Seeking recommendation - Newbie

Phew, this is going to be a long one.
Firstly - welcome to SRP JMF, and
Secondly - well done on doing your reasarch first before jumping into shaving with a straight.

I don't know if classicshaving is connected to Lyn, however, straightrazordesigns is and, therefore, you will get great products, a shave ready razor and good advice from someone who uses the products himself. I am making no judgement on classicshaving 'cause I've heard nothing but good things about them too.

I've never dealt with Lyn personally, either.

As far as shaving creams/soaps go, they are like everything else in this adventure - personal choice.
I started off with Mitchell's Wool Fat Soap only because a member here gave it to me 'cause his face didn't like it.
I am expermenting with others as I go, as I hope you will.

I have only got one brush (a finest badger from Frank's Shaving) and you will find many and varied opinions on brushes in the relevant forum. I personally don't have the discretionary income to spend $300 on a brush seeing that all the badger hair comes from China anyway.

As far as razors go, again it is your choice. I just had a look in the classifieds here and found a nice 5/8 Keen Kutter for 1/4 the price of the Philarmonica just above it. Both would be good shavers and, in the overall scheme of things, you (probably) wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them at this stage of your journey.

You'll need a strop and Larry at whippeddog (?) has some kits that would suit your budget. I've used the Frank's Shaving ones too and they are good value.

Most of the enjoyment of this adventure is the journey to better and better shaves, however, some things remain constant like the need for a good quality, sharp razor, a good strop and good lather.
The rest is just a variations on the theme to how you acheive these things.

There are many who are of the opinion that a full hollow is the best way to get your technique correct and others who maintain that a wedge is the best to start with because of it's forgiving nature (of technique). Eventually you will get a good shave if you persist with the right tools - how you get to that place is your own journey and, whilst we may advise you and answer your questions, we would never try to take that journey from you.

You mentioned that you didn't want to throw too much cash at this adventure until you decide to continue with it so I've given you some inexpensive yet (in my opinion) good quality choices to consider.

I'm sure that many more will add there $0.02 as well

Read as many of the forums as your behind can take, use the search bar at the top of the page, meet up with other members if you can and, most importantly, enjoy the ride.

Different tack, here.

Software, (soaps, creams, etc); Truefitt and Hill make nice stuff. So do many other companies. You'll amass a lot of this eventually.. gotta start somewhere. (And T&H has a sample pack. Good way to get your feet wet.)

Hardware, (razors, strops); Dovos are excellent starters... and then some. You'll eventually have several different razor brands. And Fillys speak to everyone.

Only real advice I'll give you is make CERTAIN your blade is shave ready; that it's been honed by someone reputable. Other than that, pull the trigger on something already.

Classic shaving is in no way connected to Lynn. As I understand it he used to sharpen their blades and then stopped. I don't know if he started again. The founder of Classic, Ray Dupont was a long time member here long ago. He died a few years ago and was a friend of Lynn's. His family still runs classic and by the way Classic was probably the first real full service wet shaving retailer on the web. There is an interesting story behind it's founding but that's for another time.

Welcome.... and glad to see lots of good opinions already given.

Just to mirror some...

Play with the different soaps. Lots of places will give you samples to try if you have local shops around you. If not and there are no local guys around you willing to give you a small bit, pull the trigger and buy one with some of the smells or feelings you think you might like and go from there. I went with Proraso products and absolutely love them... but it was my own decision on them.

To me... the Pre and Post parts of the shave are just as important as the shave itself. Get a good pre-shave creme or oil and a nice post shave aftershave that fits your facial needs. The pre will help the blade glide and help avoid nicks and gashes and the post will help your face heal.

The blade... start off cheap but quality, like the Dovo. Getting a nicer blade (even if it is cheaper) and then nicking it up and learning on it will just taint your views on that brand later on. Once you get your technique down, start playing with different blades as you WILL be building up a collection. It really is addictive. Soon your face and hands will be able to tell the difference in a shave from the Dovo vs a Duck or something like that.

Brushes... well... yeah, just get a nice one, dont spend too much until you know what you like. For example I have a best badger from edwni jagger, and it might be too soft for me. I kinda like the stiffer bristles but I only spent $40 to find out and I still am learning to lather and everything.

Read the forums on the little tips and tricks for your technique and other parts of the shave. Things like adding glycerin or the order of prepwork like hot towels and whatnot. It is going to be a lot to remember at the start... so if you make a checklist of things you have to do, it makes it less taxing trying to force yourself to remember.

Strop... there are deals for the Dovo best quality, honed by lynn and sold with strops, soaps and all (essentially a starter kit) for a really good price on SRD. I really recommend it... and get the 3" strop, its worth it. Before you get your stuff..... get a plain old plastic pen (with cap) and practice your strop technique on a belt hanging somewhere. Twist the pen in your fingers as you see in the videos and act like the cap's tail is the blade. You can start building up some muscle memory that way.

