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I just read the on-line book "Shaving Made Easy" and now I'm really discouraged. It says that the hone, strop, brush and soap must be as good of quality as the razor. No scrimping. My gosh, how does a newbie afford all of this high priced stuff? Secondly, how does a newbie even know quality when he sees it?
Don't look too far into that right now. There are plenty of honemeisters out there that can hone your razor for you so needing a good hone is not an entire necessity. As you get more into this you may WANT to do it. Quality doesn't necessarily have to cost a lot of money. A good vintage razor ready to shave with can be had for $50 and less. Strops can be had for around the $20 mark. There's always razors on the classifieds. Stay away from ebay.
well, you can start by having an expert sharpen your razor so that you don't need to worry about the hone.
then you can hang around for a while and you'll get an idea what is good and what isn't so good.
the best is to find somebody you trust.
good doesn't necessarily mean expensive (which of course is relative) but what one can afford has very little to do how new they are to this.
Let's take a look at the best you can get in each catagory...
Dovo razor: $100
Best boar brush: $8
Best strop: $85 (if you tear it up, replacement leather is $20)
Best soap:30
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That's about $220 for the BEST stuff out there
Having said that, badger brushes are IMHO a luxury. You don't need luxury to get started, you just need the best...or alternatively, something on the side of the ruprazor stuff for $60. 105 years ago, many of these razor companies were turning out ten-thousand razors a DAY. Not only that, if everybody on the planet is using a straight razor, there were surely those out there trying to sell cheap junky strops and brushes. If we brought it into today's thinking, the book is simply asking you to buy a genuine Gillette Mach 3 replacement blades instead of knockoff's from China...that's all the book is really asking you to do in order to avoid the problems.
Right. That is a 1905 book. I suspect even the cheaper products we have today would be better than many from 1905!
Here is the cheap way in to see if you like it before investing the bigger money.
Disposable Straight with razors $10 - $15. Fromm using Personna blades.
A super badger brush $60
Shaving Soap $5 - $15
This set up will get you invested in Straight shaving and you can concentrate on just the shaving aspect. The shaving soap and brush can always be used if you decide on DE or cartridges. So your true Sunk cost is $15. After learning to shave, you will develop preferences for this and that.
I started buying a bunch of straight razors once I knew this is where I was going and it will be years before I actually come out ahead financially, but that was my style and choice.
The more important thing is that all the problems I had with the M3 went away almost overnight and that was worth a lot to me. Not to mention, I get awesome shaves ever time I shave. You just have to jump in and get going. SRP and the members are awesome at helping newbies move up the learning curve and each other with the details of straight shaving. Straight Shaving has never been easier.
Good Luck,
Pabster
Get a razor from the Classifieds cheap.
You don't need a super badger brush. Boar brushes work just fine and you can get one at your local Walmart or drug store for less than $10.
Good soap can be had cheap. CarrieM makes great soap/cream and a big tub of it can be had cheap as well. You don't need to buy $30 tubs of soap/cream.
You could easily get a razor, brush, and soap for under $100. Heck, you could probably even get a decent cheap strop and STILL come in under $100 honestly.
Just make sure the razor you buy from the classifieds will come shave ready. Most of the sellers are good about doing that :)
Then when you get more cash flow, and you want to try out the more expensive things, you can. But you certainly don't have to. Personally, I doubt I will ever buy a shaving soap that costs me $30. I love what I get now, and runs me 1/2 or 1/3 the price.
Good luck!
Lots of great advice.. and you are 100% right.. how does a newbie tell quality.in the begining when you have nothing to compare to??
I remember reading the reviews on shaving soaps and creams.. They talked about cushion, latherabiliy, ... I had no idea what all that meant. So you decide to trust someone who knows... you've already gotten some great advice. My Dad always told me.. listen to everyones advice.. never turn down advice... then ... separate the good advice from the bad and do what ... you ... think is best.
I've seen plenty of nice starter razors on the classifieds at SRP for 30.00 shave ready and shipped. 39 is more likely but be patient and you'll find one.. Shave soap, brush and bowl can be had at walmart for 7.95. if you want to go that route.
