Thread: Taking the jump

Hi all,

Have been reading this and other wet/straight shaving sites for sometime. I am continually impressed by the knowledge of many as well as the advice and help that the community provides to individuals such as me.

I have been shaving for about the last 25 years and bar an initial period in my teenage years, have used an electric (yes I know, I can imagine most of you shaking your heads). The problem is I have very thick stubble and the cartridge razors I used to use ALWAYS left me with severe razor burn, blood spattered sinks and feeling sore all day.

The job I do means I have to be clean shaven as I wearing a suit an tie. The electric was quick and didn't leave me sore. The downside is that if I shaved about 6AM, by about 10AM I look like I could do with another shave.

Having looked at advice on this and other well known sites, I switched to a DE razor, badger brush and creams such as TOBS, poraso etc about 4 months ago. I almost gave up at the beginning however as the blood battered sink returned no matter how carefully I shaved. I gave up after about three months and returned to the electric. I soon found however that even with the blood - the DE was a far better shave, persevered, returned to the DE and have recently been getting very smooth, pain free and more importantly - bloodless shaves - only just got the angle and the various passes right. The best part of it all is that I am sitting here typing this about 16hrs after my shave this morning and still have a pretty smooth face - can just feel the stubble starting to break through in patches.

I kind of have this this urge however to try the straight. At the moment I really look forward to getting up in the morning and taking a lazy 45 minutes with a good hot shower and then prepping the face followed by about four passes with the DE. I am drawn towards trying that with a straight however and looking to invest in the required equipment.

I am looking at a Dovo tortoise shell 5/8 carbon steel razor and a strop. Have the brush etc already of course. Won't even look at honing yet, so need a pre-honed/sharpened razor.

So this is the advice piece really -

Is it that much harder to get a cut free face as a newbie with a straight as opposed to a DE?
Is the straight going to give me an even smoother shave than a DE, appreciate it may take some time to get used to using the straight before I get a smooth shave.
I live in the UK so probably going to purchase a prehoned/sharpened razor through classic shaving - seen the site recommended in a few threads here. Anybody know if there are similar sites in the UK who provide a similar service for razors or should I stick with classic shaving - they look like they ship overseas.

Any other general advice fully appreciated.