Thread: Hello from the UK!

Hi All

I would like to introduce myself as a new member. I am from Cheshire in the UK and have been lurking in the bushes around here for many months. I must say I have learned a huge amount from you all and this forum has some great members!

I discovered straight razors after harbouring a mild fascination for them for many, many years and deciding to give it a go after finally admitting that I was never really going to get over the price of Mach 3 replacement cartridges! I purchased a Dovo razor and pasted paddle strop from Tony Miller as one of his excellent starter sets (nice one Tony, first class workmanship!) and have been going at it quietly for some time now. I am getting pretty good shaves and feeling very pleased with myself. I have a few questions etc but I will save that for future posts.

I am looking forward to participating regularly in this great place, if only to pester the living day lights out of you all with questions!

Cheers
Ray

Welcome Ray, we have quite a few folks from the UK here now.

Yes welcome Ray (though i'm a newbie here myself )

I too am from UK but am from much further north in Scotland. The Isle of Bute to be precice which today is beatuiful. But now i'm going off topic.

Welcome to the forum

Sandy

Nice one, Ray! The UK contingent is definitely building up momentum now. Who knows, we may soon have enough for a social gathering sometime soon?

Welcome aboard Ray. I'm glad you've been won over from the dark side and you went to the right person to get you started.

Welcome Ray!

I agree with Mark, we may have enough for a get together sometime soon. Would be interesting to find out how many of us 'weirdos' are about.

Simon

...and I'd also like to say a warm welcome to Ray.

We're a good few from the UK here. You won't regret joining this forum and you certainly won't be regretting learning the art of straight razor shaving - your face will thank you for it more than anything/anyone else!

Welcome Ray!

Good to have another UK chappy around the place!

Many thanks for all your greetings!!

It is good to see there are a few UK members.

One question to you all you Brits, where do you get your straight razor supplies??

It seems that on line is the only way here in the UK. I live near Crewe in Cheshire and I have not found anywhere where shaving doesn't mean Mach 3 & Gillette canned foam!! I can get Palmolive Shave stick and cream, but that is about it!

Ray

Well, in London you'll find Truefitt & Hill, Geo F Trumpers, Taylor of Old Bond Street, as well as smaller establishments like Murdock.

They're all barbers with shop attached. They're interesting and great for window shopping, but ultimately they're very pricey (can you just imagine the overhead for shops in those prime West End London locations?). So on the whole I'll source everything online.

As it turns out, I think you get better quality and service from many of the members here who have businesses and sites themselves. Even if you get stung by VAT and import fees it still ends up cheaper and better.

And there are a few European sites worth checking, though they too aren't cheap, but at least you pay no duty.

That said, I can highly recommend the experience of going to one of the old-time upper class establishments. It's unforgettable. And if you engage the barber in straight razor talk you may even end up learning a thing or two!