Thread: Straight Shaving Newb is looking for some advice

Getting a new shave-ready razor for around fifty bucks is pretty much impossible. I'd wait until a nice 5/8 round point razor comes up in the classifieds within your price range. It'll be better quality than any new razor you'll find, and it'll last you a lifetime.

I agree with the others that the classifieds are your best bet. Due to my lousy income as a college student I've only acquired 3 razors so far, 2 of which came from the classifieds. Neither of them were more than $60 and I love them both dearly.

Honestly I say go with kenrup. I purchased a set from him starting out and it had the biggest bang-for-buck. The Double Arrow razor (from the set) is my favorite and most trusted fall-back razor when I NEED to have a great looking shave for an event. I've nicked the strop quite a bit while figuring out my technique, but it's held up quite admirably.

Funny thing, the strop should make a interesting conversation piece. Visiting relatives thought I was using it for some kind of BDSM act in my bathroom.

Doesn't BDSM mean "broke, but determined shaving maniac"?

Thanks for all the advise

I'm going to think about it the rest of the week and watch the classifieds. It's likely I'll just order the starter kit from ruprazor. I do understand that an older razor, that has been sharpened by someone who knows what they are doing, would be a better investment then the inexpensive new razor, but I'm not looking to "invest" much into straights yet. I see the pictures of some guys' collections, so if I find I like straight shaving (likely) I've already resigned to developing SRAD

Just wanna throw out there that ruprazor makes quality stuff and would be a great strop to learn on. The Gold Dollar he sells is probably good too (never used one but I trust him and other people sell them too so...)

Here's some advice:

When you get your razor, don't strop with it until you do a shave first. Chances are your stropping will dull the blade, since new guys don't have the muscle memory developed for stropping, so see what a good edge feels like for the first shave.

Stretch very tight so the hairs stand up, not lie flat.

make sure your lather is acceptable.

don't use a very flat angle, this will result in a bad shave that will discourage you, use a steeper angle, but not too steep or you'll get burn.

Watch and read about stropping, stropping is the #1 killer of edges for new guys. They either roll all the edges they have, or they dull the razor by shaves number 2 or 3 and think that the whole Straight razor thing is not for them.

Thanks for the advise!

I just bought a straight from the classifieds. I bought this one:
5/8 Bengall Hollow Ground Straight Razor - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

Hopefully this will work well.

I haven't ordered a strop yet, so I won't be dulling the blade that way yet. Since I only plan to experiment with the straight on the weekends for now, the "shave ready" edge should last a few weeks, right? How many shaves can I expect to get before it needs to be stropped? Don't most folks strop in between every shave?

I'm probably going to go ahead and get the starter kit from Ruprazor also, so I'll have a strop then.

Now that I have a razor coming, I'm getting a little excited to try straight shaving!