Welcome from southern California. Yeah I say take a shot with the straight and see if you like it. Looks like you've found some places for good deals.
If you're still wondering about the Feather blades for the DE, obviously online or you can get them locally here in the south bay at the Shaver Shop on Hawthorne, but not sure where in so cal you're located.
Wow that is really close to me I think. Where from SoCal are you from.Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyalCake
I'm in Torrance. That Shaver Shop on Hawthorne actually has quite a few things. They have Dovo and Boker straights, tons of brushes and DE stuff. Their prices for straights seem very "list". I haven't bought from them except Feathers for my dad. But if I were to buy a new straight I'd consider them to give support to a local business.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrActuary
Alright I'll check them out. I only live a few blocks away from you I think, since I'm few blocks away from the shop, pretty small world. Either I'll get the DE feather safety razor or whipped dog DE, if you can help me differentiate between the two 17 dollar DEs, and then go for the straight on whipped dog as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyalCake
Haha wow yeah small world. Unfortunately I don't know much about DE's since I don't use them but maybe someone else can chime in. If you need anything related to the straight let me know. I'm no expert at honing but I think I've become fairly proficient, so if you need that too feel free to hit me up.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrActuary
Shane
Greeting fellow so cal brother.
I made the switch maybe 6weeks ago.
I am at ~140 deep. Including bowl brush and soap (van der hagen kit) strop from amazon, three straights all vintage I got at an antique shop, and three various stones for doing my own honing.
If you set your mind to making this part of your life you will succeed.
I can't speak on the DE route. However on the SR side of things I'm no expert but I picked it up pretty quickly and shave six days a week. My total time including shower, shave prep, shave and dressed for the day in ~30 minutes. ~10 of that is the prep and shave.
Most days I'm cut free but I shave with a square point that has a little bit of a spike that likes to remind me to keep focused.
There are a lot of guys from so cal on here with loads of experience that will always be here to help.
I don't understand why you bought three razors starting off. To me it's like buying three toothbrushes when they all do the same job. I know they say to buy two to use one as reference (which still sounds excessive to me) but three is surprising. Which ones did you get such that all those supplies added gets to 140?Quote:
Originally Posted by ncraigtrn
Also when you do happen to cut yourself during those initial shaves is it bad enough to show throughout the day or is it just seeing the blood then and there and a slight stinging perhaps during the shave.
I had the same thought. Why would anyone want more than on razor... Well I bought one first and it was a great shave and one of the scales broke. So I bought another to use while I fixed the handle on the first. And the second one had a chipped blade that I fixed.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrActuary
Anyways one is a wedge one is a full hollow so the shave is a bit different.
Because there are so many different razors I personally want to try several to see which works best for me. Kinda like choosing between Schick, Gillette and bic. Only there are more options and more variables.
The two that I currently shave with are a dubl duck satin wedge, and a case red imp #133.
Paid 18 for one and 25 for the other.
The third I got to practice honing and stropping.
So my kit goes like this
Strop - 18 on amazon
Vdh shave kit- 10 at Walgreen's
Red imp - 25
Dubl duck- 18
No name razor- free
King 1k/6k combo stone- ~40 on amazon
Barbers hone- 15.50 on eBay
Chinese 12k finisher- 25 at woodcraft
I don't have to pay to have my razors honed now. And if I chose to only use what I have I'd only have to buy shave soap the rest of my life. But I like the hobby aspect of taking a beat up razor and giving it new life.
And your supposed to give your razor 24-48 hours between shaves to not work harden the edge. Thus multiple razors
Pretty sure that's it.
Oh wow that makes a lot of sense. Where did you find your razors and were they not shave ready?
I sterilized and stropped the dubl duck before first use and it shaved OK. The red imp had a chip in the edge and had some blemishes.
I've since rehoned the dubl duck and restored the imp.
I am kinda headstrong so I take advice and try to prove it wrong or right.
I didn't subscribe to the get it pro honed or shave ready ideals because I wanted to make a hobby of this and to do it somewhat on my own.
This was good for me because it generated more questions then I'd have with everything perfect from the beginning which has helped me to learn a lot in a little bit of time.
Remember just because your switching over doesn't mean you have to completely depart from your current means of shaving. If you feel like the shave is going wrong stop and use your Schick quattro or Gillette fusion and when your done assess what went wrong with your straight. Like watching back game film. Assess what you were doing and compare to others experiences or instructions and make adjustments.
The truth is no one has perfected the straight razor shave yet. And I mean no one. Everyone is searching for it and everyone continually grows and gets better at it.
There is a lot that you learn in the first stroke of a first shave.
If your uncomfortable with starting out doing it all there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting a shave ready razor or having one honed professionally. But it'll cost 15-30 to have it done and most guys muff the edge learning to strop.
So my logic was to learn now and spend a little time and money then to have 100 dollars in honing services my first 6 months.