Thread: About to take the plunge

Hey Gents,

Been DE shaving for 6-7 years now. Just picked up an old Frederick Reynolds (sheffield) straight from an antique store that seems like it will be serviceable. Picture below.

Before taking the plunge to apply it to face I'm going to send it off somewhere to get honed and procure an economical strop. At this point it is a toss up between a cheap Fromm/Illinois from Amazon, a poor man from whipped dog or the plain vanilla from Tony Miller.

I'm sure I will have a thousand questions, and am open to any and all input. At this point I'm just trying to read up on the million pieces of information for newbies, from actual shaving, to stropping to honing. It should be a fun ride!

looks like a good razor, should be a good shaver.When you get it back don't strop it before your first shave so you can get the feel of how a properly honed razor should feel (it is a good idea to practice your stropping with a butter knife or similar dull object to get the hang of it). Feel free to ask questions and enjoy the experience! And welcome to SRP!

Welcome to the forum. It seems like you are off to a good start by doing research on straight razor shaving and it is paying off with your first choice of razor. It does look to be serviceable after you have it properly honed.

As far as strops go, I would not sink too much money into your first one as you will likely cut it up a fair bit learning to strop. That is normal and I think most had that experience starting out, at least I did.

Feel free to ask as many question as you want. That is what we are here for. Have fun and enjoy the new venture.

Bob

Hello and welcome to SRP.
Take your time and enjoy the learning process.

Pete <:-}

Do you have a real hone guy yet? If not pm I know of a couple that are some of the best and one is over in east Tn

Welcome to the choice of grooming tools, the gold standard since 1876.
As far as strops go, I too gave my first one a rather short life, so I would go with the Illinois for your first one and the Tony Miller for your second one.

Welcome to SRP. Sounds like your on the right path. As said, go with a low cost strop as you will cut it up. Being you have been DE shaving im guessing you have soaps figured out an a brush or 6 so just learn the shave. Go slow and easy. It takes time to learn to shave with a straight, but if you keep it up, in the end you will be glad you made the choice to move to the straight side.

Welcome aboard, I am also a rookie having been shaving for just a few months, there is heaps of great advice here on SRP so you are in the right place. I would certainly take the advice on strops already given, go cheap or has been said to me use newspaper strop and save some money in the beginning. I bought a strop and wish I hadn't I shoulda done the smart thing like you and joined on here BEFORE I started the journey lol

Al

Welcome.

Welcome to the forum.
It is good to see that you did your research.
Feel free to ask us questions. We are here to help!