Thread: My First and Second straights

My first straight razor is marked H. Bennewitz, and I am presuming it is of German origin. I traded a member from another forum for it. It is only a 4/8 blade, shave-ready when I got it. Having read a lot before-hand, I made up my mind I was never going to entertain any fear or trepidation regarding the use of straight razors. I've stuck to that attitude, and it works.

I started practicing with it as soon as I got it. I found an old, still operating barber supply store in my city where I purchased a new strop, and for 3 days I practiced shaving in the evenings, because I am a morning shaver, like most guys. On the 4th day, a Saturday, I had made up my mind I'd do a complete routine daily shave with the straight, and it worked out just fine. I've now shaved with a straight razor about a half dozen times in the past 3 weeks. Of course, I've cut myself while practicing and maybe once or twice in full-shave mode. I refuse to let that fact influence me except of course, to be very careful and to use a sure but light hand.

I try to keep my hand steady, keep my eye on the razor at all times, go very carefully, as I've seen the gentlemen in the videos stay utterly attentive to every movement of the blade. One thing I know about myself, is that if my mind or my eye wanders, even with a DE, I get cut. I don't like that, and I am committed to avoiding cuts. The alum block and styptic pencil are great.

I haven't stopped reading everything I can get my hands on about shaving with straights, so naturally I soon learned about the Double Arrow. I saw the ebay guy "stamps222" (I think) one day listing some DAs, so I bought one. Then I got a set of the Norton hones, lapping stone, water tray, and instructional DVD, from Peachtree. When I got the DA I honed the crap out of it on a Saturday, stupidly under the impression that I was doing it by the book (I wasn't) then I re-read all of the excellent pieces on the forums, and on Monday evening I followed instructions from SRP on "Setting the Bevel and Honing" particularly the part about the Norton 4/8 Pyramid that Lynn discovered.

I followed Lynn's clear instructions about posture and position of the arms and the hone, etc., and it all worked. Tuesday morning (today) I shaved for the first time with my new, shave-ready DA. It didn't feel like it was getting all the whiskers, but afterwards, I found that I had received a very nice shave. It is certainly true that the DA is a great razor to learn on. I'm going to be learning for a very long time. I don't know anything, except that if other guys do it, then so shall I. I also know that I greatly enjoy shaving.

I'm certain there'll be some good shaving and honing experiences ahead. It is my objective to be able to enjoy wonderful shaves anytime I want, with both the DE and the straight razors, new and vintage. It would be ill advised of me to plunge out and buy an expensive new razor right now, since I know I have a lot to learn first, about shaving and about razors. It was silly of me to have avoided dealing with the straight razor shaving issue several decades ago. Time was wasted because of my self-imposed ignorance of the full experience of shaving enjoyment that is available.

Thanks, SRP, and the other forums. Best regards,