Thread: Specific details of starting equipment please!

Hey guys Brendan here, i want to buy all necessary things to start straight razor shaving. i have 2 razors, one honed by lynn and one being honed by larryandro. up until now i have viewed shaving cream and badger brush as kind of a luxury rather then necessity. but now i want to get it all. i want a silvertip badger brush, some shaving soap, some aftershave, and MAYBE something to keep an edge on my razor like coticule or barber hone. could someone please tell me the brand and name of each thing i should get. i have no idea what a good brush brand is and what coticule to buy or what barber hone etc. so could someone tell me specifics please! i have already looked in the wiki thanks guys!

The reviews section of the site may help you narrow down to a soap and brush that works for you.

Originally Posted by BScott1122

Hey guys Brendan here, i want to buy all necessary things to start straight razor shaving. i have 2 razors, one honed by lynn and one being honed by larryandro. up until now i have viewed shaving cream and badger brush as kind of a luxury rather then necessity. but now i want to get it all. i want a silvertip badger brush, some shaving soap, some aftershave, and MAYBE something to keep an edge on my razor like coticule or barber hone. could someone please tell me the brand and name of each thing i should get. i have no idea what a good brush brand is and what coticule to buy or what barber hone etc. so could someone tell me specifics please! i have already looked in the wiki thanks guys!

Hi,
I have a Rooney "pure" badger brush (not a silvertip) and it works great. Not sure how important the brand is, but from what I've read, you want at least "pure" badger quality.

I use really cheap col. conk soap and I love it. It took me a while to figure out how to get great lather from it, but now I have it down pat (I use the face lathering method). You definately don't want to be using the canned stuff...

To finish, I use Nivea post shave balm for sensitive skin. Feels great and does not have a lot of fragrance (which I don't like). I hear Trumper's Skin Food is good stuff as well.

On the coticule hone, there really isn't a brand... they come from a mine in belgium.... if you want one, see Howard (he is on this site, callsign "howard"), his company is http://www.theperfectedge.com/
Also Zib on this site sells coticules. I think everybody is out of stock at the moment so you'll need to get in line...

Happy shopping
-Chief

You know you can just email or pm Don at SRD. He's very helpful and has pretty much everything you need, one stop shopping. I just bought a Dovo Bergisher Lowe, and he went out his way to get me exactly what I wanted. Their soap is great, They have a nice selection of Shave Creams, Colognes, AS, Brushes, etc...Check it out...

P.S.

I sent you a pm with a detailed list....

Rich

Originally Posted by BScott1122

Hey guys Brendan here, i want to buy all necessary things to start straight razor shaving. i have 2 razors, one honed by lynn and one being honed by larryandro. up until now i have viewed shaving cream and badger brush as kind of a luxury rather then necessity. but now i want to get it all. i want a silvertip badger brush, some shaving soap, some aftershave, and MAYBE something to keep an edge on my razor like coticule or barber hone. could someone please tell me the brand and name of each thing i should get. i have no idea what a good brush brand is and what coticule to buy or what barber hone etc. so could someone tell me specifics please! i have already looked in the wiki thanks guys!

Are you on any sort of budget? Here are some suggestions from someone a few months in.

Brush: You can make one. Buy a knot from The Golden Nib (they have silvertips from $16-$47) and set it in a handle with epoxy. Jockeys had some great threads about this. Make your own handle like he did, or buy a cheap antique brush and replace the knot like I did.

Soap: This is really a preference. I have some TGQ soap and love it -- I also got some Mitchell's Wool Fat, which is pricey in comparison but awesome. TGQ offers 1/2 oz. samples so that's a great place to find out what you like without a significant investment.

Aftershave: Another preference. I started with Thayer's witch hazel because I could get it in town, it's not expensive, and it works great. They have a store locator if you want to look for a store near you that carries it. I recently picked up a bottle of Royall Bay Rhum and have really grown to love it.

Razor touch up: You can look into various strop pastes (e.g., chromium oxide) for a cheap way to refresh an edge. I have a Franz Swaty barber's hone that I started with, but I know have a set of Naniwas and don't use the Swaty anymore.

Hope that helps!

You are lucky to have so many choices.

Spend the money to get the good tools and you will thank yourself over and over again.

I don't have a silvertip, just a good pure badger brush (I think Rooney made it) and it cost me $50 and it performs well. Not too stiff, not too soft and it holds water well.

My opinion of anything less is blah!!! The min consideration should be a good pure badger brush.

Lots of good shaving soaps out there, I use Col. Conk Pucks and always get a great shave and they last a long time. The SRP Vendors will guide you correctly. There are other nice soaps out there and the choices are excellent. Looking back, if I could do it again, I would have bought a stainless steel blade or a higher end Carbon Steel blade as my first buy as that is what I prefer today.

Get a 4 sided pasted paddle strop and a nice Latigo 3" leather/canvass strop.

I know you wanted some answers and so did I when I first started.

Good Luck!

Pabster