Thread: Help choosing a straight razor

I maintain a trimmed beard, but I grow thick hair on my neck down to below my adam's apple. It's not particularly coarse, but it's obnoxious enough that I've given up on making it part of my beard and shave it daily. I've never been happy with the shave I get from disposable razors, and I've always had a bit of a thing for the idea of a straight razor, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for or if a straight razor is capable of giving a nice edge to my beard (I currently use an electric razor on the edges, but if it's feasible to do with a straight razor I would love to do so).

I also shave my underarms and genitals. Has anyone else given this a shot with a straight razor? Minus the jokes about putting a large sharp blade close to the most important part of your body, is this something a straight razor could accomplish with enough skill? I have fairly good hands, and using a straight razor interests me enough that I'm willing to put in the required time learning it.

Finally, I like to shave in the shower with a mirror I've put up. Is it a bad idea to expose a straight razor to that sort of humidity, apart from choosing an appropriate handle? Porous materials would obviously not be recommended...

So yeah. Is this worth a shot or what? What should I look for? I'm guessing a shorter blade would be most appropriate? And how much should I look to drop putting together my first kit?

Any spike point razor will give you a good razor beard.
As for trimming the bush to extend the tree we just had a thread on that. Search for taint.

Straights in the shower, IMHO is a bad idea because water can get into the pivot pin and cause a lot of rust.

Shower then shave, its easier.

Welcome.

Glen(gssixgun) keeps telling us that when the disco days were over he grew a beard and had to take straight razors to keep the lines extra sharp
I like Glen, I'd say you can't go wrong copying him.

A square point would give you the precision of cutting reliably any single hair you don't want.

And yeah the scales of the razor wouldn't be my main concern, you can always replace them. But water stuck in the pivot would quickly turn rust there and that's never pleasant. You could use screw/nut for pivot and disassemble the razor after use to let it dry, but it seems like too much work.
You could try a japanese razor in the shower.

But keep in mind that you don't want to have moisture on the blade for longer than it's necessary for shaving, these high carbon hard steels rust very quickly.

Shaving your neck will be a much better experience. Around the beard, perfect.

You can shave any part of your body with enough experience. I pity the fool who is over-confident with a straight near an important body part though. I sincerly believe that you'll think you have enough experience long before you really do.

Hahaha, yeah, thanks guys, but I'm definitely a man with some patience. I don't expect to be going on any adventures with a straight blade until I've gotten some real experience under my belt. GET IT? UNDER? BELT?! HAHAHAHAHA.

What do you mean by a Japanese razor? And where can I find a razor that disassembles like you suggested? I'm really loathe to give up shaving in the shower, and whenever I do get good enough to start getting frisky with the blade being under hot running water makes the job a lot easier.

There are very very few experienced people here who haven't dropped a razor.... Dropping a razor in the shower while shaving can be hazardous to many parts of the body....But hey there are people that jump out of perfectly good airplanes and call that fun too ....

As to the first part of the question I will repeat what the barber who taught me about straight shaving said when I first grew my beard...

"If you want nice, neat, straight lines, you need to use a straight edge"....

If you want a straight razor with removable waterproof scales all you need is to ask one of us that do this work, to use adjustable pins on acrylic/micarta/G10 etc: scales for use in the shower...

All good advice given above. I would add that shaving in the shower would make your grip on the razor less secure. Most of us try to keep our shaving hand dry so it doesn't slip out of our grasp. Dropping a straight razor can be very dangerous but dropping one while in your birthday suit is a risk I would not take.

Start with a disposable straight blade first such as the Dovo Shavette with a variety of blades sizes along with a pure badger brush and some shaving soap. Get the right touch and BBS results, then you can move on....because you will know what your are doing.

Good Luck,

Pabster