Thread: A salutation and Newb help.

Hey fellas,
I'm probably one of the newer noobs to the sight. I've always wanted to straight shave ever since my first barber visit. I enjoyed the feeling of a straight bbs shave so much. I just recently tossed my Gillette multi blade for a DE razor. It's been a fun path with the DE and my shaves have improved dramatically in both personal fulfillment and look. That was a few months ago, but as I kept researching DE's my true interest to straights began emerging. I guess I've been bit by the bug. My brain started to chime in a bit, "should I dare try the scary straight razor I've always wanted to?" Well now that I'm coming up on my birthday, I believe the answer to the former question is yes, yes I should.
I've read all the beginner info and faq. I already own a brush and a decent creme from new york shave company (it's good stuff, I'm sure there's better) as well as witch hazel, and an after shave balm. Now the question is, which straight razor to buy, and which strop? I've read the classifieds, on the post, some of the razors look really nice, but I'm too new to know what I'm looking at. If you guys have suggestions or if you are selling a razor or strop that would be good for a beginner I'd love to hear from you. If there's a razor on the classifieds that you'd recommend then please let me know. I don't know how much to spend, or what on. I don't know what brand to really get. I know there are a ton you guys recommend but I'm just not sure. I don't want to break the bank but I can afford to not be too cheap either.
DE's were easy. I started with a Weishi, it was junk, I moved on to an EJ 89L, it's awesome, and I just got an old Gillette super slim. Straight razors are a whole new ball of wax. If there's any other info you guys think I have to know to ease transition don't hesitate. I guess this a really long post to just ask for help. Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by Rasco

DE's were easy. I started with a Weishi, it was junk, I moved on to an EJ 89L, it's awesome, and I just got an old Gillette super slim.

I'm curious why the Weishi is junk. I think Trufitt & Hill has Weishis in some of their shaving kit bundles. I own a Weishi, like you it was my first DE. I've only encountered one store-brand DE blade that is a bad "fit" for it, otherwise it has been a solid shaver. It's less aggressive than a military issue (WWII) gillete yet provides a very close shave.

I'd just like to know why. I certainly don't rule out the possibility that there are bad production runs on it (it is China after all..).

I'll toss in my two cents. Might be the last time I do for a while. Most guys focus on the razor when they start out, but the harder part, is the strop.

A good razor or five is terrific, but the strop keeps them all shaving well.

In the beginning you'll spend too much on a strop you'll likely nick and cut, after that you'll likely not spend enough on the tool that influences the quality of every shave.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I'll toss in my two cents. Might be the last time I do for a while. Most guys focus on the razor when they start out, but the harder part, is the strop.

A good razor or five is terrific, but the strop keeps them all shaving well.

In the beginning you'll spend too much on a strop you'll likely nick and cut, after that you'll likely not spend enough on the tool that influences the quality of every shave.

+1 on that. Can you reverse the strop cycle? Stem the tide of beautiful Russians getting slashed and trashed, followed by cheap replacements that don't serve as well?

To everyone else: Feel free to replace Russians with Latigo's, Shell's, etc...your preference.

In regards to the Weishi comment left.
For me, and the disclaimer to this is that I was definitely just starting out, I found that I had to keep making pass after pass, after pass, to get a good shave. This started to irritate my skin horribly. I normally do a traditional 3 pass shave but the weishi required so much touch up afterwords. I would be running my blade over my face, and I could hear some whiskers being cut, but upon closer evaluation, there would still be many that the razor did not cut. This is partially because the razor is such a mild shaver, and the other part to that is that the razor lacked weight. This made it very difficult since, I believe the best shaves with DE's are done with purely the weight of the razor head.
After owning a razor like a EJ 89L, I can safely say the experience was night and day. I'm sure people can get good shaves with weishi's after learning there personality, but the shave with a better razor just makes things so much easier, and pleasurable. I highly recommend the EJ 89 L, it looks and feels great, yields a great shave, has an identical Muehle head (60$ for the Muehle if I'm not mistaken) and it's not expensive. Just my humdrum still noobish opinion.

Thank you sir. I'm sure I'll be bothering you even more in the future with questions. I'm originally a Missouri guy myself.

Rasco, you can get a head start on getting some help if you go into your User Control Panel and Update your profile with your location. More often than not there is someone near by and most guys are willing to lend a hand to help you get started on the right foot.

Check whippeddog.com, the classifieds here, SRD (already mentioned), and there are a few more my mind won't come up with right now. The first two are your best bet for a razor that's truly ready to go and won't break the bank. Whipped dog offers a basic starter strop with a balsa strop in a kit that I've heard good things about, and again won't break the bank. Otherwise there are a series of vendors (see banner ads here) that offer quality strops and most guys here will tell you to get a quality cheap razor and a quality cheap strop to start out with. You're going to be rough on the razor as you figure out the quirks of straight shaving, and you're going to be rough on the strop as you learn that oh-so-basic technique. Buying on the cheap end (whatever is cheap to you), means you won't be frustrated that you're throwing money away. AKA you lower the cost of your "training". Once you get things down, you can spend ALL the money you can make on razors, strops, hones, soaps, brushes, etc.

Welcome to SRP and best of luck!

Thank you Big Jim. I just put in my location. If anyone in the New York area has time during the week, it would be great to meet or talk.

Rasco, There is acutally a meet coming up that you may be able to attend. It would be a great opportunity to meet a group of straight razor users and take a look at what they are using

http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...23-2011-a.html

Thanks for the info Carrie,
Unfortunately I have family coming into town that week, but I'd definitely love to be at the next one.