Thread: new to straight shaving

Hello, I am new to straight shaving and need some advice on what to start with. I have heard replaceable blade straight razors are easier to learn with and a bit more affordable. I am more interested in a fixed blade razor but I have heard they are very difficult to hone and are expensive. I do not have too much money to invest to get started but I would appreciate any advice anyone can offer. Thanks in advance.

Buy a cheap "Shave ready" off classifieds here (I've seen as low as $25, several under $50).

Buy a Filly strop from RupRazor ~$20 + shipping

Buy a $7.50 VDH wet shaving "premium kit" from walmart.

Total: Well under $100 and you have everything you need to get started.

After that I'd recommend grabbing a 4k Ice Bear ($25). It's decent enough as a final stone, especially if you use a chrox strop after (I believe the Filly has a Chrox side). If you disagree, the China 12k can be had for $20-35 depending on size, so it's not a huge investment for an upgrade (about the cost of a drinking lunch).


Learn to strop... My earliest shaves biggest problem was that it took me a week or so to get stropping down right. Then they suddenly got magically WAY, WAY, WAY more smooth.

welcome to srp,

take a look around, it wouldn't take too long to figure out what you'd like.
the replaceable blade razors are not quite the same as regular straight razors. a good place to start would be to ask yourself why do you want to shave this way. that may direct you to one or the other.

have fun

My hard-headed nephew, against better advice, tried a "replaceable blade" faux-straight several years ago. It was horrible! I think he cut more skin then hair.

I tested it out and while I didn't loose any skin I can see how you could do some major damage with one. To top that it gave me a case of razor burn on the area I tested. Most of them are just too sharp to shave with from what I've heard about them and also from the one I tested. But plenty of people use them I suppose... why I don't know.

Hello agaborszabo, and welcome to the Straight Razor Place. +1 on Ians advice. Make sure the straight razor you choose is shave ready, this is a must. It could be the differnce of you continuing to straight shave or just quiting, Also read the wiki on getting strarted, what you wll need, stropping, shave prep, and the straight razor shave itself, and post shave. Doing these things, and you shouls have no problems at all. Well good luck, and good shaving.

I went through the same decision process you are going through now. Just bite the bullet and get an inexpensive, but good, straight razor.

My two newbie favorites are the Dovo Best Quality and the Gold Dollar. You can get the Gold Dollar with a strop for about $60 from Ruprazor.com. The replacable with extra blades is going to cost not much less.

The Dovo can be had shave ready for about $75. Both razors shave well but the Dovo is a little fancier.

Thanks very much for all of your advice. I was looking at the shumate barber on the classifieds page 5/8 Shumate Barber - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

but the gold dollar with strop from rup razor seems good too RupRazor - Gold Dollar Razor and Filly Strop

Im not sure which is a better buy?

hi and welcome,
i would go for the gold dollar and strop for now. the blade will be shave ready and you will need a strop also. shave ready is the most important thing to start with and also you will have something to judge by if you decide to buy vintage razors and want to learn how to hone later on..

I already have a couple of shave ready razors. My first a Dovo Bergischer Lowe, second, J.A. Henckels Fridour INOX. New and vintage, the point I'm trying to make, I'm going to get 1 or 2 Gold dollars myself.For shaving and for my last learning curve "Honing". I'm not going to practice on my BL or the Fridour. But, I sure will on the Gold Dollars. With that said, I would get the Gold Dollars, plus you get a Stropp as mentioned earlier. The choice is yours, as always good luck and most of all, have fun.

My friend, I got the ruprazor starter set and let me tell you it works! It was enought to convert me to a straight razor shave man and I threw away my old razor yesterday. I'll never look back. My advice is get the gold dollar and strop combo. That plus the wal-mart kit will only cost you about 70 bucks total. It works for me until I can get the money to upgrade. The choice is yours though and I hope you enjoy straight razor shaving. Good luck man!