pre-SRP tales

[Spokeshave]

I'm curious to hear from those of you who took up straight razor shaving before there was SRP. I've seen smatterings of your challenges and successes in various posts. How 'bout jumping in here and let us all know how you did it then?

What made you pick up that first straight? Where'd you learn to keep it sharp? What kept you going if you were going it alone? Anyone around to teach you...father, grandfather, local barber,...? How many of you used the old barber manuals? Where did you get razors/strops/hones...or even find out where to get them? And of course, what stories do you have that are just plain fun annectdotes from your early journeys!

From another thread (Experience counts), I see at least these folks as ones who got into this before SRP - eagle, JMS, adjustme69 (Lynn of course), wopmanfixit, thebigspenur, Scrapyard Ape, honedright, floridaboy, AFDavis11. Anyone else with pre-SRP stories to tell, jump in as well!

I know, I know, this was common, mundane daily hygeine back when, but we all know the richness of doing this now is because it's uncommon and a bit against the grain. You guys musta been the most ATG!!

Thanks!

- Dale

[floridaboy]

Must have BEEN, I hope we still are, I'm a male nurse, Have been for about 30 years, How much more ATG can that be? I have five kids and 3 grand children and this is who I get to teach how to shave. They allready have there own razors, A DOVO special, and a TI (I'm just borrowing them).

[Spokeshave]

...3 grand children and this is who I get to teach how to shave. They allready have there own razors, A DOVO special, and a TI (I'm just borrowing them).

I love it - borrowing your grand kids' razors! I gotta remember that!

Must have BEEN, I hope we still are, I'm a male nurse, Have been for about 30 years, How much more ATG can that be? ...

ATG indeed. I'm a nurse too, though I migrated into a different profession some time ago. Loved my ICU experiences, but life's opportunities took me elsewhere. Guess I've always been a little ATG too.

- Dale

[AFDavis11]

I was in the military and I was delivering supplies to the Hondurans. This was 1983 timeframe. There were no drugstores around to buy extra blades and carrying packs and packs didn't make much sense. I brought a straight as one of my options. My honing wasn't very good, but it shaved. The stone sucked and I had no idea what I was doing. I learned a lot of bad habits that followed me here when I tried to learn how to do it right. I used a Sensor and a DE when at the firebase. I went out on patrol for one to four days and I'd take the straight because it would fold up and I'd only shave with it once per mission anyway. I prefered to travel really lightly. I would strop on the side of a tire before I packed the blade which made even the worst honing work out. I thought it was a complete failure; but I only needed to get shaved close enough to put camo on and the hone I was using allowed that pretty well.

I returned several times during that year and a little the next and I found the straight to be a good "travel" razor, but I never learned the silky smooth shaves I can get now.

[thebigspendur]

As I recall it was about 4 years ago and I was looking for a new DE and I stumbled on the classic shaving site and saw the straights and thought now this would be interesting. I had just retired form a federal law Enforcement Job so I had the time to endulge myself. I had read the primers there but that was about it. My first attempts were not pretty. After a few months I discovered the SRP Yahoo site but by then I was pretty much on my way.

[C utz]

I don't know if this counts but I somewhat accidentally stumbled across straight razor shaving. Two things intersected....one, on my honeymoon in Ireland my electric converters did not work, so I could not use my electric razor (I was given this as a teenager, and never shown how to shave otherwise), so I had to use a Bic disposible till I got back home...I found it shaved much more smooth than the electric, so was done with that. Second, when I got back home some friends kept telling me to check out eBay....not knowing what to look for when I DID finally 'check out eBay', I remembered that my grandfather use to shave with straight razors, but only being about 4-5yrs old at the time, I was not allowed to play with them SO, I looked for 'straight razor' on eBay and bought a few! Not knowing what to do when I got it, I found an archived version of 'Razor Central' in which only certain parts could be accessed at certain times of the day. I piecemeal put it together as a 'word' document and learned from there. There after, I stumbled across Yahoo-StraightRazorPlace (this was around 2002, so I was already 1yr past the forums existence, so I do not know if I count, and about 4 months learning on my own), lurked for a good couple of months since I figured most of the guys there might be freaks (and now I know we all are ) and since a lot of the posts refered to pictures in the files section (that only active members were privy to) I eventually joined (got a voice), asked a lot of questions, and learned a lot more, a lot faster. I wish I had found the SRP-forum first since most of what I know, I had to learn tinkering around on my own!

