Thread: If I were starting over . . .

Truer words were never spoken, Bob. A Jeep or a Lada would get the job done when I need to go off-road. Yet still, I opted for a Tata. Why? It looks better (well, that one was easy), it smells better (that one was really easy), and in a squeeze, it will get me from A to B, no questions asked.

Is the Tata a better car? I don't know. I've never really put a Lada or Jeep to the test. And why would I? I own a car that will work, no matter what terrain I throw at it.

Shaving paraphernalia are the same. A good preshave soap will de-grease the skin, soften the follicles, and make the ensuing shave more comfortable. Does everyone need one? I don't know. But if you do, it will be there for you. Same for the soap, aftershave, and brush.

Some people get by with a Jeep or a Lada. Me, I don't bother. Forewarned is forearmed. I'll simply get the best stuff available, and be done wit it.

As an aside, your boar brush will cost you over time. It will eat a lot of soap. If you deprive yourself of the privilege of owning a high class product, that's all nice and dandy. ARKO costs about as much as a pack of breath mints. Smells the same, plus some of the native flavour. Good stuff, really, if you like Turkey.

But if you want the perfect shave, it just won't cut it. Pardon the pun.

I would just Commision Bruno and Glen to build me a 7 day set of customs to begin with and be done,after all the searching , they seem to be what I reach for all the time.

On the more practical side , 2 Blue Steel Kinfolks , haven't found anything that takes and holds a nicer edge.

Start off with the Kanayama strop and pick up a Pixelfixed and Walleyeman brush and a jar of Martin de Candre soap , stop there and I would be good. YMMV. Tc

Originally Posted by RobinK

Truer words were never spoken, Bob. A Jeep or a Lada would get the job done when I need to go off-road. Yet still, I opted for a Tata. Why? It looks better (well, that one was easy), it smells better (that one was really easy), and in a squeeze, it will get me from A to B, no questions asked.

Is the Tata a better car? I don't know. I've never really put a Lada or Jeep to the test. And why would I? I own a car that will work, no matter what terrain I throw at it.

Shaving paraphernalia are the same. A good preshave soap will de-grease the skin, soften the follicles, and make the ensuing shave more comfortable. Does everyone need one? I don't know. But if you do, it will be there for you. Same for the soap, aftershave, and brush.

Some people get by with a Jeep or a Lada. Me, I don't bother. Forewarned is forearmed. I'll simply get the best stuff available, and be done wit it.

As an aside, your boar brush will cost you over time. It will eat a lot of soap. If you deprive yourself of the privilege of owning a high class product, that's all nice and dandy. ARKO costs about as much as a pack of breath mints. Smells the same, plus some of the native flavour. Good stuff, really, if you like Turkey.

But if you want the perfect shave, it just won't cut it. Pardon the pun.

The point is you can make it as simple as you want or as complicated as you want. Once you satisfy the necessities the rest is luxury but not strictly necessary. The choice is always personal. I think people can delude themselves if they can't get the job done, in this case smooth comfortable shave with the basics, that throwing money at it will make a huge difference. Most problems are operator error not equipment failure.

Nothing wrong with chasing the shave nirvana, whatever that is in the users mind. Oth a good smooth serviceable shave does not require a lot of expensive equipment just skill. You have to make allowances for special conditions like skin that is more sensitive than normal though.

Bob

If I were starting over with straight razors, I'd just buy one good quality straight razor and use that exclusively. For myself, I bought a DOVO Palisander from The Superior Shave, which I consider to be my main blade. But, then I rapidly bought 2 more straights, a shavette and a DE. I bought a Whipped Dog razor so I'd have something cheap to practice on as I moved through each phase of straight razor advancement. Turned out to be unnecessary. I bought a vintage smiling blade to try a different sort of edge - turned out to not be the best for me (a fat face doesn't need a smile). I bought a shavette to know what straight shaving with a truly sharp blade is, but shaving with a shavette and a straight razor are two different things. I'd prefer if I'd just stuck with the DOVO alone for a couple years, if not forever. (In general I'd try to be a bit more minimalistic, but in truth, I'm suffering through a bout of RAD/HAD right now and I'm sure my collection will grow).

As for soaps...I've gotten a few since this journey began. I shaved for decades with just one puck of something. When that ran out, I'd go and get another puck of something. Now that I've developed a supply chain for getting soaps to Taiwan (there's almost nothing available locally), I'm enjoying having a range of choices. No change here.

The biggest change is that I would have started with a DE instead of a straight. I totally love DE shaving, thing is, if I'd found DE shaving first I'm not sure I'd ever have started straight razor shaving....so, I don't know if I'd really want to change this or not.

What would I do different? Nothing. It's all been a tonne of fun and still is. Too many razors, too many hones, too many soaps, creams, aftershave, too many brushes, too many strops.

In the words of Maxwell smart: And loving it!

James.

This thread got me thinking back about how it all started for me and what I would have done differently. To my surprise, I was able to find my first posts on the straightrazorplace yahoo group I had joined when I was a poor university student back in 2003. Namely, my first straight razor newbie experience.

I bought a straight razor kit off a forum member, consisting of a dovo prima ebony 5/8, a wide dovo strop and a barber hone. I was able to keep that going for a couple of years, before getting more razors and stuff.

If I were starting over, I wish I would have been able to find someone who is very experienced to show me the ropes hands on. Namely stropping technique and to inspect my edge to see if it is really shave ready and at its full potential. It would have shaved off a good 6 months off my learning curve. My barber at the time was experienced with straights, but was reluctant to share his knowledge. The straight razor meet ups were very helpful in acquiring that hands on knowledge, but that only came 5 years later.

We are very lucky today to have such a large and globally widespread community.

Oh and I almost forgot. I wish I would have discovered the joys of the coticule earlier on in my journey.

The only thing I would change would be to start with a 3" wide strop.

And maybe add a hot towel steamer to the bathroom. (SWMBO still won't let me do that)

The 3" strop is an excellent point. And a modular one, too. Like SRD's Natural. The perfect beginner strop.

We're all different and what somebody else would prefer is probably not going to be my choice.

I'd probably get a different first razor than I did, a much nicer one, but I still got those later so it doesn't really matter that much. I still would like to personally experience the wide range of equipment that I did, so whether in the same order or in different one is a secondary concern.

Skipping the whole journey and starting exactly where I want to end is not for me as that skips the whole wealth of knowledge.

Originally Posted by RobinK

I started with two Wacker 4/8ths, and the full Castle Forbes line.

Today, I would start with a GEM Open Comb Micromatic (commonly referred to as OCMM), the full Baume.be, Esbjerg, or Meißner Tremonia line, and probably stick there.

The vintage single edge ("SE") razors put every DE razor to shame. Including the Pils line. There really is only one type of blades, so you can blissfully skip the fanboy stage of "oh, look, Ma, my new DE blade is somehow different from the previous one".

An SE in the hands of a capable user will also give any cut-throat razor a run for its money. But while you can master an SE in a few weeks's time, a cut-throat will take much longer. And that is not mentioning money wasted on "oh, look, you totally need that $INSERT_HYPED_BRAND_DU_JOUR razor".

So, $200 for preshave, soap, and aftershave. $200 for a Thäter brush. $10 for a GEM. $20 for 100 blades lasting a few years. Done.

Yes, life can be as simple as that.

I have to say Robin that I bought a gem G-bar and I was very pleasantly surprised with it and I agree that the shave is very good too.
I would say that an expensive brush isn't 100% necessary though, my $15 boars are good enough for me. But I am happy to agree to differ on that one.