Thread: When and Why did you start using a Straight Razor..?

I couldn't get 2 shaves out of a cartridge. I started using a shavette for 6 years then de for 1 now straights only since October. Being able to hone a blade to your level of comfort and sharpness is the best part of it.

Short story. I thought I might like it, finally tried it, won't do it any other way. Only 6 months into it and I am gathering parts for a forge build and grinder. SRP has and always will be razor college.

Some great stories on the thread... Nice to see how and why others started.

I started more out of necessity then curiosity. I had decided at one point just out of highschool that I wanted to try to grow a beard. I actually made it almost a whole month before it started itching so bad I had to get rid of it. nobody had ever told me how much a beard itches. I grabed a disposable to try to get rid of it and only shaved down a quarter inch before it got clogged. decided that wasnt working and reached for my trusty old schick injector which made it almost a whole inch before getting clogged. after that I remembered that my uncle used to be a barber and called him asking if he had a straight razor from his days as a barber. I was stubborn and thought I would keep trying to grow a beard untill I eather got used to the itching or that somehow it would stop itching. either way I knew it would probably take a couple more tries and there was no stupid safety bar on a straight razor to get clogged up. I did finally give up on trying for a beard but I still have the two razors my uncle gave me. I'm better off with the razors anyway.

4 generations of my family have gone to the same Italian barber, Tony, on Main St. in Milton, Ontario. I never even thought of getting into this even though a straight was used to clean up my neck and sideburns my entire life.

A while passes and I find myself in the Canadian Forces, my buddy Matt (ironsidegnr on here) goes to Italy as part of a deployment in support of the civil war in Libya and comes back telling me to shave with one. Apparently the old guys in Italy got to him somehow. I reluctantly declined 4 or 5 times and finally caved in to the idea. He lent me a razor, strop, brush and soap. One shave and I was hooked!

SOme guys have already meantioned nostalgia and I'd have to say that it is this that has KEPT me shaving with one; it brings back fond memories of watching my dad and grandfather getting shaved in the barbershop on Main St.

Straight razor shaving has also eliminated my acne and ingrown hair issues on my chin and around my lips.

My old school barber finished with a shavette. I really like the way my neck felt after the shave. So I bought a vintage razor. And another. And another. Then I started selling them. So, dealing and using my own supply is where I'm at now.

Started using one in the late 80s, not by choice tho, there was my M3 knife or borrow a friends razor.
Then he gave it to me and have been using a straight on and off ever since.
Didn't care much about honing in the beginning, used my belt as a strop.
The shave I got then compared to now is like night and day!
I remember him using soot on his belt for touch ups, never tried myself.

Miss that M3, if someone got one to spare....

Edit; NOT the Gillette M3 that is!

I was tired and bored of the foam-Gillette routine so I was after something more challenging. So I bought a DE and used it for about a month but then having heard of striaght razors I was really curious and intrigued to try shaving with the sharpest "knife" there is and here I am now owning 3 DE's and 5 straight's in about 4 months.

I've been straight shaving for 6 months, after my son, who was on leave from Afghanistan, showed me how to shave with his vintage Clark and Co. razor

I got tired of irritation from shaving with the multi-blade cartridge Gillette Fusion and electric Norelco. Looked up online what is the best method to shave to avoid irritation, and stumbled upon this site. I ended up with three razors before I even had my first shave, and haven't looked back. Now I have three more on the way! RAD struck...