Need some advice (preferably from fellow Brits)

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, and require a little bit of help with a few things. As you've probably noticed, im from the UK, and would prefer to buy all my required bits and pieces from the UK rather than having them delivered from abroad (though i am open to that if no good UK supplers exist)

I have a few questions, no doubt you've heard plenty of them before, i've been skulking around the forums/tutorial threads for a few days now without making an account, trying to get my head around things, but its fairly confusing for a young (ish) newcomer like me. So all help is appreciated.

Firstly.

https://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/s...ovo-razor.html

I know that most people, by the sound of it, say to stay away from starter kits, but i think its the only viable way that im going to be able to get lots of the products id need in one place, and for an alright price.

-Are the products listed there all required (obviously the osma block and hemostatic pencil are dependant on how much/how badly i cock up over the coming weeks) If not, can anyone suggest any better packages (preferably in the UK or others as a las resort)

-I read somewhere that putting pastes on a strop and then stropping can sort of tide you over in terms of honing (for a period of time at least), so presumably buying honing stones now would be a complete waste

-Does anybody in the UK also know of any companies/places to send razors off to in order to get them honed when the time comes?

-How will i know if a razor is shave ready or not (if it isnt, would it need to be honed or would the previous strop method be viable?)

Those are my only questions for now, ill edit/add more posts later if i think of more questions.

Any help and advice you could give me is greatly appreciated, but also please bare in mind that cost is a slight issue for me (wanting a reasonably good starter set, but for a cheapish price)

Many Thanks,

Tom

Hi and welcome. To start all you would need is a razor and strop I'm sure you could find soap and brush cheaply and locally. You can use paste but ideally don't want it on your daily strop that needs to be plain unpasted leather. Also if your stropping isn't great you can damage the edge with pastes. There are members here that could hone for you. Check out the classifieds. If from the invisible edge it should come shave ready from the reports of others that have used them. There are tests to check shave ready but as a complete noob they ate fairly pointless for you that is why we say buy shave ready from someone reputable. Good luck and any more questions feel free to ask

Hi Tom, there are plenty of good places to buy in the UK and if your smart you can do well fairly cheaply. A razor, brush and soap is what you need to get started. The invisible edge do some nice stuff and is shave ready. I've bought a lot from vendors on here so well worth checking the classifieds, what ever you do though the best value for money will always be research. You can start inexpensively but you need to be sure of what you're getting. Most uk super markets or chemists will sell a cheap brush and soap, Wilkinson sword is probably most common, I find it ok but there is much better, soaps can be hit and miss and take some experimenting. As for a strop newspaper makes a great starter strop I still use news paper a lot.

If you need any help along the way pm me

You could cut costs quite a bit without much effort.
Have a look at

http://www.taylors1000.com/

He has a good range of nice razors often under £50. He also does what looks like the same strop as the invisible edge for less money. I think he might hone the razor for a small fee but otherwise try contacting celticcrusader or UKRob who are both members here and very well respected.
Most supermarkets would have a Palmolive shave stick for about 50p and you could get a perfectly fine brush from Body shop for around £7.

Whatever you start with don't be surprised if you end up buying more. Be prepared to put in the time to learn and don't be put off by early results.
Good luck!

Westholme strops do a beginner strop I believe, would be probably the best option for strop quality and price.

Thanks a lot for all the replies, I'm making a note or everything you've mentioned and will do a bit of research into them when I get a chance. Much appreciated!