Thread: Help! Xmas gift for the hubby...

oooops yeah you're right. Forgot I said bare minimum. Any brush will get him by and he doesn't HAVE To have a mug. I just thought a mug would be easier for a newbie and you can get badgers for so cheap (crabtree and evelyn for 35 or tweezerman for 14) and they perform great.

Trying to simplify the selection for her. You guys are throwing a lot of stuf out there and she doesn't really know about wet shaving.

The above mentioned vendors are all great, but let's not forget Jim at Straight Double Edge Razor : Shaving Products Supplies : Dovo Safety Razor : Badger Shaving Brush : Men's Grooming Products : VintageBladesllc.com He is also a pleasure to deal with.

Jordan

Originally Posted by Philadelph

This isn't a necessity. I (as well as many others) lather straight from the soap to the brush to the face with no separate scuttle or lather mug in between. Just throwing that out there. And as for a brush, I just said it doesn't NEED to be a great one to start with. I also said MAYBE you should just go with a boar brush. To keep it in budget you probably can't get something besides a boar hair. Some guys PREFER boar hair over badger and for your sig. other to figure out if straight shaving is for him, a boar hair brush won't make or break his decision. Just for the record, I did say that a brush can make a difference. Glad that that's all cleared up huh, Ron? lol

Agreed, but as I said, he might not stick with the straight but it's more likely to stick with the brush. Also, Ashlee in her original post said " This year he wants to make sure he gets good products. "

As far as good economical products go, I don't think the C&E brush can be beat.

Back to Ashlee if you're still reading this. Did he TRY straight shaving last year but just not get good stuff?

Originally Posted by Utopian

Agreed, but as I said, he might not stick with the straight but it's more likely to stick with the brush. Also, Ashlee in her original post said " This year he wants to make sure he gets good products. "

As far as good economical products go, I don't think the C&E brush can be beat.

Back to Ashlee if you're still reading this. Did he TRY straight shaving last year but just not get good stuff?

He did try straight shaving last year. I just tried looking for his razor to let you know which brand he tried, but I don't know where he stored it. I do know he didn't spend much money on it. I'm thinking maybe $20-$30. It could actually be a little less. I did find his brush, stop and some kind of sharpening stone. It has the name "Col Ichabod Conk" printed on the handle and it's a flat rectangular stone. He mentioned once that he didn't think it was sharpening very well. Anyway, he tried for several months and seemed to enjoy it. He probably didn't try long enough to get very good, but he seemed to thintk his products had something to do with it. It might just have been the razor..... but I don't know. Thanks for your help! It means alot.

tsenfw - Thank you so much for breaking it down like that. It makes it plain and simple! It must have taken you quite some time to try to find everything in my price range. You got it pretty close! I appreciate the time you took to help me out. Great suggestions... I'll check them out!

I just wanted to say thanks to everybody that took the time to reply to my post for help. I'm looking into all of the suggestions and advice that was given. It's all such a great help! I no longer feel completely ignorant about which direction to go. The links were great too. You guys are great!

Ashlee, first of all: Welcome! This place isn't just for men.

Second, No one has really mentioned a hone (sharpening stone) yet and I wanted to point out that the reason is that it would be a little while before your husband needs one (depends on how often he shaves and whether or not he dings the blade, strops it weird etc). When he really gets into it, he will learn more about honing and what he needs. You have been given some good advice so far! I hope he enjoys what you give him. If you really want to go over the top: find someone to show you how to give a shave and then treat him to one!


have fun!

-Rob

Keeping razors sharp is a whole other ball game. It's a very steep learning curve and is probably the primary cause that drives people to give up on straight razor shaving.

I say get him a dovo presharpened from classic shaving, and he can worry about sharpening later. He can then see what a real shave ready razor feels like and can determine if he likes it. Razors that aren't sharp enough are really aggravating and painful to use. He might be able to get by for a couple of weeks to a month before having to worrry about sharpening. He'll just have to be careful with his stropping technique (running the razor up and down the leather strop before shaves, it's a maintenance thing for the edge). Make sure he hops on here for proper stroppnig technique. You can ruin a shave ready edge by stropping incorrectly.

I had the colonel conk white arkansas stone on the wooden handle, it's pretty much garbage. he'll have two options in the future to keep straights sharp:
1.)Send to someone on forum or lynn for sharpening for $20 every once in a while and have to wait for postage.
2.)Purchase a quality stone and learn to sharpen himself.

I'm predicting he falls in love with straights and winds up going all out with a shaving addiction like most of us have done here. If he gets a stone eventually he can use his old crappy straight to practice on so he doesn't mess up the dovo.

Originally Posted by ashlee6660

He did try straight shaving last year. I just tried looking for his razor to let you know which brand he tried, but I don't know where he stored it. I do know he didn't spend much money on it. I'm thinking maybe $20-$30. It could actually be a little less. I did find his brush, stop and some kind of sharpening stone. It has the name "Col Ichabod Conk" printed on the handle and it's a flat rectangular stone. He mentioned once that he didn't think it was sharpening very well. Anyway, he tried for several months and seemed to enjoy it. He probably didn't try long enough to get very good, but he seemed to thintk his products had something to do with it. It might just have been the razor..... but I don't know. Thanks for your help! It means alot.

Its nice to know what he already has. If you can find that razor, Great, you might be able to get really good other stuff and a good sharpening job on the razor he already has, that would allow you to up the quality of the rest of the kit.

If THIS is his stone, tell him to trash it, or use it on pocket knives it isn't near good enough for a razor.

If THIS is his strop, it will do just fine. Especially for him to learn with since this is when he is most likely to accidentally cut it. You can get him a really nice one now and caution him to get good before risking it or save the cash and get other stuff. Unless its been kept rolled up in a drawer somewhere in which case it might have some wrinkles in the leather that would have to be smoothed out before it could be used again.

By the Way I wouldn't recommend the shop in the links I used their prices were a bit high but they do have the full Col. Conk line that why I used them

If the razor is also from Col. Conk, he already owns a DOVO as they are the ones who make the razors for the Col. All it would need in this case is a really good sharpening from a master. There are several listed in the services section of the Classifieds, all are good and willing to help.

His brush is probably OK too, but probably not as nice as the Crabtree and Evelyn one. Plus a brush and a collection of soaps make a great stocking for any guy. I use tuperware containers as my soap mugs, that way I can have several going at once. I have six pucks in use right now, just because I enjoy all the different scents. A Shaving sampler from Colleen HERE in a stocking would make anyones Christmas just click on the Order A Sample button. She also sells a pretty nice bargain brush in best Badger.

For the Down and dirty quick and Easy option Vintage Blades mentioned above has a great starter set for $175.00 once you add the pre-honing option (which you really need to get started). I'd still get the Soaps from The Gentlemans quarter though, they are to good to pass up.

Ashlee,
I wish my wife shared your enthusiasm......!!
Good luck with the quest..... :-))

Best wishes,

Mark.....