First shot at it today...

I've been pondering this a long time I suppose. I got a badger brush about a year ago and used that with a body shop shave lotion (pretty good stuff) and recently began using it with a sandalwood bar soap and I like that even better. So far so good. This has all been with 2,3, and 4 blade razors.

Whether I knew it or not when I first got that badger brush, I suppose the logical endpoint for all this activity was to try a straight razor. This is where I've been making every mistake in the book so far. I bought a razor on ebay, having no idea what would be involved getting it "shave ready". Once i saw the condition of the blade I just put that one in the drawer for now and then got a replacable blade type just to give it a try without having to muss around with sharpening, stropping, etc... That arived yesterday and today I shaved with it this morning.

After action report:

Need a lot of practice to really nail this but so far relatively few nicks and overall happy with the results. Most facial regions are as close or closer than I got with my fusion (especially under nose where the large head of 4 blades is hard to fit in).

I'd say the places where I nicked were in 2 categories:
1. not being careful enough ( a real no-no with a sharp blade) and
2. the sharp corner on my replacable blade razor seems to exacerbate the tendency to dig in the edge. I may be better off with a rounded corner blade, at least in the beginning.

Item 1 I can address with practice and slowing down. For item 2 I want to go to a blade with a rounded corner to see if that helps. Any suggestions for which brand of replacable blades has a rounded corner would be most appreciated. What I used today was a "derby" blade. Other possibility is to just send in the one I got on ebay for sharpening. I spend a bit of time sanding the nicks out of the blade and it may be to a point now where it can be resurrected.

Appreciate any tips or advice. Thanks.

Charlie

If you look up the classifieds , anything there is good.
A popular brand that has pretty well priced intro level razors is Dovo.

Welcome to SRP Charlie. Here is the beginner's guide in the SRP Wiki. Here is SRP founder Lynn Abrams post on beginning straight razor shaving. I followed this routine and was doing real well with it in no time.

I am not familiar with replaceable blade straight razors but if you have any kind of sharpening stone you might just blunt the very point end of the blade. Old barbers I knew years ago did this with some of their spike point razors.

I would suggest you post a photo of the blade on your ebay razor to see if it is worth having it sharpened professionally. If the condition of the blade is good it probably is. If it is poor it may not be and you may be better served buying a new straight or a used one from the SRP classifieds. Whatever you choose make sure it is "shave ready".

If you want to avoid nicks read my sig line below and follow the advice. Works for me when I follow it. :)

I would follow Jimmy's advice on dulling the sharp corners of the replaceable blade. That should work just fine.:)

When I started, I made the mistake of lifting the edge away from my face to try to "use" the point, ended up with a really nasty 1/4" cut with a scar. And that was with a round point...

Lucky for me my wife thinks I look like William Dafoe, so scars only enhance the effect (it's fading slowly after 7 months...):)

If you focus on keeping the full edge in contact with your face at all times, and keep your strokes // (slight angles ok), then that should eliminate cuts. In the past 7 months I have not had another bad cut (just the occational nick or weeper).

Happy shaving
-Chief

Thanks guys for the advice.

Rounding off the edge of my replacable blade was a big help for sure. No more "cuts" since. Occasional tiny nick but nothing I'd call a "cut" or "slice" like I had from that square corner on the first day.

I ended up sending Lynn a photo of my "ebay special" and he felt it was worth sharpening so that's in the mail and under way as of today.

Also appreciate the tip on the Dovo brand. I like the look of the tortoise one they make so I'll be keeping an eye out for one of those on the classifieds for sure. I kinda get the sense that this straight razor bit is one of those things where collecting razors, sharpening tools, and other accouterments is about half the kick. If I'm still hanging with it by christmas maybe I'll see if I can get the wife to go in for something even nicer. I travel a lot for work (up to your neck of the woods chief) so it would be nice to have at least one really good setup for home and one "acceptably good" one for travel eventually.

I feel like I'm well under way now. I'm barely using my multi-blade razor any more... just in the region around my big "sharp corner" gash from day 1. Even after 2 days that thing still turns the foam red around it when I lather up. Hopefully that'll heal up soon.

Again thanks for all the tips.

Charlie