Thread: Blashphemous question

I don't think that ANY straight that uses a half DE blade can be any worse than the blade you stick in it. Personally, I'd buy the cheapest one because you'll never use it again after you buy a real straight. I bought a cheap Paki one and it worked just fine (after I put a good Gillette blade in it, that is). I imagine it would be OK to learn on. I learned with a real straight, I bought the disposable one out of curiosity (it was $1.00)

Pawel, I see you're in Poland. I have a bottle of Polish potato Vodka in my freezer at this very minute. I must say, it makes a great martini. It's also very good on it's own.

Pawel,
I have a cheap one at home and it works fine; (its a Hess EZ shave) there are lots of options out there.
You needn't to spend a lot of money for a real straight, either. A barber hone can be had for under 20 bucks, a basic leather strop within a few bucks of that, and a useable (even shave ready) razor can be had from between 15 and 1000 bucks. Check Tony Little's offerings. Good stuff.
keep your eye open on ebay, or look at the various deals guys here have for sale.
also, just curious, are you the guy that sold me the WARS shaving cream a while back? if you are, its good stuff.
John P.

Originally Posted by paero123

And which replaceable blade str8s do you, gentlemen, recommend? Those I saw in few shops looks really 'poor quality' ones so I would try to find those worth of buying

Cheers
Pawel

Paero, you can use any repblade str8 you can find, the feiling is the same as the more expencive models. You don't have to spring 50+$ for razor, strop and hone just to get a feel for straight razor. I used a replaceable blade straight that costs 1$ to learn on...

Nenad

OK, thanks, guys, for your help.
Anyway I will propobably start with any DE like Merkur HD to develop the technique. I have been a wet shaver from many years with my Gilette Sensor Excel but after reading some articles over Internet I decided to try healthier, closer, more comfortable and ... cheaper classic shaving with brushes, creams and single blades :-). I hope it will also be more funnier way to start my day than 10-minutes of one-pass episode as usual :-). As I remember the times before pivoting head double blades (before mid-80s I believe) shaving with DE was horrible and painful to me - maybe because of the lack of knowledge I know from the forums now or poor quality of Polish razors (sth like http://www.vion.com.pl/files/hm75.jpg still produced as I can see); the blades were good (Feather Platinium coated - I have a package of unused ones I found in my closet). We'll see I'm going to buy original Merkur; if I score a success it will maybe be a time for str8 razors then... :-) Or should I start with Shavette?

joesixpack: which patato vodka did you speak about? I'm not familiar with vodka as I'm a wine lover but I know we have some vodkas produced in Poland which are our export stars as Zubrowka from Bialystok (my hometown)

JohnP: not, I'm not Pawel who sold a WARS cream to you, it's popular first name in Poland - I also bought WARS to try with my Sensor but I'm really curious about Palmolive Leather not available in Poland unfortunately

Cheers
Pawel

Originally Posted by paero123

...

joesixpack: which patato vodka did you speak about? I'm not familiar with vodka as I'm a wine lover but I know we have some vodkas produced in Poland which are our export stars as Zubrowka from Bialystok (my hometown)...

Luksusowa.

Cheers! ;-)

Originally Posted by joesixpack

Luksusowa.

Cheers! ;-)

Just curious - how much does it cost in US? ;-)

Ciao
Pawel

Originally Posted by paero123

We'll see I'm going to buy original Merkur; if I score a success it will maybe be a time for str8 razors then... :-) Or should I start with Shavette?

Cheers
Pawel

wait a second, I thought you want to try straight razor shaving? The Merkur is (excelent quality) Double Edge razor, and it has nothing to do with straight razor shaving. If you want to try real straight razor shaving with replaceable blades, get Shavette, Feather or whatever straight razor lookalike repblade. The technique is totally diferent with DE and straight razor. DE razor is still popular method of shaving, and today (ironicaly) improved a lot with use of good quality shaving soaps and (badger) brushes. Your's not so good experience with this type of blade is most likely blamed on poor preparation, and maybe wrong blade to skin angle.

Nenad

To superfly: well, I read all the forums as shavingmyface.com badgerandblade.com, ask some people as Charles from Qed etc. and all of them recommend me to try first with DE to exercise the technique of 'right angle', passes with/across/against the grain as much safer, step by step way of trying classic shaving. They say jump from Sensor to str8 would be too much and even discouraging...
Is it really different technique with DE and str8? The same blade angle, the rules etc.

Cheers
Pawel

Originally Posted by paero123

Is it really different technique with DE and str8? The same blade angle, the rules etc.

It is. There is nothing alike in this two types of shavers and techniques for their using except for the blade angle on skin (advised ~30 degrees). Go to help section on this site, and download the Lynn Abrams (the founder of this place) shaving video. It will give you nice insight on straight shaving.

cheers,
Nenad

p.s. I started straight shaving from Mah3.

Originally Posted by paero123

I read all the forums as shavingmyface.com badgerandblade.com, ask some people as Charles from Qed etc. and all of them recommend me to try first with DE to exercise the technique of 'right angle', passes with/across/against the grain as much safer, step by step way of trying classic shaving. They say jump from Sensor to str8 would be too much and even discouraging...
Is it really different technique with DE and str8? The same blade angle, the rules etc.

I would say this advice is generally correct, although there are people who went from a Gillette system to a str8 with no problem.