Thread: Aloha! - Interested in ways gents travel with straight razors and strops in kit form

I love J.W. Hulme luggage and kit gear, but the cost is very steep, since it's hand made and with high quality control of the finest leather and canvas. I own a bunch of their luggage, but not their travel kits or DOP kits. For these, I just get leather or canvas or leather/canvas from other sources at 1/4 the price of J.W. Hulme.

I found an amazing DOP kit at a Marshall's recently (genuine leather) for under $20, and that's the way I like to find toiletry kits. These get the most abuse, so no sense in spending a fortune on them as they take the most abuse of all your luggage..... unless you are checking bags. Then the bag that's checke gets abused considerbly more times than not. But I'd NEVER check any of my J.W. Hulme luggage. All of it gets carried on. I only check luggage that would not breat my heart if it were destroyed, lost or stolen.

REGARDING STRAIGHT RAZORS AND FLYING;

I'm wondering if TSA would allow Shavettes to be carried on? These after all are razor blade razors, not hard blade straight razors. I'd suspect they would say "NO" since you could theoretically put the blade in the shavette and use it as a weapon, whereas a DE razor would be a bit more difficult to make into a weapon. Still, I may ask them to see. I'm not a huge fan of Shavettes, but they are better than nothing if you aren't checking luggage and want to go with a straight (ish) razor.

EDIT:
Just checked with TSA. No single razor blades of ANY kind are premissable onboard an aircraft as carry-on luggage. Not DE blades, not singles for shavettes, nothing. The only blades allowed are cartridge blades and disposable razors. You can bring on the shavette without the blade (be prepared to have it looked at with scrutiny at TSA checkpoint), but must check the blades or buy them when you get to your destination. This is odd since I have definitely brought on razor blades for my DE before. They just must have squeked through. So that ends that discusion. No biggie if I'm going to the mainland for weeks. I could carry on a shavette and buy blades when I get to my destination, or better yet mail them and have them waiting for me at my destination when I arrive.

Straight razors obviously need to be in checked baggage, but we knew that.

Like a safety razor, I assume a shavette would be fine as long as it has no blade in it.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Like a safety razor, I assume a shavette would be fine as long as it has no blade in it.

Yes. Correct. I have been traveling with a DE and blades, but they must have missed them on all the X-Ray scans i went through, since they were in the classic 5 pack box mixed in with lots of other toiletries. No loose blades of any kind allowed. Shavette and DE with NO blades are kosher. I'll just have to mail my Voskhod blades to my destination awaiting my arrival.

I much prefer a classic straight razor, but if I'm going to take a flight with carry-on bags only, the empty shavette and the DE (SANS BLADES) are all I can legally get by TSA.

This is my entire travel kit:
Everything is travel-size, the badger brush is self-contained inside its metallic handle, the shavette is carry-on and TSA friendly, and the single half-blade I put separately somewhere in the outer pocket - ready to be thrown away if asked - have never been taken from me either (dozens of flights with different companies in various countries).
The brush and the shavette are usually packed in old rigid sunglasses case along with a couple of small silica-gel bags, and the whole lot doesn't take any more space than two pairs of glasses - which is also important to a carry-on-only space-conscious traveler
Of course, when I travel with checked-in luggage, it's entirely different matter, and I can take one of my real straights and a paddle strop. Like you, on my hundreds of flights during the past 30+ years I've never missed a single item (bags got broken, arrived day or two after me, etc. - but never one lost, stolen, or missing an item), so I'm not afraid to take a good razor with me when checking the luggage.

I guess one of these days I'll start dragging a straight razor around when I travel, but a set up llike this has withstood the test of time snd it works for me.
$6.50 razor
$13.00 case
$2.00 soap
$50.00 brush (but I could go a LOT cheaper on it)
$1.00-$2.00 blades
Packs small...brush dries very quickly. Not much reason to mess with any of this

Great stuff, gents. Mahalo!

