Thread: DE Before Transition to Straight Razors?

I've been using multi blade cartridge razors for quite a few years but have come down with the desire to learn to use a straight razor. Have been lurking here for a week or so and have brush/mug/soap/cream/alum block on the way but no strop yet. RAD sets in quickly when this happens, I have some ebay loot for hone practice and possible restoration coming and will be buying a pre-honed razor that's actually fit for use shortly.

At age 50+ I'm old enough to remember DE shaving and the styptic pencil always handy in the medicine cabinet but the memory of those nicks/cuts has faded and I think I'll see fewer with good shaving soap anyway as opposed to the aerosol lathers I've used all my life. My question to you guys here who have been through this is whether you think it would be worthwhile to get my face used to a single blade again by going back to DE for some period of time with a decent Mercur razor before progressing on to a straight.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

Dave

Well as with anything else, it depends. Good and bad sides to both arguments. One, getting a DE: You get an incredible shave, rather easily, you get off the high price cartridge blades faster, you learn the importance of angle and shaving technique. Two, the down side: You may never get past the incredible shave of a DE, its easy, quick, and a very high quality. Shaving with a straight won't compare at all.

Then, if, and only if you stick with it you'll get much better shaves. Much closer. Much better. Far and I mean far fewer nicks and irritation.

On the other side, having both allows you to "finish up" with a DE. As you really get good you'll find the Straight really convenient. You don't even have to change the blade, don't need to buy anymore blades, ever. Just a quick honing and your done.

But, will you stay with it long enough to ever find out? And if the DE doesn't pull at all you might get seduced by the ease, convienence, and low cost. What then? MMMMMM . . . are you the kind of guy that would stop in Florida on the way to Bermuda?

Several of us came to straights via DE's, it's what I did. I get as smooth a shave with the straight, and enjoy the experience more. I do get more nicks with the straight, but we're talking about a minor nick every few weeks to a month, certainly nothing to worry about. Good soaps and creams really lower the risk of nicks with both straights and DE's.

It's pretty easy to get a very good shave with a DE, it's somewhat harder with a straight. Shaving with a DE today isn't like it was back in the day, especially if you used cream-in-a-can lather. With the internet, you now have access to a much larger selection of soaps, creams, brushes, and razor blades. Armed with all this stuff you can get an incredible shave from DE's with very little effort (some of the young pups have a harder time transitioning, but if all you've ever known is the mach 3 there's a lot of retraining when moving to the DE :-)

It's cheaper to get into DE's than it is to get into straights, and they will help retrain you to stretch properly again, and to shave without pressure again, and the brushes and soaps you'll discover will work with straights as well. Once you're comfortable with the DE you can pick up a straight and a strop and migrate into straights.

But if you're really interested in shaving with a straight, then there's something to be said for jumping right in. I didn't start out looking at straights, I just wanted a better shave than I could get from electrics and mach 3's. DE's came very very close to giving me the shave I wanted, but straights do even better.

Just noticed you're in houston. I live out towards Katy, and would be glad to help if you need some direct assistance.

Thanks for the thoughts on this, it's helped give me some more perspective. At this point I'm leaning toward jumping right into the straights.

Originally Posted by mparker762

Just noticed you're in houston. I live out towards Katy, and would be glad to help if you need some direct assistance.

Much appreciated! I'm in Kingwood, will probably want to take you up in this offer when I start honing. Can also use some advice on a few restoration candidates when they arrive if you've done any of that.

I jumped from Mach3's to straights directly, first a Fromm shavette then a few 5/8 razors. I've recently started playing with DE's. I'd say jump in with a regular straight, especially with another SRP member close by for support.

It's funny how our attitudes change over time. I was glad to give up DE shaving 26 years ago and went through a couple of Norelco electrics after that. Didn't much like the shaves or how my face felt after using one but it was quick and easy. After sitting for a family portrait though and seeing how much stubble was showing on my freshly Norelco'd face I went back to blades with MachX and spent lots of money on them since then.

Even now I shave as infrequently as I can get a way with which is every 2-4 days since I work from a home office. Mach 3's aren't as bad on my face if I let the whiskers get long enough for them to grab hold of but scraping a day's worth of growth off every morning when I'm traveling for business is no fun at all. How well can you travel with straights and the gear that goes with them, obvious carry-on restrictions aside? I suppose a DE would be easier to take on the road.

You can't take any kind of blade on a plane, but if they lose your luggage it's easier to find DE blades than straight razors. Other than that straights travel fine, you can take a paddle strop for stropping, or just pack your hanging strop and a loop of cord for hooking it onto doors. If you also pack a barbers hone then you're pretty self-sufficient for long trips.

You can also use the Shavette (like barbers use) which takes DE blades broken in half, which gives you ready availability of blades, plus you don't need a strop or barber hone.

I went straight from electrics to straights and never looked back. Tried DEs out of curiosity but this is way better. For travelling I have a couple of razors that look ugly but shave well, so they're less of a theft risk.