Funny thing though, I was not the first in my appartment to shave with a straight razor...while showing my wife one of my 'new' razors I just cleaned, and commenting on how sharp it was, and that I did not know if it was shave sharp or not (I did not know how to hone at the time, and I think this might have been the second razor I had ever owned), my wife grabbed the razor out of my hand, went into the shower (she was heading there anyway) shaved her armpits with the razor, handed it out and said "it pulls a little"....as I stood there with my mouth gapped open THAT's the woman I married!

C utz

[elbonator]

It had to be about 1983 or 1984. I was 12 or 13 and I had just started shaving. I had tried everything available and known to me at the time. Mom always said it wasn't close enough. I remember at the time telling my best friend about it and his father was shaving in the bathroom when he popped his head out and told me to try a straight razor. I was floored but accepted the challenge. So I pedaled my way to the nearest Barber Supply and picked one up. I used the finest stone of a tri-hone to sharpen the razor for many years until I could get my hands on something better such as an Arkansas surgical hone, then a Conk hone then a Belgian and a Norton. I shaved with the same razor every day for about 10 years. Along the way, and especially at the beginning I consulted my barber. He was of some help but not as much as I would have liked.

The initial edges I created were ok and I was able to shave with them pretty well, they actually won the closeness contest. I did use Noxema though as a shave cream because I didn't like the soap that I knew of: Williams. As an aside I just bought a cake of it recently to see if better lathering skills would make a difference - nope, my skin still hates the stuff. Anyway, the edges got better and better in terms of keenness I could achieve. By the time I got my first razor off of ebay from Dave Uthe I was getting edges just as keen as he was selling. But my skin likes the edges made with a Belgian (or equivalent like Tony's Eifel hones) the most. I stay away from pastes for myself most of the time - in a pinch they're ok. The pinch almost never comes though. It's been a wild ride and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Lots of neat stuff out there to try too.

Regards,
EL

[Friggin Joe]

Zeepk. The word alone will be enough if you search.
I figured they'd send me a badass certification for completing a shave with one of those. Holy crap. I shaved with a knife when I was a kid and it cut better.

[Bruno]

1994 or thereabouts

Internet was still very rare in Belgium.

I always wanted to straight shave, but couldn't find a razor. These really went out of fashion in Belgium.
Eventually my mother bought me a shavette for my birthday when she found one in a barbers shop. Best birthday gift ever.

There was noone to ask question to, so I had to learn everything by trial and error. And with a shavette, any error is a bloody nick. It took me a loooong time to get it right.
Then 7 years ago I bought a straight in a knife shop in the city, but it was not really shaveready, and again there was noone to ask questions to so my technique sucked.

I threw it in the bathroom closet and went to mach3.

half a year ago I found it when cleaning, and decided that this time I was going to learn to shave properly. I went searching on the net, found that article on mensessentials, then I found SRP, and I finally got answers to my questions.

I started honing before learning to shave because by this time I had seriously damaged the edge of my 1 razor.
I went to a honing course that tought me more bad habits than anything else, but I bought a coticule and it got me started.

I managed to restore the edge sufficiently to get a shave.
Then I got a busted up razor from thebigspendur to experiment on. It took me 19 hours to get it from banana dull to shaveready, and it is now my favorite.
I almost accidentally started honing razors for other people.
I bought a couple of nortons, colleens soap and a TM strop to complete my arsenal.

Currently I am making my way into razor restoration. I discovered that I actually like working on razors (honing, restoration, shaving). It is my sole non-computer related hobby.

My wife supports this quirk of mine because I am now cleanshaven most of the time, and it is cheaper than using replacable blades.
One nice thing about straights is that using a real straight is very easy (IMO) if you are used to the shavette. They are much more forgiving.

A big thank you to all the people hanging around, and Lynn in particular for creating this great community.

[Spokeshave]

...I would strop on the side of a tire before I packed the blade which made even the worst honing work out...

Kinda puts a different perspective on our sometimes hyper-analysis of our strops, pastes, dressings...