I personally would try to find "The Body Shop" in a Mall somewhere... There is a sale now on there skin products and the male line includes... Pre shave oil..(which I highly recomend to a new shaver) Shave cream (great product rated high on SRP Reviews) and a nice after shave Balm. The three products can be had for 30.00 on sale (but 40.00 off sale).. 10.00 / each is not bad... They also have a nice synthetic brush for 11.00.. So that's my 10 cents errr 30.00 dollar advice... approximately...
Hope this helps...
I like a pre shave oil... beard preparation just adds more comfort and insures a better chance of having a nice first shave.. The Body Shop Shave cream is cheap...makes a great lather and there is no shipping and handling.. It also has a great cushion in my opinion..
So good luck!! have fun...
Maq
Do yourself a favor and get the Tweezerman brush. Badger hair, but only $15. I love mine. You can get them from a wide variety of sources, including Amazon. If you pick it up there with a cake of Col. Conk's Bay Rum soap, you'll be out less than $20 for both. Find $5 more worth of merchandise, and shipping will even be free!
Fred
Quote:
Originally Posted by red96ta
Compare the aforementioned prices to the continual purchase of disposable blades. You'll find that very quickly str8 razor shaving becomes economic also.Quote:
Originally Posted by avatar1999
I never changed my face prep to accommodate str8 razor shaving, only what I used to shave. If your switching from electric shaving to wet shaving there may be a bit more of an expenditure involved. If you wet shave now, and you prep your face properly now, all you need is a new razor and strop.
I decided to pay the professionals to hone my razor for at least the first year. This way the blade is shave ready and all I have o learn right now is using th str8 and stropping. I'll worry about honing another time.
jbtusa,Quote:
Originally Posted by jbtusa
++1 on the previous quotes...Quality needn't be outside of your budget. Nor do you need all of the equipment that was listed in that 1905 book to begin str8 razor shaving. You can start with just a razor, strop, brush, and soap for approx. 70-80 bucks plus shipping and handling.
Another thing to consider is that once you discover the pleasures of using a shaving brush and soap versus the canned goo chances are regardless of whether you stick with straight razors, DEs or whatever you'll always use the brush to lather with.
You know your budget, simply buy the best you can afford. and build on it.
Here in the uk, you can buy a synthetic brush and soap for less than £10 from asda.
all you need then is a razor and a strop. Yupu can build your collection from there, getting better products as you go along. itsd what i did and i`m quite happy with my set up.
You need a decent quality razor and strop. The rest doesn't need to be expensive. Plenty of reasonable shaving brushes that won't break the bank.
I'll probably get shot down in flames by the others, but many of the soaps, pre-shaves and aftershaves are very overpriced and overrated.
The basic make-up of most of the soaps and creams is very similar. I bought an inexpensive tube of Palmolive shaving cream at the supermarket, apart from the smell, it's performance is about the same as my expensive tub of Trumpers cream. In fact, it doesn't dry out quite so fast on the face.
People often ask how they can tell good from bad, to be honest, common sense works wonders.
BeBerlin wrote an excellent article on shopping as a beginner.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...beginners.html
I bought an antique store razor for 15, the 8 dollar soap/brush/bowl from WalMart, and a begginers strop from tony miller for 20. I asked around and got my razor honed for free.
15-razor
8-brush/soap/mug
20/strop
free/honing
43$
You need good, not great. With some experience now, but still a novice, here's the way I would go: If you are on a tight budget you can get the set from RupRazor. $60 for a "good" shave ready razor and strop. While I like the Dovo a little better, the Gold Dollar from Rup is a nice razor, and Ken will resharpen it for free if you screw it up when you get started. Lynn at SRD gives you a shave ready Dovo for well under $100, and even throws in a free sharpening, too. So, you don't need to worry about hones and sharpening for awhile. That said, there are quite a few honemeisters here who can sharpen your razor a lot of times before you hit the cost of all the hones and stuff you will need to sharpen a razor, not to mention the experience.
Some cup soap from Wal-Mart and an Omega brush from Amazon and you're in business. My calculator says this will all cost you around $80 -- you supply the empty cup for the soap.
If you get into it you can always upgrade, and having more than one razor isn't a bad thing. You will also probably cut up your strop as a novice, so the Rup is a bargain, and you can upgrade that, too, when the time comes.