Thread: Hello from Argentina!

Hello, my Name is Franco, I'm 31 and from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I love learning new things and learning to shave and maintain a razor is a good example of such thing. My life is mostly about learning, and for that I'd like to thank all people making and using great communities like this one. I even have a job (independent programmer) thanks to internet and it's people. I don't know if it's a good thing to give advice in such an easy and "general" way. But leaving school (and then university) so as to have more time to spend learning new things instead of following rigid and boring study programs, has been the best decision in my life. I won't advice anybody to leave formal studies but I think making a good use of internet should somehow give more credits to people passionate about self learning thanks to sites like this one.

About shaving: For most of my life I didn't knew of straight razors. Someday I got tired of cartridge razors so I googled for alternatives. I did the maths and I came to the conclusion that investing in a more or less, good shaving set would cost almost the same as a lifetime of cartridge razors and canned foam. So I bought a good beautiful razor (Ralf Aust 6/8) with the idea of not investing very much in the honing equipment. Of course, after learning more about honing I realized that investing in good honing equipment was a better more interesting idea so I borrowed a Shapton 5k and a Naniwa 10k (both Japanese gritt scale). And of course, I was not accounting for a lapping stone so in the end I finished spending maybe twice as expected, which is a lot considering how much it costs in my country to get everything with shipping, 50% taxes (including shipping), very high exchange rates and other related expenses.


But of course, I do not regret it. Here is a photo of my piece steel for anybody considering to buy any of those beautiful razors.

Welcome Franco
Good choice for first straight. Learn to shave first. It takes time. Honing will come later. If you know someone who hones have them do it for you. It's cheaper than buying a bunch of hones. You will also get the feel of a properly honed razor. You will need a brush, soap and strop. You can pick you inexpensive brushes and soaps. Get a mid range price strop. Until you learn to strop properly you don't want to cut up an expensive strop.

Check the library. Ask questions. There may be someone near you that can mentor you.

Good luck and enjoy the process.

Welcome aboard.

Great choice for a first razor.

Welcome aboard. You could definitely use that razor for life but a few vintage ones wouldn't hurt

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome aboard. Nice introduction!

Hello and welcome to SRP.

Welcome, sounds like your building a nice kit.

Welcome, your local barbers may be a source for razors and honing stones, strops and information. In countries where straight razor shaving is still allowed, and even if not, straight razors were common barber tools, and are probably plentiful and horded by old barbers.

At the very least they can provide you some good instruction and point you to where you can locate what you need.

Stropping is the most important skill needed to properly maintain a razor, you don’t need a high dollar strop, though one can produce a lifetime of shaving edges.

Welcome to SRP. Glad to have ya in the group. Learning to shave can take time. 100 shaves in you will find your starting to understand. So keep at it. A professionally honed razor is the best way to learn to shave. So see if anyone in your area can hone for you for the first year before you start to think about honing. You have a 10k stone so that will work to touch up your edge when it needs it. A lapping plate is good to have when you start buying stones or restoring razors. Just go slow.