New to Straight Razor Shaving, but stoked! A few questions

Hi all,

I just bought a Boker King Cutter and a Heljestrand No. 2 along with a Big Mama strop. I read good things about both of these razors and picked them up for about $35 each. I hope these will be good shavers. Both have a nice and rounded point for a beginner like me.

I've been watching videos on YouTube for shaving instructions, stroping techniques and other straight razor videos, so I feel I'm ready to start practicing on some balloons before my face. I'm already a close shaver and get compliments from girl friends on how smooth I shave, so at least I'm doing something right. None of my friends shave with a straight razor, so I'd love to be the first.

After reading a lot and watching video after video, I still have some questions.

I've heard stropping my razor before each shave is ideal, but also read every shave isn't necessary instead every 5 shaves with Chromium Oxide .5. Is there a preference between the two or should the Chromium Oxide be used on a separate strop every 5th shave and the clean strops used before each shave?

How often do you hone your razors?
edit: I just read a few posts recommending not to even think about this for at least 6 months.

I was thinking about buying an antique razor to practice honing, or would this be a horrible horrible idea?

Does anybody make custom scales? I'd kinda like to buy some or make some for my razors to make them really unique.

I don't have a badger brush yet, but thought about going to Target to get a $24 Van Der Hagen set. Is this a decent starter kit or are there better ones for a beginner?

Thanks everybody for your help. I'm excited about this!

I can tell your excited Austin.
Get your two razors made shave ready by someone who can.
Forget about the Chromium Oxide .5, for the moment.
Learn about just stropping, work the face a little each day with a straight, finish with your cartridge. Don't try to take the whole face the first day.

The library section needs to be read first, slow down, enjoy the journey.

Thanks Hirlau. I was busy reading post and after post, that I didn't even notice the Library section (although a lot of the stuff I've read was linked from there HA).

I should have noted that both razors are "Shave Ready" but I suppose I'll find out.
I'm big on training and learning, so I'll definitely learn stropping before touching any chromium oxide.

Welcome to the most friendly, helpful and informative site on the web!

Hirlau has given you excellent advice!

It’s hard enough to learn to shave with a straight as it has a huge learning curve!

You say that your razors are ‘Shave Ready’! Shave Ready is a relative term. Most of my honing friends recommend that you don’t strop when you’ve received your razor, just remove the protective oil and shave with the blade. This eliminates any chance of you damaging the edge due to improper stropping! While I do hone my own, I also send some out to my friends. It’s nice to compare edges!

With all this said, stick to just using your ‘shave ready’ razors for now, yes you need to strop before every shave/AFTER you have tried the honer’s edge! One of the Pro’s who is a friend recommends 25 on the cloth and 50 on the leather. If you use proper stropping technique you won’t go wrong!

Gute Rasur /glatte Rasur, mein Bruder der Klinge
(Smooth Shaving My Brother In Arms)

Welcome to the nut house!! Great advice so far, my 2cents: Learn to strop by going very, very slow. This will develop your muscle memory . Stopping is probably one of the most important things you'll learn in order to get a good shave. Also, as previously stated, learn to shave using the Wiki here on the site.
If you take your time, follow the advice, you'll be getting a comfortable shave in short order. Once you can shave and strop, then take on the honing aspect.
Good luck!!!

Welcome Austin!

Agreed with above, stropping is very important. I've been able to maintain my edges with proper stropping and a the occasional (every 15 or so shaves), few passes on a barber hone. Since march this is how I have kept the edges nice. I should mention they were all honed by pros so I'm sure that helped quite a bit ;)

Good luck, it's a fun journey.

Thanks for all of the good advice! I'm definitely learning a lot through reading, but can't wait to actually start getting my hands-on experience. I know I must sound overly eager to put a razor against my face and on a strop, but the excitement, however, won't make me want to rush anything...especially when I have a razor pressed against my face. :)

I'm very open to learning and always listen to advice. So thanks again for the advice.

