Thread: Newbie Myths and Truisms Debunked

Starting with a straight is a YMMV type of thing. Some guys really take to it really well from the beginning and those guys can't understand why many do struggle. Just remember that for every guy who picks up a straight for the first time and gets a perfect shave there is a guy who struggles for a year and never gets it and quits. However for most of us it just doesn't happen that way and it really does take some time to master. I also think the first shave is the most difficult. The problem is after we struggle through a few first shaves we goet cocky and thats when we do the most damage or at least that's what I found.

The only thing I disagree with is that "sharpening" as you say it, is easy.

Uh-uh. For most of us it isn't.

Honing is actually pretty difficult, and most people cannot get it going the way you describe it.


I'm not stupid, and I'm pretty good with tools, and I have been sharpening things for years.

I could not consistently get a good sharp razor until I had been honing for at least 4 months, and I tried many, many different stones, and the Norton never worked for me.

Don't know why there is such wide variation in experience with this, but there is. Part of it may be some of us have steadier hands than others, maybe some of us have tougher skin and finer beards, who knows.

Maybe some people just get lucky and get Ebite razors that aren't warped and are pretty close to shave ready when they arrive (I have gotten a few this way).

Honing is not for everyone, and newbies are better off NOT honing their own razors until they learn to shave.

A Straight Shave is the Closest You'll Ever Have
True. It's amazing. The great shave i had, i thought i hadn't washed all the soap off my face because it was so smooth. I now shave at night (as i can't imagine getting up any earlier and still making it to work) and my face is still smoother in the morning than if i had shaved with my Mach3 that morning. Still have a very respectable looking face when i go out in the evening. Try that with a safety razor. Really, it's amazing.

I always have an issue with this one.

A straight shave is probably the most enjoyable shave you'll ever have, but I have not found it to be closer than a good DE shave.

Better and closer than an M3? Probably so.

Closer than my Merkur Futur loaded with a Feather? Not gonna happen.

All the reasons given for why a straight shave is closer (usually referencing skin stretching, etc, can also be applied to your DE shave to get awesome results. I was travelling over the weekend, and so I packed up the Futur for hotel-room shaving. Had a fantastic 11p.m. 3 pass shave on 36 hour whiskers that was smooth as butter all through the folllowing day.

Of course it was back to the straight this morning, which was another excellent shave, but certainly not any closer (both give me BBS goodness).

I think that a good DE shave is a bit closer and gets into spots i cant even touch with my straight, i have a thin face and its hard to get in the hollow and whatnot. A DE is not as fun tho...and straights look cooler

I still like Williams cakes from Walgreens. Must be the smell of the stuff.

A straight shave is probably the most enjoyable shave you'll ever have, but I have not found it to be closer than a good DE shave.

I have to agree. I recently spent some time away from home, staying in hotels and I took my Futur with me and I got consistently BBS shaves with it. It is an excellent shave. However, it just isn't fun like a straight is.

"I Want to Shave with a Straight to Save Money
False (not likely) When i started i justified the expense with the fact that i would never have to buy cartridges again. Well, then i started adding up the costs of the razors, strops, sharpening, brushes, soaps and more.... I'm sure that it eventually breaks even but i don't expect it to happen before my midlife crisis. That being said, part of this is due to the fact that i really like buying straights and expanding my collection (four now after two months). I've stopped buying for a bit because i have two great shavers.. but who knows how long it will last."

I find that you just have to avoid confusing "want" with "need." Through judicious search and purchase methods, I found a decent Boker for $9 and a similar Wade and Butcher for $10. I added a 12k Guangxi. True, I already had 4000 and 8000 stones and a strop, but the soaps and stuff are things you'd buy anyway.

And I just looked at Walgreen's, and the latest generation Gillette cartridges are going for $3.50 apiece. Doesn't take long to cost that out.

j