Thread: the exaggerated art of straight razor shaving; begginner's adivce

OP if you stick with this age old art long enough I believe that you will find that 99.99% of EVERYTHING involved with using, and maintaining a straight razor is PERSONAL PREFERENCE. While I prefer to strop with a hanging strop, I would never tell someone that that is the only way to strop. It's just what I prefer. The same goes with the type, size etc about the razors, strops and hones.

I've honed about 300+ razors and I still don't know anything! Does that mean that I don't get good long lasting, smooth and comfortable shave? NO! I get great compliments on my edges. What I'm getting at is that I'm still learning. There is nothing written in stone. What worked on the last razor may not work on the next. When the people get their razor and love the way that it shaves and asks me how I honed it, I tell them, but I also tell them that what works for me, may or not work for them.

Also:

As a father of three and grandfather of four, I believe that 'Tone of Voice' can make all the difference on how someone 'thinks' what you are saying. Here's an example; If you were to say to a three year old child in a soft and loving tone "I love you" it would be welcomed, however if you were to use a Harsh and Angry tone and said the same, the child would cringe thinking that they had done something wrong.

The same goes for how things are presented in writing. Thanks to Razorfeld, my writing has much improved but there again, I'm still learning.

Sanfte Rasur, mein Klingenbruder!

(Smooth Shaving My Brother In Blades)

Originally Posted by cudarunner

The same goes for how things are presented in writing. Thanks to Razorfeld, my writing has much improved but there again, I'm still learning.

What did I do now? OH, you mean these!!!!!!!!!!. Ya gotta know that there was a reverse education going on. I now use them in excess! Who can I get rid of them on?

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

What did I do now? OH, you mean these!!!!!!!!!!. Ya gotta know that there was a reverse education going on. I now use them in excess! Who can I get rid of them on?

That's what you get for associating with an old redneck country boy!

Let's get back to the OP's posts.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

This Ban button you speke of,Can it be rented for a few Hours

you just want to get rid of the Troll brush thread don't you Bill LOL

Originally Posted by Substance

you just want to get rid of the Troll brush thread don't you Bill LOL

You have been reading my mail

Ok, I was going to have a laugh and let this just die, but...well I'm still having a laugh, but if you (OP) would like to know why a community dedicated to wet shaving, and in particular SR shaving might think your post offensive, I suggest you look at what you titled it, " the exaggerated art of straight razor shaving; begginner's adivce, which: a) is offensive in its insinuation and b) is full of spelling errors. Just saying....see Quip of the day.

The reason you might have gotten some grief here is not everyone learns at the same level, my first shave was a WTG and ATG shave, I'm one of the rare ones who got it almost immediately and kept improving. A new person without natural skills might read your thread and think "this isn't so hard" and end up needing stitches. Or try honing a $200 razor only to mess it up badly, again not everyone has natural skills and they need to slowly build up in skills. I and another local user have had probably two dozen local meetups with newbies and maybe 2 had the skills to master honing and stropping immediately, and a few had no skills whatsoever and shouldn't have even held sharp objects let alone shave with them.

If your story is true, you are one of the lucky ones who got it right away. Not everyone is so lucky and it's just better to be on the side of caution when dealing with beginners rather than say "It's easy, anyone can do it" some can't

Originally Posted by ifcis

I wrote with the best of intentions - to add to the pool of opinions here and maybe help someone with that. I also had the impression that any critique might be beneficial, if not for anything else, then to be dismissed with evidence to contrary while strengthening the original ideas.
I am glad to find out that it was unneccessary, as my thoughts and experiences apply to me only and are completely useless to any other individuals. On the other hand, I'm sad that some people think that their opinion is end all be all, and any others should be vehemently put down and preferrably banned.

Originally Posted by rodb

If your story is true, you are one of the lucky ones who got it right away. Not everyone is so lucky and it's just better to be on the side of caution when dealing with beginners rather than say "It's easy, anyone can do it" some can't

:

Well,since there are very few of us SRP members that know everything about straight Razors,the art of using them,how to make perfect lather,proper prep,Hones and honing,shaving brushes,scale materials,forging and making custom razors.
Stump training sheep,fishing for Salmon with an M16,Guns in general.
Perhaps this thread should die and we all start Over

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Well,since there are very few of us SRP members that know everything about straight Razors,the art of using them,how to make perfect lather,proper prep,Hones and honing,shaving brushes,scale materials,forging and making custom razors.
Stump training sheep,fishing for Salmon with an M16,Guns in general.
Perhaps this thread should die and we all start Over

Don't forget some of us are great at scaling walls, crushing ice with our bare hands, and few, very few, have defended a small Amazon village from a horde of ferocious army ants with nothing but a hoe and a glass of water....also, if I'm not mistaken, we have members who can pedal a bicycle up severe inclines with unflagging speed and hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy...we're a diverse crowd.