The only recent change I have made is that I swapped my travel Badger brush for a travel Synthetic. I think it will travel better than a natural brush when wet, and dry quicker. Plus you don't have to soak it in the morning in the event you are in a bit more of a hurry.

I have a Shavette that I have been traveling with, but have been buying blades at destination, or shipping them there if I really want Voskhod. I suppose I can try and just put a few in another part of my kit and if they are taken, then so be it. I am a "trusted traveler" with Nexus clearing for the US and Canada, so I do know that you are not supposed to bring blades on a plane. But sometimes, we forget I suppose. I once traveled with a folding knife in my baggage because I forgot it was there, and indeed it got through TSA. I'm lucky I didn't lose it. I've lost some really nice pocket knives and Multi-Tools over the years. I hope the TSA officers that confiscated them are enjoying using them.

I'll have to photo my current kit tomorrow and post it here.

Thanks gentlemen.

-Zip

Originally Posted by Phoenix51

I guess one of these days I'll start dragging a straight razor around when I travel, but a set up llike this has withstood the test of time snd it works for me.
$6.50 razor
$13.00 case
$2.00 soap
$50.00 brush (but I could go a LOT cheaper on it)
$1.00-$2.00 blades
Packs small...brush dries very quickly. Not much reason to mess with any of this

Aloha!

Nice simple set-up. Proraso soap is easy to travel with and thick and rich... more like cream in a bowl than soap. Nice travel brush and razor.

I like the price point and the adjustable feature of that Merkur Futur knock-off, but mine is almost useless. It is very uneaven with blade reveal from poor manufacture. One side of the blade reveals about twice the other, so if you set it at 3, one side gives you max reveal, the other minimum. I've tried to re-align it but it's impossible. I may try another one for $8.00 deliverd via aliexpress.com. I'm currently traveling with a Weishi travel razor for the DE that I've been happy with. This is the same razor as the Pawn Stars Microtouch One.

Mahalo!
-Zip

Originally Posted by dimab

This is my entire travel kit:
Everything is travel-size, the badger brush is self-contained inside its metallic handle, the shavette is carry-on and TSA friendly, and the single half-blade I put separately somewhere in the outer pocket - ready to be thrown away if asked - have never been taken from me either (dozens of flights with different companies in various countries).
The brush and the shavette are usually packed in old rigid sunglasses case along with a couple of small silica-gel bags, and the whole lot doesn't take any more space than two pairs of glasses - which is also important to a carry-on-only space-conscious traveler
Of course, when I travel with checked-in luggage, it's entirely different matter, and I can take one of my real straights and a paddle strop. Like you, on my hundreds of flights during the past 30+ years I've never missed a single item (bags got broken, arrived day or two after me, etc. - but never one lost, stolen, or missing an item), so I'm not afraid to take a good razor with me when checking the luggage.

Aloha!

Very nice set-up. When I check bags, I have a Cut Throat Gents Straight I take with me with a travel strop, and I'm looking for a small travel barber hone for blade emergencies. It's a nice budget straight razor that honed-up well, as it's only $20-$25 on Amazon. IMO, much better quality than a Gold Dollar, yet if I lose it I won't be heart-broken.

-Zip

I carry a straight in my DOPP kit in a leather case. The brush and shave stick go into pill bottles. I lay the strop between layers of clothes. I always check my bag and have never had a problem.

Originally Posted by criswilson10

Straight goes into a plastic toothbrush holder and I travel with one that I don't mind losing.
Brush goes into a large plastic medicine bottle with holes drilled in the top.
Soap is put into a plastic smokeless tobacco container (that has been washed out)
Paddle strop instead of a hanging strop.

This is exactly what I do, right down to the brush container! figured I was the only one who used old prescription bottles and toothbrush containers in my shaving routine lol. except when I travel I just bite the bullet and use cremo shaving cream in their travel sizes rather than shaving soaps