Thread: A Canadian calling out from the far east!

It's the best time however, because I am working to pay tuition, and on a budget. I also don't have as many options here in Beijing:

1) I could buy a chinese brand, such as gold dollar; which will be honed by the seller. But to be honest, I don't want to start my learning curve with a poor quality substitute. I also don't trust the honing skills.

Welcome to SRP!
Ooohh...How much is a GD? (If they even exist there). There HAS to be a better Chinese brand there.

Originally Posted by HaiKarate

Welcome to SRP!
Ooohh...How much is a GD? (If they even exist there). There HAS to be a better Chinese brand there.

They are about 15 CNY for the loe end ones and up to 50...so from about $2 USD to $8.

There are also other strange brands, such as golden monkey, chaoba, and so on..all about the same price. Titans are sold here too.

I doubt there are many good brands, and I am just going to wait until I can get quality stuff, and quality honing.

I have been over to whippeddog.com and I am probably going to buy from them!

Ok.. theres a bazillion people there.. There has to be, JUST HAS TO BE...ONE man there forging custom razors... and probably doing a good job at it. Oh my

after a lot of searching, there is not many choices in China. I would like to say none. i am guessing you used taobao to look for the razors. almost all of the razors on taobao is on the do not buy list on this website. Even Gold Dollar (which is considered "best" of the bunch) is iffy. It seems you would need a lot of experience to hone it. I don't trust the "shave ready" advertisements on taobao. I have seen some on ebay that you could try. For the legit razors (dovo) on taobao, i think they are overpriced.

forget about honing for now. there is not much need for it in the beginning. I just started and haven't needed to hone yet. If money is a big concern, i suggest the classifieds on this site. I mainly signed up just to purchase from the classifieds. for the strop, you can buy from the whippeddog.com. I have never purchased from them but the price even with international shipping is very good. They have had good reviews.

if you can spare some extra cash, i suggest to buy from SRD. The shipping rate is ok and the set with a strop is pretty good. The only issue is to wait for things to be in stock again. the superiorshave has some nice razors under 100USD and includes international shipping. I haven't bought from them yet but it is something i looked into last week. I do a lot of price comparisons because i also need to pinch my pennies as well. If you find you don't like the razors, you can always just sell them (so i don't suggest the whippeddog for the razor).

for the soap and brush, not really necessary as you can still use your shaving cream/gel.

Tell us what something about what you shave with now.

I ask because for me the big breakthrough was a great soap and a darn fine brush.
Neither need be expensive.

With good "latherin" I found that even inexpensive tossables could get a vastly
improved shave.

As you explore saving soaps (and creams) consider that replacement pucks are a lot less
expensive than the fancy wood bowl with soap in it.

Also the transition from an electric to a blade takes a bit of doing.

Hi - welcome to the forum - great to see another Canadian!