Thread: Sick of the safety-mass-market crap, willing to learn!

Hello everybody!

I'm from Germany and just found this forum. During the past weeks I more and more realized how dull and inefficient my year long way of shaving really was.
Now, after a long time of being single, my new girlfriend reminded me that there was something to get rid of in my face. Because she is totally right and worth the effort, I did shave more often, with some success only though.
Two things:
1. I didn't really shave every day for years since I didn't care, every 3 days or so was ok.
2. I didn't care about how properly it was done

That changed 5 weeks ago. I started to read some stuff on how to properly prepare the face with hot water, got myself a badger-hair brush and tried some soaps and creams. Proper preparation with steaming towel (or out of the shower), cold water and proper disinfection really helped to improve major razor burn and limited visible and burning nicks. The thing is, after week 2 the improvement stopped and that's where I got stuck.
I can shave (close) to BBS results (love that word) if I don't shave for 2-3 days or so, shaving every day seems to worsen the result quite a lot though.The everyday-shave also causes more irritation than I would like. Tried every disposable thing out there, any safety razor I could get my hands on and a DE too.
Well... I began to really think about it some more and started reading on straight razors (the scientist in me had found something new to figure out) . People who use them seem to get far better results than with anything else out there with less irritation and nicks, so it sounds very very tempting. I've never had a 'proper' shave, I asked around, nobody does it anymore, in several cities, nobody... they only cut hair!! Argh. I wanted to let a pro do it for me to see if it really is that good... well, couldn't find any less than 100 clicks away. Get to the point, I'm already convinced to at least try it and get me my own gear. Something I wasn't really able to figure out:


What difference in blade quality is really there between 65$ and 200$???
DOVO seems to make some quality stuff, so I got me pricelists and read specs about their razors. The major add in price seems to be the material the handle or scales is made of most of the time. Since I don't really feel that nostalgic about the thing yet, I couldn't care less!!
I've read that stainless steel is harder to hone and strop sometimes, duller and does not give any major advantage over carbonated steel or carbide compounds mostly used.
That leaves the shape of the blade as a last difference that could matter but opinions on that are inconsistent.
now: should I get a more expensive one right away or will 60 dollar ones be "good enough" to get a positive impression. Will they be sharp enough so a hanging leather (juchten) strop will do or will I have to get more sharpening equipment? I'm really tempted to go and buy me one tomorrow at a hairdresser wholesaler I found two days ago, since I hate my Gillette Mach 3 so much by now, I can't stand it anymore I know what BBS feels like and I am willing to learn to get there. No problem to spend the extra time in the morning, I already love the whole hot towel and proper lather thing.... so: What next?



Regards and happy new year from Germany

Andreas