I plan on testing out both razors to make sure they're both "shave ready," and then work on my stropping technique using just one so that I can compare it with the other. I read that having one untouched by my newbie hands may help to let me know if I'm doing it right. Is this a good idea?

I've been using pre-shave oil for a couple of years, but recently started mixing my own. I read a few posts where some members mix their own and add glycerin. Well I bought a bottle at CVS for 1.19 and added a few drops to one of my mixes....and wow....one of the best shaves I've had in a while!

6 month update.

I ended up buying a razor from Larry at whippeddog.com to see what a "shave ready" edge actually was like since my first two razors were a little rough to use. That was a game changer for me because I had to hone and strop both razors quite a bit to get them shave worthy. My Heljestrand holds an edge for suuuch a long time, and I use it 90% of the time. The other 10% is spent using the Simon Pure razor I bought from Larry. It's good, but loses it's edge fairly quickly. I think the bevel on my Boker was never set properly because it's still not shave worthy. :-/

After a few months of shaving WTG using my SR and ATG with my cartidges, I decided to go ATG in Feb. I didn't get close enough shaves to my liking, and it kinda felt like the razor would get stuck in my stubble.

I met the owner/inventor/mad scientist of Method Shaving since his shop is here in Austin. After reading tons about his frantic videos, and how it was all marketing hype to get people duped into buying his products, I thought I'd at least meet him. He's just as fast paced in real life as he was on the videos, but that's just how he is as a person. He's just passionate about shaving and a really nice, but fast-paced human. He told me straight razors weren't his forte, but if I felt my razor wasn't sharp enough or if it was jumping instead of slicing through hair, I needed to strop more or have them honed by a pro. We talked for about an hour about the difficulties I was having, and I left with a big bar of soap (very inexpensive for it's size) and a discounted bottle of his 4oz cutting balm. He could have tried to sell me a new razor, strop, brushes, his entire method shaving system etc...but during our conversation he ruled out a lot and made one suggestion - use a few drops of his Cutting Balm before I shave ATG. I was skeptical, but it actually made a difference. I thought 4oz will go pretty quickly, but I've used it since Feb shaving every 3 or 4 days but it looks unopened and unused. I hope the bottle doesn't go bad before I can use it all. haha

The last few months have been WTG and ATG using my own preshave oil, Gilette gel (don't flame me for using it!! I like massaging it in with my fingertips!) or soap WTG, then using the Cutting balm and relathering ATG. I'll have a small nick every 2 weeks or so whereas I was having small nicks every other shave with cartidges. It's been great!

Probably my best experience was talking to this really cute girl that came to a party we were having at my place for my roommate's bday. While talking to her, a girl friend kissed me on the cheek while saying bye and was shocked at how smooth my face was and made her bf feel bc she wanted him to shave that close. I told them that I use a SR and after explaining the difference between a DE and SR, he said I was either crazy or had huge balls for shaving with a SR. haha The cute girl was there the entire time and asked me to prove that I use a SR, so I took her upstairs to my bathroom to show her my razors....and I think we spent the next 45 minutes kissing in the bathroom. Who knew SR shaving had that kind of impact on women? haha

I've come across mentions of method shaving before but I have never taken the time to watch any of the vids. Frantic is the right word. Say what you want about his system, but the man is clearly passionate about shaving!

I think he takes a very Aristotelian approach to shaving: everything categorized systematically. :) You *could* just call it an against the grain pass, but I'll call it a 3rd form counter-line cut...

Thanks for sharing your experience - it's great to hear things are coming along nicely for you. :tu

I'm getting pretty decent but I still take a long time to shave. From the initial splash of hot water on my face to applying lotion after I finish takes a solid 30-35 minutes still. I'd rather take my time than slice my cheek off. :)

I was so lost in terminology that I almost felt like I needed to study a glossary of terms before talking with him. haha He does know about shaving though that's for sure.