

Attachment 164169



You may have rounded the edge over when you stropped it, common newb mistake. Also, you probably shouldn't have stropped it at all. When I got mine from Larry, he put a note with it saying NOT to strop it until after you shave with it the first time. My advice is to try and find a member close to you to evaluate the edge, and if need be hone it for you.

I would also recommend that you watch some you tube videos. Lynn, GeoFatboy, and Mantic 59 have some good videos. There are other factors that will cause tugging: face prep, lather, blade angle, pressure. I'm still guilty of using too much pressure at times, 25 years of cartridge shaving ingrains a multitude of bad habits.

You're going through the same stuff that most of us went through in the beginning, don't let it get you down. Once you start getting the basics down, your shaves will improve.

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I will refer you to the post I just made in reply to Steve.

And yes I've shaved dry in the field, desert, you name it I've shaved there with nothing but a bic LOL. I've even used hand sanitizer for after shave. Face prep may be the killer here, I only applied the shaving soap that's all. And for sure pressure is a factor.

~Scott.

My first razor is a sight half-seen from Larry and it shaves well. The biggest improvement for me came after mapping my face and doing more to prep my face before shaving. It really helped. Also, when I made my mistakes stropping I refreshed the edge and everything got better.

Sorry if it seemed I was copying Steve's post, I type slowly(search and destroy method). For face prep, I'm sure most guys take a hot shower first. Other methods include: Hot towel, pre shave oil, hair conditioner.

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Originally Posted by billyc4362

Sorry if it seemed I was copying Steve's post, I type slowly(search and destroy method). For face prep, I'm sure most guys take a hot shower first. Other methods include: Hot towel, pre shave oil, hair conditioner.

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It's quite alright. I had showered first but some like the hot towel method I've seen, never did it but I'll give it a whack. Hair conditioner? Hmmmm

~Scott.

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Originally Posted by SteveTheCanuck

My first razor is a sight half-seen from Larry and it shaves well. The biggest improvement for me came after mapping my face and doing more to prep my face before shaving. It really helped. Also, when I made my mistakes stropping I refreshed the edge and everything got better.

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Half-seen? Haha I'm glad I got a black one that's all I can complain about. Yeah I'll be working on that. I did watch Lynn's video on stropping and followed that closely. May have a refresh in my future. For $41 I'm not too upset. Just wondering if it's a good razor. It's sharp as a whip though. I think it's me more so than the razor.

-Scott

BTW- Good looking razor. Sheffield razors are known to be among the best, along with Soligen and TI blades.

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Originally Posted by billyc4362

BTW- Good looking razor. Sheffield razors are known to be among the best, along with Soligen and TI blades.

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Awesome, I was hoping someone would have some info on the razor. Thank you for that,
-Scott.

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Originally Posted by ScottyK9

It's quite alright. I had showered first but some like the hot towel method I've seen, never did it but I'll give it a whack. Hair conditioner? Hmmmm

~Scott.

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Never did the hair conditioner myself, from what I've heard you apply it in the shower and leave it soak in for a few minutes.

The hair responds better (softens) if you can give it a alakaline environment. Try lathering up and wet towelling. Then take it off and lather up again. Or try something like Proraso pre shave, hot shower then lather up.

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Originally Posted by SteveTheCanuck

The hair responds better (softens) if you can give it a alakaline environment. Try lathering up and wet towelling. Then take it off and lather up again. Or try something like Proraso pre shave, hot shower then lather up.

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Awesome. Thank you guys for all this help. :) Where does one procure said Proraso?

~Scott.

Amazon.com

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Originally Posted by billyc4362

Amazon.com

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Looking now, thank you.

Proraso is available at a lot of places including many drugstores. If not available where you are it's certainly available online. I get the pre-shave from my drugstore. Note also- it really helps to apply it again post shave if you have razor burn