Thread: Hello from San Francisco!

Hello SRP!

Long time lurker, first time poster here!

I became interested in straight razor shaving about a year and a half ago but found the price a bit prohibitive for a real quality set of instruments. I asked my sister, who lives in Japan, to look for me next time she went on a shopping trip, and she said reported about the same prices for a real quality blade there. But, she found these disposable razors at a great price and sent me a couple boxes containing 5 shavers each to give it a shot before committing.

It's been about a year since my first shave with one of those blades and I'm finding that I love it every time, but I've grown tired of depending on my sister's care packages for razors.

I purchased what appears to be a decent beginner's set on eBay to see how I do with a proper style straight razor with a folding handle and all that. At $46.89 after shipping for 2 razors, strop, hone, badger brush, mug, and a puck of soap, it didn't seem to be too bad of an investment. I'm kind of a do-it-yourself kinda guy so I'm looking to do all the honing myself and didn't want to risk brutalizing a $100.00+ razor due to inexperience.

I am wondering however if anyone here has heard of, or maybe even used, anything by this brand Zeepk? The blades are full hollow ground carbon steel which I remember reading is one of the easier blades to hone, so it seemed like a decent way to get started.

I'm looking forward to trying what I hope is a bit more akin to a real straight razor than those disposable blades I mentioned, and so far thanks to the advice found here on SRP it's been going great!

I believe that Zeepk is one of the brands to be avoided. Poor shave performance is one comment I have come across the most here at SRP.

Welcome. I'm no fan of the brand.

Welcome to SRP.

Unfortunately, you've been lurking in the wrong parts of the site. Zeepk razors are so bad they even warrant an entry in the FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions - Straight Razor Place Wiki.

More to be found in Straight Razor Place Wiki:Books/Beginners Guide - Straight Razor Place Wiki.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news,
Robin

Yeah I figured they weren't great given the price, but as I said I wanted to try honing it myself and didn't want to risk a good one on inexperience. Hopefully I can turn the poor quality blade into a decent bit of experience.

Besides, I'm sure they can't be worse than these disposables and I've been getting a decent shave out of those (compared to the 5-bladed Gillette Fusion monstrosity I was using before those at least).

Originally Posted by setomlin

Yeah I figured they weren't great given the price, but as I said I wanted to try honing it myself and didn't want to risk a good one on inexperience. Hopefully I can turn the poor quality blade into a decent bit of experience.

Besides, I'm sure they can't be worse than these disposables and I've been getting a decent shave out of those (compared to the 5-bladed Gillette Fusion monstrosity I was using before those at least).

Your first paragraph.... maybe. Hard to know if you're putting on a good edge if you can't shave with it... and the Zeepk hones are about sidewalk-grit...

Second... don't do it. Really. You'll destroy your face trying. Promise. Not worth it...

I would HIGHLY recommend buying from the classifieds here... good, shave ready razors at some great prices- as low as $20 sometimes- or perhaps at ruprazor.com where Ken sells some great strops at really low, beginner friendly prices.

I'll take your advice and check out the classifieds. At least I'm not too deep in the hole on what's probably going to turn out to be a waste of materials.

I do wish I had sought out the brands to be avoided before placing my bid though. Oh well. I'll have learned some kind of lesson here. At least I'll get a mug out of it.

I've done some Googling and looking around this site and it looks like I'll be returning this stuff to the seller on eBay. They offer merchandise credit return no questions asked within 7 days so maybe I can find 46.98 worth of useful crap from them instead of a paper weight and a letter opener.

Are there any other places to find a decent beginner set that won't cost me an arm and a leg? Bear in mind, I'd like to do the honing myself so I'd hate to spend any real money on something I may end up doing some damage to. I checked around the classifieds here but I can't seem to find much.

I have found a few reviewers of the Zeepk blades saying they kept the blades to work on honing technique, but if there's no way to test the edge without hurting myself there doesn't seem to be much to this.

Ruprazor sells some inexpensive starter kits. I'd recommend you have some one else hone your razors for awhile, to learn honing at the same time as shaving will be an impossible mixture of variables... if you have one professionally honed razor and one from an antique store that you're working on will give you a standard to work toward....

...and do keep in mind, a set of hones for razors will run you roughly $120-600 depending on the brand and how fine an edge you want.