Thread: What Was Your Inspiration To Straight Shave?

Hello, I was just wondering what peoples inspiration to start Straight shaving? I have wanted to straight shave for years but only recently came upon this site and the means to make it go from dream to possibility. I look forward to teaching my son to shave, He is 5 and I have fun with him already, when I shave I like to lather his face up too, he giggles and fidgets around then runs to show everybody. Actually all my kids are interested, whenever I start to shave one of them sees and yells "Daddy is using his shaver!! come see!" and next thing I see is three kids all standing around me watching. Lol I know many people enjoyed learning to shave with their father, sadly I did not get to have that experience, my "father" never taught me anything, never cared to, but I will have a ball teaching my son it's awesome to see his eyes light up and then go "Woah!" when he sees me shave a section of my face, and he gets more excited then me when I get a new razor. Here is a pic of the little booger after getting his haircut, it's hard to get him to take a picture without making a face. LOL

It started with not getting 2 shaves out of a cart. And after another miserable shave, I went and got a haircut and bought a shavette and some blades from my barber.(NY state law prohibits straight shaving only shavettes)I was reluctant to get a real straight as I though the maintenance was too much to handle. ANyway I bit the bullet one day and for a month, I was having a rough time, but it came together. Got my first BBS after 90 shaves. Love it and love honing and stropping. My wife thinks Im nuts, but I think shes nuts too! LOL.

Started on a whim, nothing more.

Bob

I wasn't around Dad that much when I was the right age to be nosing around as he shaved. About the only thing i can remember him telling me about shaving is that it can help to "blow out your cheek".

FF though years of plastic and goo.

I became intrigued with the lack of waste of using a puck of soap for lather-about 20 years ago. (before the WS revolution) And bought a brush at a grocery store. That brush and a coffee cup served me for years. I make my own soap now.

Then just last year, someone posted (at my usual haunts) about the Dollar Shave Club, so I signed on...right about the time DSC was having growing pains, and I don't recall ever getting any DSC products. BUT in that very same thread a few fellas mentioned using DE razors and Feather blades, some even mentioned SR's. I canceled the DSC membership. That got the little cogs 'twixt my ears spinning.

I did OWN a straight razor, bought on a whim. No strop, no hone, just a razor that "Larry used".

SO i bought a few antique-store DE's. I started DE shaving 1 August 2012 (my bday). Pals sent me blade assortments to try.

I used too much pressure, felt the "exfoliation" the rest of the day, but was hooked. And eventually, through exposure to WS forums, I developed more interest in the SR.

I worked up the nerve to try it. I made a strop-leather tacked to a board. No linen, no paste, no magnification. That thing pulled and scraped. It was pitted. I thought, this ain't -that- hard.

Talked a neighbor/retired barber out of a proper hone (my only coticule). Saw a Glen vid or two, and got that sucker shaving.

Then it happened, I bought more razors (in better shape usually), more stones, and am currently working over the last bunch of mutts i bought.

It took a full year (including the DE time) to get quite comfortable with a full SR shave, no touching up with DE.

I keep two open-comb DE's for quickies or travel, but am SR shaving first and foremost from now on. It's too much "fun" for those of us who like to work with our hands/hand tools. I've spent way more money on hones than razors. I rather enjoy honing--when it's going right, i'm still frustrated at times. But I've learned what a good edge feels like. I may never get to scary sharp, but that's only a term that SR shavers understand. To the rest of the world, anything that clips a HH is "scary sharp".

Okay, the rocks are calling me. There's an edge to fix!

(thanks to Glen and Lynn for the vids and site)

Me and the PIEDMONT "at speed" (about a year ago, posted to FB)

I got into it when I saw a video on LiveLeak, was called, "The Manliest Shave", and it got me thinking, next thing you know, I ordered a starter kit from The Classic Edge, lurked here for about 5 months before posting, and the rest is history. Turns out the gentlman in the video, Willi, is/was a member here. So after a year and a bit, which I worked out the other day, that I am still probably between 150 and 200 shaves, which makes me a novice at best. Either way, my skill level and experience are nowhere near Willi, who makes it all look so simple.

My inspiration:

My dad was a barber at one time, and I remember him showing me how to strop and shave with a straight razor.

I started on a whim when I was in a Hoffritz retail story in the Washington DC suburbs back in the early 1980s. I picked up a Hoffritz 5/8 round point and a strop. Had been using a mug and brush for some time (Christmas gift from wife, Aramis brand/scent).

Of course I had no instruction and the internet didn't exist yet, so I worked at it, based on having watched barbers who used a SR on my sideburns and the back of my neck. I probably stropped the edge off after a month or so and gave up and went back to cartridge.

When I found this site, I dug out the old Hoffritz and sent it to Lynn and bought a R. Aust, from SRD. That was the beginning, and I'm still working at it, but have MUCH better equipment and tutelage now, as well as RAD, and a mini-collection of SRs, soaps, creams, strops and brushes. Also have pick up two DE razors for back-up and disposed of all cartridge related equipment. Never going back!

Forgot to mention that I am old enough to have had three different barbers do the "edging" of a clipper-cut with a razor. The one that a recall the most was the one who stropped and stropped and then AFTER?! I had no idea what all that leather slappin' was about. The others used inserts i reckon, but Ken Ayers was using real steel, long before i had any interest.

The state barber licensing folks stop "testing" for SR use, so the schools stopped teaching it. But as i understand it, they never "policed" or "prohibited" the practice. I'd love to get a full-on shave from a barber, now that i get the gig.

I started looking for alternatives after having reached for a new cartridge while in the shower only to find the box empty for the umptienth time.

Walking out with half a head shaven does not make you feel well groomed

That search found SRP and a local store up here selling Feather disposable straights

I quickly ordered a proper straight as well, and haven't looked back since.

For the first time my shaves were irritation-free.
A nice bonus to straight razor shaving

Nice, I have seen that video before, that was a fast shave. Lol