Thread: What got you into straight shaving?

I'd been using an electric for about 25 years. Always considered shaving a chore and hated how much the daily shave tore up my face (even with new foils and cutters). One day I just got fed up/frustrated and threw my electric against the wall. Figuring there had to be a better way (couldn't be a worse way), I started doing some research on shaving. Started out on the Wetshavers forum and soon found SRP. Used a Mach3 for about three weeks while transitioning to a straight and have never looked back.

Just another data point,
Ed

I think I've always had an interest in traditional shaving but not enough motivation to really get into it. That has changed over the last month. I've been using safety razors a lot and recently bought my first straight razors. I like the hobby aspect, the tools, the maintenance ... the whole thing, really. And it's so much easier to approach thanks to forums like this.

I'd been honing and sharpening knives for about 5 years when I joined the Army at 17 and got shipped off to Germany in 1977. Once there, I found great little shops through the town of Ulm all around the famous Munster of Ulm and one of them was a cutlery shop with all sorts of switchblades, kitchen knives, hunting knives and straight razors. I got several switchblades and a couple of straight razors and a three-sided paddle strop and introduced myself to straight razor shaving. After a few times, the novelty wore off and those hectic days I didn't have the time for a proper shave, so I forgot about and and I still can't remember what happened to that razor. I just remember it was the biggest in the shop.

Years later, I took it up again and don't see myelf ever going back to disposables.

Hi, another newbie here, been thinking of cutting in for a couple of weeks & now seems as good an opportunity as any.
I had never even contemplated using a straight razor until I went to Turkey for a weeks holiday (vacation), for the experience, I went to a Turkish bath and ended up getting shaved "old style".
Up to that point in time it was the best shave I'd ever had & I believe that it must have placed a seed in my mind.
I have been using a straight razor for well over a year now and will never look back.
As an aside, has anyone else experienced the burning tapers that they waft over and inside your ears/nose to remove the hairs ? (In Turkey that is). Quite bizarre but it works.

Shaving with a straight razor was something that I wanted
to do for years. Why?....

1- It seemed cooler than a safety razor

2- Something different. Very few actually shave with one.

3 - It seemed somehow alien in our disposable throw way
society that you would actually buy a razor or two and
use them for a lifetime - and they would still have another
lifetime or two worth of use in them. If I smoked I would
probably carry a Zippo instead of a disposable lighter

4- So after years of desiring to shave with a straight I
finally took the plunge in January and now have 4 of them.
Looking at a couple on Bills page. Do I really need a 5th?
No - but who cares - I want it.............


Terry

I actually use a Zippo, in a nice black leather case (so I don't lose it and drawing it like a gun is a thing of beauty)

5 hairs got me started. 3 under my left nostril and 2 under my right. I had wet shaved for over 25 years with all the latest greatest disposables, but was never happy. Tried a couple electrics along the way. Always fought skin irritation and I couldn't get those damn 5 hairs. I saw Ray's segment on the Today Show that got me interested. That night I did a Google search about straight shaving. The #1 site was (is) straight razor place on yahoo. I read everything I could find for a couple months and then bought two razors from Lynn. I have been shaving everyday with a straight for over a year now without irritation and those 5 hairs disappear every morning.

Jeff

Have wanted to try it for about 10 years ... wish I had sooner. Also, I was bored with my Sensor and always thought of shaving as a chore to be done as quickly as possible in the morning. One day I had enough time to drop by an antique store, and picked up an old 4/8" that was in poor shape. I've since bought a new Dovo and a few others, and spend 15 relaxing minutes shaving before bed. I love it and will never look back.

E

I frequent a web site called The Fedora Lounge. One of the members there started a thread about straight razor shaving last year. This got me to thinking.
I was presented with my first DE razor, the day after I was born, by an Aunt and Uncle. (They were excited I was a boy.) When I finally started shaving, it was the one I started using. It has been retired but I continued with a DE. There were times I tried other things but didn't like them.
January 1st, 2006 was my first straight shave. Yes, it was an e-bay razor, bought before finding the fountain of knowledge here at SRP, but it was a Dubl Duck. I am trying to decide what I will buy for my first NEW straight razor. When I start thinking about it, I get as confused as a baby in a topless bar! I just don't know which way to go! Too many great sounding choices out there.

I'm here strictly out of curiosity. That is what got me interested. And I love it. I don't get my best shaves with a straight, but I love the "ceremonial" process of stropping and everything else about it.

RT