Thread: Slow start

Hey all,

My name is Ross and I am just embarking on my straight razor journey. I have spent the last month or so looking into and researching this art form. I had no idea how in depth or how much knowledge was out there about the subject and have been blown away by the results.

I decided to join SRP because in most of my searches I kept getting routed to different SRP forums. I have not yet purchased my first straight, but right now I am leaning towards starting off with one of the Dovo or Boker wet shaving packages from SRD. Any reccomendations?

I live in San Diego but have not seen a lot of information about straight razor shaving locally. We do have one of The Art of Shaving stores, but their prices seem to be inflated compared to what is available from other vendors reccomended on SRP. One of our local cities is renown for its antique shop collection, and I am excited to start exploring their shelves for classic straights.

I am really excited to be a part of this lifestyle and look forward to talking to anyone willing to educate or just chat with.

Welcome to Straight Razors Place! Avoid the Art of Shaving razors and stuff. Their creams and soaps, however, are good.

Welcome. If your ever in the area this place looks nice.

http://www.classicshaving.com/themensroom.html

Originally Posted by mretzloff

Welcome to Straight Razors Place! Avoid the Art of Shaving razors and stuff. Their creams and soaps, however, are good.

I've no idea why you would say something like that. I think their TI's are great shavers, and the one in black plastic is a great value, I think. I haven't tried their Dovo's yet, and don't recall what the pricing is like, but I remember them as being reasonable.

Their strops, however, are rather overpriced, in my opinion. IIRC, they are the same Dovo strops that can be had elsewhere for less.

Welcome, Elenkus!

I found the same thing, that most Google Searches landed me somewhere in the SRP.

My advice is to start with less expensive gear. Dovo Best Quality is a good starter, and you can always sell it later on the Classifieds to finance a fancier blade. I don't know about Bokers.

Practice stropping with a butter knife before putting your razor to the strop--that way you'll lay in a little muscle memory. There are many sad posts here about damaged strops and blades.

Sounds like you're off to a thoughtful, patient start. That's the best way. And yes, this is a really rich body of knowledge. Enjoy the journey!

Originally Posted by roughkype

Practice stropping with a butter knife before putting your razor to the strop--that way you'll lay in a little muscle memory. There are many sad posts here about damaged strops and blades.

Thanks, I hadn't read about starting with a butter knife. I have read some of those horror stories and I am afraid to skrew up the edge. I will definitely practice with the butter knife first.