Thread: What Was Your Inspiration To Straight Shave?

Originally Posted by 32t

I think that he spent to much time lathering!

I just got told off for laughing in bed. Thanks

Thank you all for your stories, and for the laughs. I know I am going to be scouting a lot of flea markets and online for straights. Lol Yeah there goes my argument "One straight will last a lifetime, never have to buy another one"......Yeah...Lol I don't mind though. I'll have some awesome things for people to inherit. I'm just glad that there are people here that know a lot more than me that can give me advice and save me from making a bad purchase. Does anyone here ever look on Craigslist for razors? I have found a few on there but was not sure if the prices were good or not

I got into wet shaving a little over a year ago after reading "How to Do Everything" on Outside magazines website. For shaving, they recommended a vintage Gillette adjustable, badger brush, and shaving soap. I had done the cartridge canned goo and was currently using an electric. I had always hated shaving and only did it as often as necessary. After getting a DE and a badger brush, that all changed. The shaves were great (after a while), but learning a new skill and being more cost efficient (if you're careful) also really appealed to me. I loved the DE and hadn't planned on ever trying a straight. I cannot for the life of me remember what exact event got me seriously considering a straight, but something happened a couple months ago and I started researching. I think a part of me just wasn't happy with how little time and money I had been spending on shaving. I also have an acquisition disorder for tools of all types, and I see a razor as a tool. Not only is it a really manly, cool tool, but it requires more tools to be bought to maintain it. It's perfect!

I had been shaving with a DE for a couple of years and just started reading the 'straights' section of the forums. The whole unknown world of straights was strangely appealing and before I knew it I had purchased a vintage straight, strop and CrOx balsa from a fellow member.

So I guess for me it was the intrigue, the challenge and the 'old school' nature of running bare, sharp steel against my face everyday to look respectable!

u found my grandfather's WWII era straight razor in his personal belongings after he passed and also found out he was a barber so i decided to follow in his footsteps and at least learn to shave with it

My inspiration is more like a join the dots kind of thing. After watching a series (fictional) with a lot of medieval things in it, I thought it would be awesome to forge a sword, just as an achievement kind of thing. I spoke to a friend who was into metalwork and found some tutorials that said if you can't make a knife, you won't do well with a sword. So the interest in knife making was born.
As part of my research into knife making, I found a book by Murray Carter (of Carter Cutlery) that describes how he learned to sharpen blades by using a straight razor. Since then i've bought one ready to go from Whipped-dog, and a lot of not quite so ready to go from eBay. Also discovered the body shop shave cream while kinda chatting up the sales girl

I had no one to teach me how to shave, I had never seen anyone shave with a straight razor, I didn't know anyone who did, to put it short I didn't have any relation to straights. I barely knew they existed. One day straight razors sprung to my mind for no apparent reason and I just decided to start shaving with one of those. What intrigued me was that it is a skill that you have to acquire, it's not as easy as electric or cartridge shaving where you just do it. The complexity and difficulty was what made me want to do it. You can be more proud of cooking someone a nice dinner instead of ordering takeout. A bit unusual for a twenty year old I guess, but that's me.

Geofatboy was my inspiration :-)

Ingrown whiskers and tugging and pulling even with using BIC Sensitive skin disposables for ten years. Internet searches for ingrown whisker treatment led me to SRP. After three months with my grandads DE, I switched to DOVO best quality and have never gone back.

I had replaced the handle of a pruning saw with some spalted maple that had been laying around the shop. I liked the look of it, so i did a google search of spalted maple projects and found SRP. I got a few ebay razors, made scales and once i was finishes I had to learn to use them.