Lastly.... I leave my goatee as well, but I shave my upper lip. I use the 5/8 and find it plenty big for my face (im not a small guy), so dont overthink the size just yet. A nice round tip 5/8 will help you learn your face without too much extra worry of slicing off an ear or something from a spanish point or a square tip.

I recommend starting simple and cheap. Take a look at whippeddog.com, sight unseen deal with a poorman's strop kit. You'll get a vintage, shave ready razor & everything you'll need to maintain it for a couple of months. If at that time you decide straights are for you, then commit the money for a good kit. The facts as I see them are:
- You may hate it.
- You will nick/cut your strop.
- Larry's kit is only $50.

Just my humble opinion.

Welcome to SRP! You've done a lot of good research. I can only add my personal thought to the suggestions so far. I would say, unless something really draws you to it, don't worry too much about the look of the razor. What I mean by this is I have some very plain looking razors that are excellent shavers. While I haven't tried Dovo razors, a lot of people like them. I haven't had the pleasure of buying from either Straight Razor Designs(SRD) or Classic Shaving, but both are highly talked about on here. SRD offers prehoned razors by Lynn, and a certificate to have it honed once more after the purchase. I'm not sure if Classic Shaving offers the same. The pen on a belt is a good suggestion from one of the posters above me. I've also heard of using a butter knife on a belt. Whitch Hazel is a good and inexpensive toner. Some of the less expensive brands don't smell the best IMO but they work. I tend to use Thayers product because I done mind the smell. I can't speak for whipped dog as I haven't tried them. I have tried theclassicedge.com and bought one of the starter strops as a travel strop recently. I really recommend them. The strop I bought had a nicer draw than my main strop. That's a personal thing as well, not saying these things are magical. ;-)

That's all from me for now.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Classic shaving is in no way connected to Lynn. As I understand it he used to sharpen their blades and then stopped. I don't know if he started again. The founder of Classic, Ray Dupont was a long time member here long ago. He died a few years ago and was a friend of Lynn's. His family still runs classic and by the way Classic was probably the first real full service wet shaving retailer on the web. There is an interesting story behind it's founding but that's for another time.

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Now you have piqued my curiosity! I got all my stuff from classic when I started out and it was a great experience. I'd love to hear how they started

Michael

Hello and welcome,

I think you're on the right track with the Dovo 6/8 half hollow. The blade has more mass than a full hollow or a 5/8, which makes it handle more like a long, heavy sedan. It'll be a little more user-friendly than a full hollow. I've ordered blades, hones, scales etc. from Superior Shave and always get good service, prompt shipping, and of course a good product. SRD's one free honing offer is hard to beat, but the last time I looked they didn't carry any of the half-hollow Dovos.

Wherever you order from, use the blade as you receive it, don't strop it first. It's quite possible, no matter how good your intentions, to damage a shave-ready blade with unpracticed stropping. If it's described as shave-ready then the vendor will have stropped it already. How sharp is properly sharp? You should be able to shave off beard by trying only to scrape away your shaving lather. Any more pressure than that is too much anyway. Because it takes experience to build technique, you may not experience your new blade's full potential right away. That's natural. Be patient, go slow, stay comfortable, enjoy the new ride.

Good luck with all your purchases, and best wishes to you.

My first kit was a 6/8 dovo best from classic with Proraso green a 2in black latigo strop, the art of shaving sandlewood travel pack and AOS travel brush and straight up rubbing alcohol for aftershave. I still love that dovo, takes a better longer lasting edge than my more expensive dovo's and is just a champ over all. That razor could be a fluke, honestly it could be, but I am glad I have it.

Heres the deal, Everything said above is true. More than likely you are going to love using a straight just like the rest of us. Buy what you think will make you happy! If you use classic, SRD, Whipped dog, or The superior shave all the blades are shave ready and willing to do your bidding (classic does sell factory edges, make sure your lookin for pro honed).

For soaps I tend to go for soap that has no parabens etc. So that keeps me away from some things. I still have proraso green in the tub and tube, but it rarely comes out because I bought it not knowing. Great soaps to work with are Mitchells wool Fat, Mammabears, Mikes Naturals and Cella. Creams Al's shaving bomb and Cryil Salter are my goto creams.

post shave is Alum, Witch Hazel, and aftershave splash of which I have far to many I like to list.

good luck!

p.s. previous posters are right Fili's speak to us all, but very few can afford them right now! for the cost of a fili NOS you could have an amazing peice of art from one of the many custom designers out there.

Thanks very much to everyone for the replies. I appreciate the input and will definitely look into the products you recommeded - especially whippeddog.com for an inexpensive strop. I think I'll go ahead and pull the trigger sometime this weekend. I'll be sure to let you know how everything goes.