Thread: The barber made me do it

After a haircut the other day, the barber used a straight razor to trim my sideburns and neck hair. Oh, that warm lather from the dispenser! The smooth feeling after the shave!

I never thought that I'd be signing up to a forum about shaving, but here I am. The plan is to take small steps. I've been paying a lot more attention to shaving even with my lowly Mach 3. A tube of Musgo Real is on the truck for delivery today. Next steps are probably a DE razor, a brush, then a shavette to try out a straight razor without the initial expense of a nice razor and a strop.

Sounds good my advice would be to pick up a vintage DE I often see them at flea markets ~$5 after that skip straight to a straight you can usually find some messer known vintage ones one the classifieds here for around the same price of a shavette and it will save you money in the long run.

I'm still a noob, but I started with a plan similar to yours. I would reccomend that you switch the order just a tad. Start with a good brush and some nice shave cream first. It's one of the great luxuries, you can't hurt yourself, and you can use it for ever, even if you decide not to shave with a straight razor every day.

Just a thought...

Hmm, interesting... Barbers using straight razors in CA is illegal.

Originally Posted by THG

Hmm, interesting... Barbers using straight razors in CA is illegal.

OP is from MA... I'm a tad confused where the CA part came from. An educated guess would have me believe they went to Floyd's which uses replaceable blades like the Shavette except with a guard.

On a different note to the OP, you are on the right track and the idea of a brush for soaps and creams is a great idea even if you never use a straight razor. When I was mentoring a buddy of mine the idea was the same as yours. I started him with the brush and cream, then moved him to a DE and eventually to a straight razor.

Once he used the brush he could feel the difference with a slick lather but the part that hooked him was the feel of the DE which is very smooth and the blades are cheap. He also uses a Feather straight razor and loves it but is still working on his technique. I'll get him up to a real straight shortly but it's just one step at a time.

Wow! I just shaved with the Musgo Real, hand-massaged onto my face. Still with the cartridge razor, but the cream makes a huge difference!

My birthday is coming up, and I was planning to ask the family for some specific shaving supplies, but it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to wait.

Next up: I've read about brushes here. How serious a brush do I need to get going? If I get a moderate badger brush, am I going to want a nicer one right away? Is there any way to figure out how much I may like a brush without buying one after another?

I'm from outside of Boston. The barber is in Watertown, and did use a disposable blade on a razor. I wasn't educated enough to spot whether it was a Shavette or something similar.

Thank you for all the help!

I just started straight shaving a month and a half ago and have to say....just jump in w/ both feet! I was shaving both my head and face with the straight right out of the gate, but later choose a DE for the head only as it became extremely time consuming when shaving the face and head at once. Sure, there's a learning curve, but it sounds like this sort of thing appeals to you regardless of the nicks/cuts you may encounter! Just stick to it!

About the brush, I started with a boar's brush from Walgreen's while I waited on my hand-turned cocobolo wood silvertip-badger brush from Australia (full description not for bragging, but for demonstration of how this can become obsessive!). The boar brush was about $6 and is pretty stiff giving a nice message. It is also useful digging into the mug soaps. I like the purpose it serves. The silver tip badger is really soft and great for creams, yet it takes a little time to work up a lather from a soap. It's really comfortable, but sometimes I like a coarse massage rather than a soft blanket on my face! I also have a pure badger which is kind of a nice compromise between the two. Silvertip $? $92. Pure $? $25.

Thanks, Costabro! You motivated me to get a brush for now - Tweezerman's pure badger, only $12.50 at Amazon. I have a feeling that I'll be chipping away at the shopping list before birthday and holiday season.

One issue I have is that I'm deaf. That isn't a problem by itself, but every once in a while a family member barges into the bathroom and scares whatever pants I'm wearing off of me. So I have to think carefully about holding a naked blade when that happens. I could lock the door...

Originally Posted by THG

Hmm, interesting... Barbers using straight razors in CA is illegal.

Just curious where you heard that. I was born and raised in california and have had quite a few shaves from barbers. The only law I was aware of is that they must use a disposable blade type straight. In fact we have an AOS opening up in a local mall that will be offering straight shaves.

Originally Posted by hsamuels

One issue I have is that I'm deaf. That isn't a problem by itself, but every once in a while a family member barges into the bathroom and scares whatever pants I'm wearing off of me. So I have to think carefully about holding a naked blade when that happens. I could lock the door...

Just as long as your not holding YOUR NAKED blade when they barge in. I would definitely lock the door once you progress to a straight razor. It took a while, but my wife finally learned that when I'm shaving, that is my time, and no interuptions allowed.