Thread: Avoided expense and buy a disposable?

Great advice. I'm beginning to get the hang of it with the shavette, but I had a feeling that the technique required with that straight would be different from using a regular straight razor.

I'm working on getting a brush and soap. The tip about the shower gel is great, thanks for the suggestion.

I learned with disposable straight razors in order to test the water of straight shaving in a fiscally conservative way. When I was proficient in getting BBS results, then I bought my first fixed straight razor and strop.

Yes, there is a learning curve. My benefit of starting with disposable straights is that when I bought my first fixed straight razor, I could focus on the stropping and keeping the edge sharp and performing well, while knowing the details of what I was trying to achieve. How sharp is sharp enough?, what does a good straight shave feel like? I quickly figured out that a 4 sided pasted strop would help me keep the edge sharp and performing well.

I have spent a few hundered bucks collecting straight razors, soaps, brushes,..etc. and I am very happy with my investment. It will be about 3 years before I come out ahead financially and I already have 1.2 years in.

It was my choice to go after premium products which pushed my cost up, but that is my preference and I always have a long term outlook. The M3 was causing too many ugly issues and I was also being charged for it. All those problems went away with straight shaving, so I benefitted greatly from this decision personally (immediately) and financially (long term).

I still have my disposables and they get used when I travel or want to skip stropping. No knock on them and I know what to expect in their performance.

Good Luck and welcome to Straight Shaving and SRP!

Pabster

In my mind if you are going to do it do it right. Get a handfull of antiques in various styles and sizes, buy one shave ready. They will be quality blades. Try and be smart about the other things I bought a T. Miller strop with the practice strop too I'm only the practice strop only. Save some money and get the cheap soap, brush,and dish set from Wally World.

If it doesn't work out restore the blades & sell them, sell the strop, and throw away the cheap brush set. Make a couple of hundred dollars.

At least that's what I'm doing. But I think I'm gonna love this hobby. So as time passes I will buy a nice brush (or a few) a Scuttle etc.

Saving money is probably not realistic. Look at all the ADs here and you quickly come to the conclusion that saving the landfills and environment is a better rationalization. Personally, my straights give me a much better shave than my twin Merkur ever did! That's the best reason...

I have a cheap disposable bladed straight which I started with and still often use when in a rush. IME it only enforces good things, like confidence in applying the blade to your face and using a super light touch due to the ferrociousness of the edge.
The angle thing is a bit of a non-issue as the angle always varies depending on which bit of your face you are shaving and the direction of the hair growth. It's not so much learning fixed correct angles as it is learning how to find the correct angle and adjust during the stroke.

Just my thoughts on it. Feel free to shoot me down if you disagree.

I think once you get the hang of it you can get equally good shaves from both a straight and a disposable. The difference to me is a disposable is for someone who wants the straight experience without having to learn honing and stropping and general razor care. In exchange though a disposable is not a straight and the feel is very different and it is way less forgiving of bad technique.

Feather makes some disposables that are made to feel more like a straight scale wise and look more substantial.

My feeling is if you want to get on a carnival ride you buy your ticket and take the full ride. You don't stand up half way through and ask to get off.

Pabster, what does BBS mean? I'm sure it's a newb question, but if you don't ask, you don't learn.

As mentioned, the disposable blades are pretty unforgiving of bad form. I've gotten some good nicks and razor burn so far. However, I'm beginning to get the technique. So far I've managed to get a pretty good shave on the right side of my face (I'm right handed) and the left side is following close behind. Today I also managed to take steps in the right direction as far as the chin is concerned. The chin area is not as smooth as I would like, but it's an improvement from when I started.

Does anyone know of some websites which offer quality products, and a reasonable price. I'm in New York City; the land of the over priced, and disposable pic razors, so I'm having trouble finding anything locally.

BBS= Baby's Butt Smooth

I'm currently doing a whirlwind tour of shavettes. Working my way into taking the plunge into str8's thus far I've tried a Magic, a Dovo, and a Diane (all double edge blades). While eventually I've gotten to where I can get a great shave with any of the above, the DE blades seem to be REALLY squirrely and very quick to draw blood without much provovation. I found the Fromm Hair Shaper (available in any beauty or barber supply store, I got mine from Sally's) far superior to any of the DE blade shavettes. The longer blade which looks like a wide skinny single edge blade, has a bit more rigidity, is far more aggressive and is not nearly as squirrely as the DE blades. I will undoubtedly reach for the Fromm occassionally even when I transition to "real straights" probably early summer.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

.....
Feather makes some disposables that are made to feel more like a straight scale wise and look more substantial.
....

I am an occasional Feather user...

Feather Razor "Artist Club RG" Solid Brass...

For the same amount of starting money you can get a shave ready quality
razor.... But then add a strop and hone set and other stuff and the Feather
can be a less expensive way to start and discover the 'art' of
open blade shaving.

It does feel very different from a full hollow singing blade, perhaps
more like a heavy half hollow. It is sharp, no compromise sharp... and
since Feather now has three different blades it is possible to "tune"
your shave.

Try as I might I can not yet get any of my str8s as sharp as Feather
gets their blades. I keep going back to it to remind myself
of the goal when honing and stropping.

Since I have a Feather... I have to ask myself why I just bought
four fixer upper str8s today to add to my kit. Well some days
is is more than just shaving and some days it is just shaving.

Yesterday, I tried my disposable straight again, together with my Clauss, shaving with one, then the other. The disposable has one advantage - I know full well that the blade is sharp, and my Clauss is definitely not quite that sharp. I'm beginning to wonder if my Clauss is sharp enough, I don't know enough, at this stage, to be able to tell.

The disposable has one disadvantage - I still cut myself with it.