Intro/What else?

Greetings, all. I'm ready to try a straight razor for the first time in nearly 60 years. I've read as much or more on the subject as I can remember, from this and other shaving forums.

I ordered a Rup Razor Filly Strop this morning. That, and initial practice with a butter knife, should get me through until I'm worthy of a better strop (and Tony gets back off vacation). The CrO on the back side should give me time to pick out a nice barber hone off eBay, which is the eventual plan unless the coticule bug bites.

I'm ready to pull the trigger on a "World of Straight Razor Shaving" DVD and a Dovo carbon-steel 6/8 Faux Tortoise Shell "Special," pre-honed by Lynn, with free first re-hone (from SRD). Anything else I really need to get started?

Thanks! [edit] Oops... missed the Intro sub-forum--apologies for that. Will mods please move?

Do you have a brush & mug yet? If you are looking for a good brush for a a great price, click on the following link: Tweezerman Shaving Brush - MUHLE . I found these a couple of weeks ago and ordered 2 of them. Every badger hair brush you ever see are so expensive and when I saw these I ordered two figuring it's worth a try. I've been using it for about 3 weeks now and it gives me a terrific lather.

Welcome to SRP. Have you taken a look at the beginners guide yet? This section should be helpful: Beginner's guide to straight razor shaving - Straight Razor Place Wiki (Basic Equipment).

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Originally Posted by BeBerlin

Welcome to SRP. Have you taken a look at the beginners guide yet? This section should be helpful: Beginner's guide to straight razor shaving - Straight Razor Place Wiki (Basic Equipment).

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I did, thank you! Looks like according to that, I have everything covered--except that the Filly strop doesn't have the "highly recommended" cloth. My wife has some heavy linen and offered to make me a cloth strop out of four layers of it. :)

Welcome to straight shaving. I have the same Dovo Tortoise and it was my first fixed straight razor. It was forgiving and shaved well. However, it turned out to be a "soft" metal and needed a few passes from my pasted strop after every 2 shaves to stay sharpened to my preference.

It did sharpen up quickly and was ready to shave again. I thought this may help you along when you get into a few shaves with it.

Pabster

Thank you, Pabster. That's exactly the kind of info I'll find useful. Even though a good DE blade may get me 5 or more shaves, I often swap them out at 4, just for the comfort level.

My Rup Razor Filly has shipped this morning, as has my DVD and Dovo razor from SRD.

Anticipation!

Welcome to SRP. Sounds like your close to having everything you need. As mentioned, a brush, and some shaving soap will go a long way. I tried using regular shaving cream, and shaving gel in the beginning, and for some reason, it seemed to cause the razor to drag rather then glide through the shave.

I didn't get a truly comfortable shave until I got a brush and soap from SRD. The brush from Nashville knife shop looks like a very good deal, and the essential oils soaps from SRD are great to start with. I'm currently using the vetiver scented soap, and getting very rich lather from it.

Good luck

Hey RoadKingMoe, welcome to SRP!

Your post is fine here. I never did an intro post either. :D

Sounds like you've got a good running start. Don't forget to get a brush and shaving soap/cream. So much better than that canned stuff.

After having tried a couple now, I finally feel qualified to recommend Mama Bear. It's the soap I have the easiest time getting a lather from, quite affordable, and easy on sensitive skin IMO.

Don't know as much about good creams though, haven't really experimented much yet, just once or twice.

You can pick up a good boar brush on the cheap (I hear Omega's are awesome, I just got a cheap drugstore boar brush) and Tweezerman sells nice badger brushes at a good price.

Have fun!

Thank you! I started with Van Der Hagen Deluxe and Williams Mug soaps. Upgraded to Tabac and Mitchell's Wool Fat, my primaries now. Gave the VDH (and a VDH brush) to my wife, along with an older gold-plated Gillette Tech to get her off disposables. Added Palmolive and Irish Moos sticks for travel, and also have some Palmolive Classic cream because that's what I started out with (in '63). I'm pretty satisfied with my soaps.

I love tortoise shell and that's what I got for the handle of my Rooney brush. They were out of that handle in Super Silvertip Badger, so rather than get another material, I chose Pure Badger to get the tortoise shell handle. As it turns out, the Pure Badger really works well with soaps.

I appreciate all these words of advice. Thank you!

Hello, RoadKingMoe:

Welcome. I second MistressNomad's recommendation on Mama Bear Soaps. I have tried many soaps through the years and Mama Bear, for me, is in the top five. Also, Sue Clark, soap mistress, is a delight.

For creams, Taylor of Old Bond Street has reasonably priced products. Its rose and lavender scented creams are quite nice.

For brushes, also check out Best Grooming Tools, where you have a choice of many pure badger and boar brushes, mostly by Edwin Jaggers and Muhle Pinsels, for reasonable prices.

Regards,

Obie

Thanks, Obie! I have Thayer's non-alcohol witch hazel in lavendar and rose (and original and unscented). I've been wondering which creams would go well with those. I picked up sample sets from T&H and GFT, but haven't gotten around to trying them yet. Not sure if either or both have lavendar and rose. It's good to know TOBS is good in those scents.

Hello again RoadKingMoe:

I know Trumper has a rose cream, and it's quite good, and I am almost sure Truefitt & Hill has a rose cream as well. I have tried Truefitt's Ultimate Comfort (unscented) cream and love it.

All three companies, which I recommend, have great products. Taylor, however, I find the least pricey in some things, the shave creams especially.

As for witch hazel, when your current stock runs out, try Thayer's Medicated Super Witch Hazel with Aloe Vera. I have used this for years and it not only has no scent that I detect, it is also a fabulous product.

Regards,

Obie