Thread: How to care for my straight razor

First off I'd like to say hello to everyone! It's great to be here. I've spent quite a bit of time already reading the wiki and many posts of other members. I'm excited to get started shaving! Shaving as a fun experience will be a first for me.

Ok, I bought a shave kit from SRD and have shaved a total of 3 times so far (generally every other day which has been normal for me for years). That means I've had the razor for about a week. I haven't seen anything yet on how to care for the razor so it doesn't rust or damaged so I could use a little help there.

What should I use on it? Mineral oil I've heard. How much and how often? With a qtip or what? Any help here would be appreciated! That's my most pressing issue so far. I've nicked myself a couple of times but I heal quickly. My razor may not be so fortunate.

Basically I just dry it carefully between shaves, I've never had a rust problem. If I was storing them for a while I would probably coat the with mineral or Camilla oil for storage. Some guys do this everyday but I've never found it necessary.

Thanks a lot Tim! I've been doing the same. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something else I should be doing.

Welcome to SRP. Depends a bit on where you live and where in your house you store it. I live in a humid climate and I store my razors out of the bathroom area. I always rinse in hot water and dry with a tissue following the shave. I make sure no random drops got into the scales.

Then I strop 20 on leather to remove any micro gunk that might be hiding in the bevel's striations. Following that I wipe the blade with a silicone gun cloth impregnated with a rust preventative that they don't make anymore but any light oil would be fine.