A true story for those about to buy a first razor

I know that this story is a repeat of many people's experience, but it's always worth stating again.

Around Christmas last year, I decided to take up straight shaving, and so I managed to find a second hand razor, strop and scuttle for a very nice price on eBay. The razor was a Timor Blue Steel (new version) Solingen, and was sold as shave ready. Upon receipt of the razor, it was clear that it was far from shave ready, it looked as if it had been sharpened on the pavement. I sent the razor off to a pro honemeister for sharpening, and upon it's return I set about learning to shave. It pulled, it sliced, it very rarely gave a nice shave, let alone a smooth one.
For months i persevered, thinking that my technique was out. My lather wasn't good enough. My angle was wrong.
For a while, chances are that at least one of these things were wrong at any one time, but now I think my technique is good enough to deliver a comfortable shave, so why didn't it?

I recently came across a new razor, dusty and cheap, but totally unused in a hardware shop. I honed it myself as best I could and after a damned good stropping, I had my first shave with it yesterday morning. Oh my word, it was like heaven on toast! Even though my honing was substandard compared to the pro job I had done on my original razor, the steel was so much more forgiving! The result was a shave so smooth that even the Mrs (who thinks that straight shaving is just a long winded faff) commented on how smooth it was!

I guess that the point I am trying to make is that razor steel matter. A lot. As my dad always says, you can't polish a crap, and it seems that you can't put a decent edge on dodgy steel.

Please people, learn from my errors! Save up a few more quid and buy a proper blade. Ebay has a lot of bargains, but also a lot of crap.

Enjoy your journey into straight shaving!

Iain

Sort of mirrors what I think I am finding too. There just might be some razors, new or old, that may not shave up to par. As a rookie shaver and honer with about 8 razors to choose from, a couple that were pro honed do not for me shave as well as other pro honed or self honed ones. Still trying figure that one out. Really hard to tell what a proper blade is without trying it first unfortunately.

Bob

True. As has been said on here before, a good shave is very subjective. My beard is not very dense, but the bristles are very thick and coarse. A blade that works for me would probably make some people wince!

This is why there is a bazillion different razors, and a million different methods of honing :) Its all about the personal experience and preference of shaving.

I made a simular mistake at first and bought some new crap off the ebay. They could not hold a edge (my barber told me these must be movie razors, just for show). Bought a nasty looking old boker that i cleaned up myself. Had my barber hone it up for me and ive never looked back at using the mach things again.

Sir - that you shaved for a couple of months with a sub-par razor is commendable! You truly are committed to the sport! The next couple of months in contrast are going to be some of your best when it comes to shaves me thinks!!

I guess it is true then - you can shave with a "crappy razor." : ( I have only ever had one razor that didn't want to shave... and it was an ERN of all things!

Congratulations on your perseverance!!

+1, earcutter, congrats to m.b.a.kitten for hanging in there.

There is a list of razors to avoid. I believe they are all new brands, not vintage. And there's another list of reliably good brands. If you find something not on either list, try searching the forums for any mention of it; chances are good it's been discussed here somewhere, sometime.

Best wishes to all, happy shopping, and happy shaving!

Really, as long as you have a quality razor there is no reason it can't be honed up to give an outstanding shave no matter what kind of beard you have. My old example are the barbers of old who used the same few 5/8s and 6/8d hollow ground razors over and over all day with just stropping between customers. They shaved everyone who came into the shop no matter the beard type or growth and they all got comfortable, close shaves with no nicks, pulls or any other negative characteristics.

Yes different grinds and sizes feel different and sometimes that could cause you to use them a bit different and there are some few select razors that just seem to be a cut (har, har) above the rest. usually these special razors represent every brand out there. probably the guy who made it was having a good day every process was outstandingly done which resulted in these special razors. If you have one you know what I mean.

When you shave with one, if you were blindfolded and someone was shaving you with one and you didn't know you were about to get a shave you could never tell a blade was moving down your face, it's that smooth and clean. That's the goal every razor should aspire to. few do of course but you can get very close with any quality piece.