Thread: Many Thanks

I would like to thank everybody here for showing me why I haven't been getting very good results (lots of reasons...)

I've been trying to get into SR shaving for close to a year now, but I couldn't find anything in my price range (broke grad student). I originally picked up a cheap "razor" from a street vendor one day, but quickly figured out that it was just a pocket knife in disguise. The thing is about 0% hollow ground, maybe -10%. After that fiasco, I found what appeared to be a decent hollow ground razor and a strop bundled on eBay. It felt really sharp, so I tried to strop it and attempted to shave. This did not go well. I pulled out about as many hairs as I cut. At this point, I found an article on stropping and stropped the razor properly. This yielded a decent shave, but only about as good as a dull disposable. That's when I discovered SRP. Now I know that a lot of my problem was that my "good" razor is on the do-not-buy list (Selective Professional Tools). As far as actual shaving goes, it looks like I'm almost back to square one, but at least now I can spot a decent razor (maybe not afford, but I can spot one ).

Anywho, now that I've ranted I have a couple questions. I have a Selective Professional strop with black leather on one side and thicker tan leather on the other. Which side am I supposed to be stropping with? Is this an adequate strop, or am I back in the market for one of those as well?

Thanks again for all the wonderful info on the wiki and here on the forums.

I'd say look in the classifieds here, not ebay, but you're grad student, so you've probably figured that out.
Don't know about the strop, the Zee-pk one is apparently piece of trash, and it could be useful but requires few hours of sanding and then conditioning. Hope yours is better, but unless one of the more experienced guys has tried it it's hard to tell.

May be you're nearby somebody in OK and you can get help in person.

Oh and Welcome to SRP this is a great site with tons of great members and info.

As a grad student myself, I understand your money troubles. However, straight razor shaving is not something one should skimp on. Tony Miller strops are very decently priced and very good. Classifieds here and at the "other" place offer many shave ready straights and honing services. I think theres a bunch of strops too. Always buy used though, they're always cheaper. And shave ready. Most of the time...there are a few restore projects for sale.

If you REALLY want to start straight shaving but have to keep the budget down, you could pick up a Dovo Shavette for >$30. It uses disposable blades. There are good things and bad things about it, but one of the best things is the price. You also won't need to strop. This is how I started, and how I got my cousin started. Not a bad way to go.

Review here:
Shavette - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Good luck!

I don't really want to go the shavette route. I think I'll just try to find a decent vintage razor either in the classifieds section or the local antique/ junk shops. It's not really the end result I'm after as much as the process itself. A smooth face is simply a bonus for me. In other words, I'm looking more for the zen of shaving than a good shave.

Also, I'll post another thread when I get home this evening with some close-ups of the strop I asked about.