Thread: Hello from Helsinki, Finland

Originally Posted by iisakki

Hermit – took me a while to connect local Chicago to Lahti, but good to see other finns around here!

I thought that would be far too obvious.

I’ve watched some Lynn’s honing videos, but my first honings are going to be later.

My first impression so far is that honing is not rocket science; definitely worth of trying. On the other hand, I might not have succeeded without microscope. It is quite difficult to see with plain eye what is going on. Lot's of learning, though, I am still nothing but a rookie...

Originally Posted by Smoothy

Tervetuloa, iisakki! It's good to have you here on SRP!

If and when I order from Europe for delivery within the EU (which doesn't happen all that often as I live in Asia) then I order from Connaught or Executive Shaving in the UK or from Shaving.ie in Ireland. All of them have quite fast process and delivery times, expect when it comes to alcohol-based after shaves shipped out of the UK because of a new law they have passed earlier this year.

Paul at Connaught Shaving in the UK has now found a road delivery service that allows all products - including ones containing alcohol, to be shipped - the stimated time to Finland is between 5-9 days.

Welcome to the most friendly, helpful and informative site on the web!!

You will find members here of all different backgrounds, ages and occupations from all corners of the world and all with a quest for more knowledge about using and maintaining a straight razor!

You might find this handy:

Nordic region

Iisakki,

Terveiset maanmiehelle sinne Helsinkiin, ja tervetuloa palstoille, täältä Turun/saariston nurkilta.

Eh, i meant: welcome to the great site. This is probably the best and friendliest site about straight shaving and everything related.
You've already got some good advices. In general you can get almost everything that's shaving related from EU and the postal charges aren't higher than in domestic shipments.
If you are getting minimalist like me, you need few hones (3/4k - 6/8k) and 10/12k for finishing. Plektra Trading in Helsinki has at least 3/6k Sun/King stones and Chinese 12k stones are cheap in eBay. And while you live in Hki, it's always easy to make a trip to the southside of the gulf. Most bigger supermarkets sell common shaving soaps/creams cheaply. Not maybe luxury brands but Tabac's, Old Spices etc come from few coins. If you're up to vintage straight razors, then you should keep your eyes open in the antique shops and domestic interenet web auctions. it's a shame that straight shaving is very unknown skill these days, but because of that, straight razors are usually cheap.

If there's anything you want to know about straight razors and anything related, this is exactly the best place to ask. Pls send a pm any time if you want to ask anything in Finnish/Swedish.

regards,

Tomi aka Sailor

Nice to meet you Sailor / Tomi!

Thanks for the advice, I think that many people have been able to maintain the razor sharpness with a 4k/8k and with leather stop. Of course finishing stone or pasted strops may add to the shrapness of the edge, but I'll manage with the equipment what I've got now.

Had my second straight razor shave today, and I didn't notice that I used 2-3hrs again! Maybe I need to watch my time more carefully. Nevertheless now I got much less nicks (only in the beginning, rest of the save was without any cuts), and feel that I know better how to handle the razor but still need practice holding skin tight. Also did my first stropping today and managed to cut the strop twice in both ends when the I turn the blade.

After previous shave I had very dry skin couple of days and kept a break and grew more beard. I also bought Proraso alcohol-free aftershave balm, which feels itchy on my skin but moistures it well.

I had my fourth straight razor shave yesterday which was best so far result wise. I didn’t get any nicks because I was very
careful every time skin started to pull, constantly lathering and stretching. If I manage to get shaves like these within 30min
I’d say that my learning would be accomplished (this time was again about 2-3hrs). My grip from razor is now better
(I use two hands sometimes on razor) and know where to stretch to get all the whiskers off.

I’ve been watching constantly Lynn’s World of Straight Razor dvd’s Let’s Shave! –segment and jockey41’s video from youtube
(shaving tutorial) and managed to create a “general strategy” before every shave, that is, to first shave with the grain and
then against and across the grain. I think this has helped me a lot also.

I'm glad that things are progressing in a positive manner!!

I always recommend that when you are first learning to stick with just the 'With The Grain' and only on the sideburns 'cheek' area!! This allows you to slowly learn and then once you have mastered that, then go on to other areas, but only doing the With The Grain'.

Once you have those parts mastered, then start working on 'Across The Grain' and when you have mastered that then work on learning Against the Grain'!!

Take it slow, enjoy the ride! It's a long strange trip, but well worth it at the end!

Hi cudarunner! Thanks for support. Yes I think its recommended to start with smaller steps and progress gradually instead of proceeding to whole shave straight away. I have a kind of either or -attitude, either I go all in or don't do anything . I think this decreases the learning curve in timewise, at least yesterday I managed to remove again everything with great results and in about 1hr.

I actually notice that the straight razor shave is better, because I could skip a day off from shaving because there isn't that much to shave (compared to disposables Gillettes). Nevertheless I usually want to feel the smooth skin by my hand and shave anyway .