Thread: Hello from SF

And I thought the DE version of wet shaving had swallowed me up these past four months: I'm afraid I may be sliding over to the deep end...

Hello everyone. I switched to DE shaving in November, and I've been loving it. Needless to say it became an active hobby pretty quickly, and I've succumbed to RAD, SAD, even a bit of SBAD, all while stumbling while I learned and refined my angle, pressure, and lather (why don't they tell you how important and elusive great lather can be?). Recently, my DE shaves have been great and pretty much problem-free.

Maybe because I'm craving a new challenge, and maybe because the idea of a straight razor has been seductively whispering to me the whole time (however much it did and does intimidate me), maybe because it just has such a bad-ass appeal, I've decided to give straight razor shaving a try. Gulp!

Based on recommendations on another forum, I ordered a "sight unseen" razor and poor man's strop kit from Larry at Whipped Dog. Then this afternoon, after spending more time (too much time?) reading up on this whole catastrophe I placed an order with Portland Razor Co. for one of their Siren models. I figure the 7-8 week lead time for that will leave me with some quality starter time with the other one.

So, I haven't even held a straight yet and I already have two on the way. I figured I'd better register here and avail myself of another strong community and all the information you have to offer. I'm just hoping the potential satisfaction from learning to wield a very sharp piece of metal will outweigh the bloodshed.

Welcome to the SRP Forum.

Shop for a strop next and make room for Brush Addiction (BAD) and Hone Addiction (HAD).

Welcome aboard and+1 on ad's

I am sure you will enjoy it if you have the patience to learn. If you have the lather under control that will make things a bit easier, one less thing to learn. From what I have read a straight razor benefits from a slightly wetter lather than a D/E, we'll either that or D/E's are more accommodating of dryer lather. I do use a D/E from time to time but not enough to be able to comment from personal experience.

I would hold off on any more purchases until you have used the two you have for a while. If the site unseen is a different size and or grind to the PRC razor you will be able to get a bit of an idea of where you want to go. I also think variety leads to confusion early on, learning with one razor will be beneficial in the long run as you aren't trying to work out angles etc on two different razors.
it sounds like you have done a fair bit of reading so you should have seen a few themes with beginners questions, of course we are happy to answer any that you do have though.
Regards ed

Hello and welcome to SRP.
Ed pretty well summed it up.
There is a lot of information here and members looking forward to guiding you along the way.

Welcome! Ed has hit the keys. The only thing I'd add is keep reading and watch some of the videos on shaving with a straight.

Welcome from Santa Cruz!! There's something very Bay Area about shaving with a straight. Sort of clean shaven lumberjack chic or something.

Great hobby and a rabbit hole if I've ever found one. Enjoy!!!

Thanks for the welcome, everybody! I'll certainly heed the advice to stick with one razor for a while to get the technique down (the same principle applies to DEs, I just made things a bit more difficult by ignoring it). The PRC I gave into because, well, pretty! And the idea of having a "nicer" American-made razor early on appealed. But good points on focusing on technique first.

I now have several DEs that I really like, including my beloved Above the Tie S2 slant. If I really take to straight razors, I already anticipate being sad in abandoning, or even neglecting, these DE beauties!

Quick question on lather: I like making a thick, creamy, but slick lather by loading generously on a damp (not dripping) brush, then adding water gradually to get a "cold cream" sort of consistency. It's still slick. Will this not work for SRs? I keep hearing about needing a wetter lather for SRs; but isn't slick slick? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what "wet" means in this case.

Welcome from the Bay Area 707 to 415 & 510