Thread: Hello all, interested in a straight razor shave

Welcome to SRP.

Take advantage of the time you have to learn about straight shaving and explore all our resources. keep an eye out on the classifieds for a razor that is quality but maybe not so pretty except for the price.

I plan to. I took a gander at ebay last night to see what's over there. I noticed some stuff that I recognize from some discussions here and the prices didn't look too bad. I noticed a LOT of antiques, a number of which looked like they'd have been completely useless for actually shaving and a good number just seemed to me of questionable quality. Would a $10 straight be worth much, even if I sent it off to someone for professional restoring and honing?

There's a ton of antique shops locally and I've considered visiting them on Saturday to see if any had any straights sitting around. I've noticed that some of them don't seem to try to get a true value on some items if they're not high demand items.

One thing I noticed was some talk of having a different razor for every day. If you strop before every shave, anyway, I can't see this reducing the time spent prepping...is the reduced wear on the razor significant? Or is this like any other gear whoring where it's just that the individual is passionate about the gear?

I mean, after all, I own two bicycles, a canoe, three pairs of still wearable hiking boots, half a dozen backpacks, two hammocks, three tents, etc, etc. I am no stranger to gear whoring. Just trying to get a handle on whether having razors for every day is for a functional reason or something else. :-)

You might want to check out whippeddog.com. I'm a newbie who started with a straight last month. I decided to go with Larry's sight unseen deal along with his poor man's strop kit. For $55, he'll set you up with a good razor that is shave ready, a basic strop (nothing fancy), and a balsa strop. I believe it's a good deal and a great way to start.

Welcome to SRP Nate(?).
I didn't imagine there would be a forum dedicated to hammocks - well there you go (and why not he says)
Apparently, barbers are not allowed to use real straights 'cause of 'health regulations' - hence the shavette.
Real straights, especially when wielded by your own hand, are a different experience entirely.
Glad to have you on board.
Hang on and enjoy the ride

Originally Posted by Adama

You might want to check out whippeddog.com. I'm a newbie who started with a straight last month. I decided to go with Larry's sight unseen deal along with his poor man's strop kit. For $55, he'll set you up with a good razor that is shave ready, a basic strop (nothing fancy), and a balsa strop. I believe it's a good deal and a great way to start.

+1.

Alternative -- get a "shave-ready" razor from the Classifieds on this site. The vendors are reliable.

Alternative -- get a Dovo "Best Quality" razor (new) from Straight Razor Designs (or one of the other vendors active on this website). Make sure the razor has been hand-sharpened (the SRD blades qualify).

Unless you want to get deeply into "razor sharpening" as a hobby, avoid eBay cheapies, and avoid antique shops.

charles

PS -- I agree with a previous post -- a double-edge razor might be all that you need for a comfortable shave. Most Merkur's would be OK, and just about any antique-store Gillette will work. Use a good blade -- Astra or Feather for me, easy to get by mail. There's a much shorter learning curve for a DE razor, than for a straight razor.

Hi Nate, and first of all, Welcome! It sounds like you've settled on the right track, focusing for now on a new kind of lather. All the advice to start with a blade that's a known quantity--i.e., shave-ready from a reliable source--is the only good advice. You'll want a strop at the same time you try your first straight--stropping is key to daily edge prep and care.

Like you, I ended up starting with the lather and my old cartridge system, then shifted to straights gradually, shaving sideburns and cheeks with the straight and handling the trickier areas with the cartridge, until I got comfortable using the straight everywhere.

The main benefit (besides the cool factor and the excellent meditation) of the straight was that I no longer suffered ingrown hairs, nor did I shave with something that could harbor bacteria, old sebum, soap scum, or other yuckness between shaves.

Plus, of course, there's all that cool gear! (says the man with three belly boats, a tent, a bivy sack, a tiny camper, a metal lathe...)

The main benefit (besides the cool factor and the excellent meditation) of the straight was that I no longer suffered ingrown hairs, nor did I shave with something that could harbor bacteria, old sebum, soap scum, or other yuckness between shaves.

I have to say that I've read this enough here that it's fast becoming a big reason I want to do this. I don't have as many problems on my face now as I used to, but I still have lingering issues with ingrown hairs from time to time. In particular, though, the skin on my chest is pretty bad and I'm thinking that some of the washing techniques and products I'm reading about might be helpful there.

A different type of razor isn't going to be magic, so better understand what you're getting into.

With a cartridge razor you usually have 3-5 blades going over your skin with every stroke. Then between the shaves those blades are left to rust (yes they have special coatings but those wear off) so each subsequent shave is worse than the previous.
With a DE razor you have a single blade scraping at your skin and they are about 20c-50c so replacing them often is much cheaper than cartridges.
With a shavette type of razor you have the freedom to vary the angle of the blade at your skin (that's fixed in a DE razor and people usually call the ones with steep angle agressive). That of course means that you need a lot more skill, but the benefits of the extra freedom is worth it for many. Also to avoid cuts you will be forced to be much gentler than with those cartridge razors, which means less irritation.
With a regular straight razor you have thicker edge and bare steel (no coatings) and you strop the blade between shaves to keep the oxidation at bay (that's why the edge can last weeks/months/years vs. several shaves with a replaceable blades that you do not strop). Of course it's of utmost importance that the edge you have is good, so it's best to stay away from ebay and antique shops. Buy a razor from a person you trust to know what they are doing and who has honed and verified that the edge is what it should be. Gillette/Schick/etc have machines that put a perfect edge on miles and miles of steel, but doing the same thing by hand across a 3" blade takes a good deal of experience.

And the way you treat your skin and whiskers before and after you put a blade to them makes a huge difference too. With a soft whisker you don't need to apply pressure and scrape off a lot of skin, and the lubrication from the lather does the same.

So, it's up to you where you want to go, but the low hanging fruit would be switching to using good shaving soap/cream instead of the canned stuff that's optimized for convenience and shelf life, and after that you using the 1-bladed bic disposable razors - they're very cheap and dragging 1 blade across your skin gets far less irritation than than 5.

Well, there certainly isn't any NEED for more than one razor. It sure is nice to have though!

Partially because you still have something to shave with when (and if) you need to send a blade out
to get sharpened.

It's also nice to just have some variety when you shave. Every razor feels a little bit different, and it's
an exciting part of the journey to get to experience the feel of many different blades.

I know a few people that only shave with one razor, and they make out just fine.

As for buying a first razor, personally I would avoid E-Bay. You will probably be much happier, and have
a great deal less anxiety about purchasing a razor from a reputable member of SRP who knows what he's
talking about.

I bought a razor from an online dealer when I started out. I didn't know it at the time, but the edge was sub-par.
It gave me more headaches that it was worth, and thrust me into honing allot earlier than I was probably ready for.


Anyways,
Just my .02

Enjoy the ride, it's probably going to be a long one.