Thread: Greetings: Decided to make my final move from an OC to a straight.

I have been reading about how to begin with a straight and I must admit I am overwhelmed. My current razor is a fairly aggressive OC and I believe I am ready to join the straight razor community.

I have wanted to use a straight for years but believed that starting out with a DE would be helpful. I suppose it's the crawl before you walk mentality.

Regardless, I am here and I am eager to get my first setup (razor, strop and whatever else is recommended). I am fortunate to have some nice brushes and good soaps so I will not be starting from scratch. However, I am having troubles with the first step.

It is a difficult decision for me. From what I read on another message board, most agree you will damage your razor and strop during the initial learning curb.

I can't find the balance between expense and quality.

I have received conflicting views on this point. Some say buy an inexpensive setup because I can learn and not suffer serious financial consequences when I incur damage.

Others suggest quality and that any damage can be repaired.

I am trying to find a balance but I must admit I hate buying low quality items.

Take care,
Jason

Hello and welcome Jason. I have been using a DE and am waiting for my first straight razor to arrive via mail. I have a poor mans strop from whippeddog.com. It is cheap and won't be as painful to me when I tear it up. I have been practicing on it with a butter knife to get my technique and muscle memory to help prevent damage once I start with a sr. You may find a mentor who lives close to you that will show you the ropes. Check the library section and absorb all the info from there you can.

Hi and welcome. There are various sites you can buy sets consisting of a good quality strop and razor. Most damage that a newb does to a razor involves blunting the edge stropping od dinging it on something. Both are easily fixed by re honing. It is very unlikely that you would do any real damage to the razor. Strops usually acquire nicks from poor stropping and if unlucky you my cut it a bit. If you buy from somewhere like SRD you will get a strop that has replacement parts available and once you have finished learning and are no longer nicking the strop you just replace the old one. Hope this helps but any other questions feel free to ask. Good luck

First, I would say stick with a relatively inexpensive strop at first. All of us destroy the first one. Second, straight razor designs has some good combo packages that allow you to get good gear for relatively cheap. They also offer a free honing, so you can send it in after you ruin the first edge.

I still use the same strop that i made a year ago, and whilst it has a few minor nicks and scratches it is perfectly servicable.
Personally if i was buying a strop i would go for something with replacable leather, from what i have seen, the new leather pieces arent really more expensive than cheap complete strops, and you will have a quality strop.
Razorwise, for new razors you seem to need to spend around $100 for something worth using, or a nice vintage razor from a reputable supplier does not need to be expensive.
All bar one of my razors are vintage, and cost between $0 and $80 and they all shave nicely.

Thanks for the replies. Everyone has been helpful. I think I will stick with a good quality razor that is popular among beginners.

There is also a local knife shop in town that gets no business. I walked in one day and saw they had a Hen & Rooster. I have done a bit of research on this razor and it may be worth buying. I just hope they have not closed up shop.

It is not shave ready but it is only $50.

I was thinking that this would be a good 2nd razor.

Once again, Thanks to all.

Take care,
Jason

PS - Is it common for SRD to have low inventory?

Not sure on hen and rooster, i remember the name coming up, but cant remember if it was in a good or bad way, also the razor may not be save ready, so factor in around $15 plus postage.
I think that most current production razors of any decent quality are hard for suppliers to get a decent stock of as production is limited.
You could go vintage, there was a french frameback in the classifieds for $60 posted the other day.
Ed

Some of the old Hen & Rooster razors were decent. Not so much with the newer versions in my opinion.

Have fun.

Originally Posted by realdog4

Thanks for the replies. Everyone has been helpful. I think I will stick with a good quality razor that is popular among beginners.

There is also a local knife shop in town that gets no business. I walked in one day and saw they had a Hen & Rooster. I have done a bit of research on this razor and it may be worth buying. I just hope they have not closed up shop.

It is not shave ready but it is only $50.

I was thinking that this would be a good 2nd razor.

Once again, Thanks to all.

Take care,
Jason

PS - Is it common for SRD to have low inventory?

EVERYBODY has low inventory. Sign of the times as it seems straight razor use has become quite popular. That, plus now it seems to be the European custom for everyone and their uncle to go on vacation for a few weeks. That really puts a choke hold on the manufacturing process.

Some vendors (I don't know how) seem to be able to keep more goods in stock than do some others. SRD is a superb group to do business with..but there are others out there that are pretty good too and they might have what you want sitting on the shelf. Shop around after doing a Google search and checking the results. I can think of 4 or 5 vendors just off the top of my head with whom I have dealt and had good results (SRD being one of them indeed!!).

Welcome, great first post, I am impressed. For a first razor you couldn't go wrong with this Gelle Freres 6/8 French razor Faux frameback Paris Solingen steel - Straight Razor Place Classifieds This is from the classifieds and would be a good first razor and it will also start off your collection. As has been stated, Whipped Dog and Straight Razor Design would be a good starting point for pretty much everything shaving. Out of stock means that the popularity of SR shaving is catching on.