Thread: Hello, from Brooklyn, NY

Hi --

I recently migrated to DE shaving after years of double edge cartridges and a lot of just not shaving very often in recent years. And I'm enjoying it -- I like to look scruffy, but at the moment I'm enjoying looking a bit sharper. My initial goal was to be released from the expense of buying modern shaving cartridges. But there's admittedly a nostalgic component for me -- DE shaving is how i shaved for many years, when I was younger. A return.

Rosebud.

I have to admit that i have a lot of Rosebuds -- I also collect mechanical wristwatches and records, including a fair number of 78s. And sometimes it goes beyond my personal past, into technologies of distant pasts -- when I draw landscapes, I grind my ink from inksticks, as the Chinese ink and brush artists have been doing for the last couple thousand years. Pre-industrial, but heck, it works great. Obsolete technologies, which nonetheless bring joy. Obsolete technologies that allow one to touch the past, but the past brings a gift to the present, something we don't have.

so you see where this is going. I'm very curious about shaving with a straight razor. It seems very elegant to have this one blade that lasts and lasts and, if you know what you're doing, you can give yourself a very good shave. And they often look beautiful, Un Chien Andalou notwithstanding. But unlike the DE, it's not familiar at all. I can't tell if it's worth the trouble to learn. But - how hard could it be? If this is how everyone shaved until a half-century ago, that means that...well, it can't be THAT hard, can it? So here i am, ready to experiment and learn something.

cheers,
Kurt
nyc

Hey, welcome to the forum! It's pretty simple to get started, and some DE experience helps with already being used to a light touch and watching angles. Sort of a quick to learn, takes a while to master sort of affair. Of course, just about everyone here on this forum will tell you it's quite an enjoyable journey if you're into it! If you're going to dive in to straight shaving, there is a ton of information about quality razors and how to use them here. Best of luck with your endeavors!

SR shaving is simple in its purist form- removing hair with a single sharp blade- but becomes an art once you have any expectations of getting a Consistently good shave.

There are more factors then it seems that you are aware of. Quiet frankly most all well groomed and well shaved men prior to the 1930's got their shaves at a barber shop because using and maintaining their own SR was not and easy as you think-

Not only must you learn to use it but you must also maintain the edge to be shavable- this includes proper care, stroping, touch ups and honing for general maintain and edge restoration for when things get ugly!

If it were so easy this forum would be all collectors talking about new acquisitions rather than a bunch of shavers talking about shaving techniques

I wish you luck- fwiw I didn't find it to be too hard, but I also respected the fact it wouldn't be easy.

Thanks for the clarification! yeah, I was wondering how people did it all those years. I wonder how many people shaved themselves vs. used barbers. There must be a dissertation somewhere...

Well, I'll try to read up some more. At the moment i don' t have a sense of how much time one must put into this project -- I assume there's a learning curve and one struggles for awhile and then it gets easier as one gets some skills and gets the right equipment. if it turns out to be a big time sink, then maybe I'd have to bail. I mostly just need a shave every couple days....I don't really need another hobby if it's going to be really high maintenance. I should be conjugating French verbs or something useful in my spare time...

Though, speaking of French verbs -- maybe that IS why i'm interested. I do like recreational learning -- there's all the stuff we have to study for life and work and survival. But then there's picking up the tenor banjo, or learning a foreign language for fun and all that. I think what ATTRACTS me to straight razor shaving is precisely that one would have to immerse onesself in the demands of a new (to me!) technology and figure it out. And heck...I know how to shave....I know how to sharpen kitchen knives...I'm sure it's trickier than I know, but it seems plausible that i could learn the ropes....and still have time for the French verbs...

Originally Posted by JoeLowett

SR shaving is simple in its purist form- removing hair with a single sharp blade- but becomes an art once you have any expectations of getting a Consistently good shave.

There are more factors then it seems that you are aware of. Quiet frankly most all well groomed and well shaved men prior to the 1930's got their shaves at a barber shop because using and maintaining their own SR was not and easy as you think-

Not only must you learn to use it but you must also maintain the edge to be shavable- this includes proper care, stroping, touch ups and honing for general maintain and edge restoration for when things get ugly!

If it were so easy this forum would be all collectors talking about new acquisitions rather than a bunch of shavers talking about shaving techniques

I wish you luck- fwiw I didn't find it to be too hard, but I also respected the fact it wouldn't be easy.

Hi and welcome. Check out the library ad it has all the starter info and the other basics of Sr shaving. You could have it as a side hobby just most of us get addicted and from there it becomes a slippery slope. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask. Ed

well i got my straight razor in the mail. stropped it, took a shower, afterwards lathered up and had at it.

it seemed to go well -- initially i thought i'd just do one cheek but ended up doing the whole face with the grain. a couple of minor dings that are gone five minutes later but uneventful. the main problem was that i didn't take off enough beard on my left cheek. and i didn't feel confident enough to clean up against the grain -- i tried for a minute and could tell i wasn't ready yet. mainly i found myself trying to reproduce the feeling when the barber gives me a shave -- a little more pressure than my most timid attempts. cleaned up with the DE -- which was so easy and efficient i wondered whether the straight edge would really be noticeably better in the long run. fun trying and i'll try some more in a couple days.

kurt
nyc