Thread: horrible first straight razor shave experience

If I had to start all over again... I'd start with a Feather Straight(or a clone) with the ProGuard blade. You can consent rate on method without the worry of Honing or Stropping. And more important.. With the ProGuard-less chance of cutting yourself up.

Dropping these in the mail:

Originally Posted by MajorEthanolic

Dropping these in the mail:

Major... this gesture is very generous of you, there are still some good people in this world!

Kudos to the Major for PIF and kudos to metulburr for accepting. The heart of our forum is active and alive. We all benefit.

Metalburr, welcome to this fantastic forum.

I did pretty much the same as you when I started straight shaving a few months ago. I bought a cheapy off Ebay thinking it would be ok. Wrong! It was awful. Couldn't get a decent edge on it no matter what I tried, regardless of how many Youtube videos I watched.

I then bought a shavette. It shaved great, but given that my technique wasn't great, I cut my face to shreds. I had trouble with the exposed square corners of the blade edge.

I then bit the bullet and bought a second hand Boker off Ebay. It was great. Shaved beautifully and didn't slice me up.

The offer of the shavette and blades is great. There's a great bunch of people on here. Once you get the hang of shaving with it and you aint cutting yourself, invest in a decent straight. As others have said, you don't have to spend a fortune.

I've also been fortunate to have had a honing and stropping lesson off a senior member on here who lives close to me. Priceless! He even put a shaving edge on my cheapy, although it didn't hold its edge for a whole shave. Just obviously a rubbish razor. There must be someone on here living pretty close to you who'd be able to help you.

Stick with it mate. It gets better and easier! good luck. Let us know how you get on.

If money is an issue, check the classifieds here for razors. There are routinely shave ready vintage razors in the $30-$60 range that are way better than a Gold Dollar.

Thank you again Major. Yes I forget that nice people still live in the world too.

Thanks everyone. This looks to be like a great forum.

The razors that cosperryan said on ebay look to be in my price range. IF those are good razors i am kicking myself in the butt for buying a gold dollar for 20 when the last one was around 15 for vintage and shipping. Ugg.

I may be able to front that if it does not go to a bidding war at less than 1 minute. I just do not want to buy another straight razor on impulse again. So wilbert and wade and butcher sheffield are good vintage ones to look for?

I dont really know anyone that uses a straight razor. Everyone i know buys disposables. I would ask my barber, but i dont go to one. I have cut my hair myself for a long time to save money.

EDIT:
again thanks Major. I am exciting to shave instead of fearing it.

I have a Wilbert and a couple of W&B's. Both brands are very good shavers when properly honed. I find my Wilbert a slightly better shave than the W&B but that's my subjective view. Different strokes, etc.

@cosperryan
After looking more into it. I would be cautious of buying the Wade & Butcher Sheffield here
Vintage Wade Butcher Sheffield England Straight Razor | eBay

because the seller has zero feedback and the sellers account was created a week ago. While the other one
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Wilb...item4ade0f1b9c
has a couple thousand responses 100% positive.

BTW, Wibert is an old Sears label. It does look to be in better shape than the W&B.