Thread: Learn How To Shave With A Straight Razor

We it seems that everyone have covered the bases pretty well. I think we appreciate that your trying to help but you need to understand that this is a topic we take very seriously and you information in many parts of this are just wrong. If you spend some time researching and reading the posts found here at the SRP the proper techniques will become clear, The one thing I don't understand is if your not interested in changing things for the better why did you even ask?

And so the battle continues- now he posts in the comments on his edutainment piece how he is being slammed by certain "experts", how they are greedy, and discounting any advice he has been given. Somehow, I don't think you actually came here looking for help....

What I find interesting is that I clicked the link and read the tutorial/facebook group BEFORE continuing on with this thread, and a LOT of the information just sounded wrong to me. Especially regarding honing and frequency of honing. And I'm a NEWBIE! But I have also spent a LOT of time on here reading.

Honestly, for someone who is trying to help others out, the comments "will not touch" and "i have no intention on retracting the entirety of the information that i have brought forth" are just apalling!

I don't think you really want help from these guys! LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS! OLD_SCHOOL and Mike_ratliff have given excellent advice...listen to them!

EDIT: In the first paragraph, I'm not trying to sound arrogant or that I know everything. I just wanted to make the point that I noticed some possibly damaging information. My apologies if that comes across the wrong way.

Thanks for the vote of confidence however I still consider myself to be a newbie, there is just so much to learn still.

Sadly I joined that site yesterday to post a comment however I did not post one. Why? Because you must keep comments positive and constructive or you will be banned after deletion of comments. IMO that site is just as responsible by not allowing criticism as the people who give such poor instruction. Coz all the comments you have there are made by newbies who take that nonsense as gospel.

Asking a one man operation for a hefty discount? Along with a copy paste begging for one? I find this somewhat distasteful.
Minor point: failure to disclose the fact that the Norton 4/8 needs to be flattened.

While I'm not the grammar police and generally lax for things of the like on forum posts, a tutorial that cannot even capitalize I's loses a lot of credibility.

Adam, if you're still reading this thread I think you should realise that the only reason people are being a bit harsh is because we're all quite passionate about straight razor shaving.

You've clearly put quite a bit of work in your guide, and I for one think it's great you like straight razor shaving and you want to get more people using straight razors. I can also imagine that you might not have been too happy about the barrage of criticism of your hard work, but you should know that it's not something personal against you (at least, I can't imagine that it is), and it's definitely not from greed, as you seem to imply over at instructables. In fact, I'm a bit offended that you would think that. There are so many people here pouring so much time into their razors and helping others, for absolutely no money at all. The members here will hone razors are hardly charging enormous amounts of money for it.

Honing can be tricky at first, especially if you get a blade from ebay which can be no where near sharp and require a lot of work. Getting your razor honed by someone else will not only ensure that you start off with a sharp razor, it will give you a baseline to compare your own honing against. My first two razors were from members here at SRP, both at reasonable prices and sharp. My opinion is that straight shaving can be daunting enough without having to worry about whether or not your razor is sharp enough, and acquiring the skills required to get it sharp enough.

YMMV and all that.

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

Sadly I joined that site yesterday to post a comment however I did not post one. Why? Because you must keep comments positive and constructive or you will be banned after deletion of comments. IMO that site is just as responsible by not allowing criticism as the people who give such poor instruction. Coz all the comments you have there are made by newbies who take that nonsense as gospel.

That's okay, I posted exactly what I wanted to say.
They can ban me if they chose, it was distasteful of Mr Gonzales to accuse us of being greedy, and it was dishonest to say we didn't give specifics. I have replied to his post, and if he still wishes to claim that we didn't give him specifics on issues, he will have only proven himself a fool.

He has updated his instructable, but only to add information, he is still advocating overhoning, and instead of giving credit to his sources, he is accusing the members of this forum of greed.

Originally Posted by bjrn

Adam, if you're still reading this thread I think you should realise that the only reason people are being a bit harsh is because we're all quite passionate about straight razor shaving.

You've clearly put quite a bit of work in your guide, and I for one think it's great you like straight razor shaving and you want to get more people using straight razors. I can also imagine that you might not have been too happy about the barrage of criticism of your hard work, but you should know that it's not something personal against you (at least, I can't imagine that it is), and it's definitely not from greed, as you seem to imply over at instructables. In fact, I'm a bit offended that you would think that. There are so many people here pouring so much time into their razors and helping others, for absolutely no money at all. The members here will hone razors are hardly charging enormous amounts of money for it.

Honing can be tricky at first, especially if you get a blade from ebay which can be no where near sharp and require a lot of work. Getting your razor honed by someone else will not only ensure that you start off with a sharp razor, it will give you a baseline to compare your own honing against. My first two razors were from members here at SRP, both at reasonable prices and sharp. My opinion is that straight shaving can be daunting enough without having to worry about whether or not your razor is sharp enough, and acquiring the skills required to get it sharp enough.

YMMV and all that.

I think that you should take all the criticism as constructive criticism. Folks here are passionate about their preferred method of shaving. While feedback may not always be fashioned in the most "feel good" manner, it really is meant to be constructive. Members always appreciate another promotion of straight shaving but just want the content to be as accurate as possible.

I must have missed the greed comments, how on earth does he come to that conclusion? Spend a short amount of time introducing yourself here and you will find that the members here are very accommodating and generous. You find very few people on forums as polite and kind as you do here.

Originally Posted by Mike_ratliff

That's okay, I posted exactly what I wanted to say.
They can ban me if they chose, it was distasteful of Mr Gonzales to accuse us of being greedy, and it was dishonest to say we didn't give specifics. I have replied to his post, and if he still wishes to claim that we didn't give him specifics on issues, he will have only proven himself a fool.

He has updated his instructable, but only to add information, he is still advocating overhoning, and instead of giving credit to his sources, he is accusing the members of this forum of greed.

I have just been told today that this dreadful example of misinformation uses photographs and text lifted from the "The Art of the Straight Razor Shave - A Basic Guide" and I have contacted instructables.com to inform them of the copyright infringement. As you may know, this guide is available as a free download, and also as an at-cost (no royalties for me) book from lulu.com. But just because it is free doesn't mean that any idiot can reproduce it without permission or even giving credit. I hold the copyright and will defend it. The most annoying thing is that a casual reader might assume I condone the rubbish being promulgated by this twit.

Chris