Thread: Greetings from an Aussie straight razor noob

Welcome ! enjoy your new adventure !

Thanks for the welcomes and comedy relief guys, every time I come back to this thread its like walking into a bar with a few mates.. except its BYO.

I think I'm getting information overload .. I want to get a nice initial setup so that I can have a good crack at enjoying my cut-throats. Figuring out the level of products I need to acquire for this has been my weekends mission, as well as installing the front splitter on my mx-5 .

How good of a brush, cream, and strop should I get? I was looking at a medium sized one of these Edwin Jagger for the brush. Am I going overboard?

There's a bunch of nice looking stuff on the 'himage' web site, such as the Illinois strop, and Taylors of Old's shaving cream. Is there comparable quality items for less dollars? If sales talk on open forums is discouraged, perhaps PM me? I tried to find Fauldings shave cream, had a look at my local (Garden City) woolies today, but to no avail.

Hi Shane,
I think 60 bucks for a brush isn't TOO expensive, though I think the price that some go for completely ridiculous. Be careful, if you spend TOO much on a brush you'll have an "Occupy Wall Street @ Shane's House" demonstration in your lounge room, with people demonstrating against your obscene consumerism...

You need a GOOD cream. We're a little limited in what we can get in Australia (though Men's Biz is a good site). I'd highly recommend Body Shop Macca Root, Musgo Real (one of the best in my opinion) and Truefitt and Hill Trafalgar. Speick isn't bad (but Musgo Real for me is better). La Toja is also good, but I've only tried the 'for sensitive skin' one and it's got hardly any scent. Stay AWAY from Windsor soap, it's not that good in my experience. If you are new to wet shaving, maybe start with creams rather than soaps, as creams are 'easier' (for me, anyway), but you do need to try an Überlather. Evelyn and Crabtree Nomad works well for an Über, and is readily available in Australia (at least in SOUTH Australia, but then, WE have culture (Google it, remember it's spelt with a 'C' not a 'K').

I got a Dovo strop, but wish I didn't, it's a little narrow. I think one of the Mick's sells strops, and he lives in QLD I think, maybe you could get one from him? I know my next one will be one of his...

BTW, you talk of 'less dollars' for the creams. A tube or a tub of cream will last you ages. I was going to get some more the other day (I have only six or so) but based on my calculations I have enough for probably the next six months at least, in other words, don't be such a tight arse and spend some money on a good cream.

NOTICE: All outrageous, inflammatory, abusive and rude comments are meant in a fun loving manner :-)

Speaking of Mensbiz they carry Cella which is an Italian soft soap, not quite a cream but inexpensive & efficacious. If you don't like the almond scent tho, ah fuggedabowdit

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Speaking of Mensbiz they carry Cella which is an Italian soft soap, not quite a cream but inexpensive & efficacious. If you don't like the almond scent tho, ah fuggedabowdit

Is Cella a bit like Proraso in consistency? I never really worked out if Proraso was a cream or a soap.
BTW, Romanus Eunt Domus is classic, and I want the right to have a baby....

Welcome to SRP, I don't call mine cut throats or straight razors, they're just "razors", all the other kinds are "disposeable razors"!!
I picked up a little omega brush from my barber, but the large omega profesional seems to get ok press and its not dear, its probably my next purchase as the little one doesn't allow much room for big fingers(good for travel though) - i don't have brush acquisition disorder.
Ive got faulding cream in a tube, down here chemists and supermarkets have it along with palmolive tube, it does the job but one of my favourites is Taylor of old bond street, its thick and slick and very easy to use, Tabac soap works pretty well too, i got them both from ebay UK

Geez another Mick! Place is just crawling with blokes with top names.

I'm a fan of himage.com and Mensbiz.com myself, but if you want to try a decent cream (although scent is as good as could be) Gaia for men is available in the local Woolies and Coles. Fauldings is boxed up and simply labelled "Shave cream" with the lable fauldings either in small print or not mentioned at all. Depends on the stock (New or older). C&E saops are nice. Wahl is cheap and will do the job well, but again, scent is not worthy. Penyhaglions shave creams are (in my book) one of the best for scent and lather, but they are pricey here.
Brushes, I have a Comoy badger brush that has served me well for many years now. I have also tried the coles/woolies brushes and ended up tossing the mangy thing. I also have a Cyril Salter pure badger, but find it a little on the spineless side, but with a name like Cyril I suppose you would half suspect it to be a bit limp .
Oh yes, and I'm the Mick, Carl meant when he referred to strops.


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

Oh yes, and I'm the Mick, Carl meant when he referred to strops.

Yeah, that's him, and a very helpful fellow for newbies he is; him and MickR really helped me out when I started, I was SCARED back then!!!

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Yeah, that's him, and a very helpful fellow for newbies he is; him and MickR really helped me out when I started, I was SCARED back then!!!

I didn't know I was my own twin neither, but there ya go. I like ta 'ave a beer wif MickR, 'cause MickR's me...Bruvver???!


Mick (or one of me anyhow)

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Hi Shane,
I think 60 bucks for a brush isn't TOO expensive, though I think the price that some go for completely ridiculous. Be careful, if you spend TOO much on a brush you'll have an "Occupy Wall Street @ Shane's House" demonstration in your lounge room, with people demonstrating against your obscene consumerism...

Oh I totally am an obscene consumer, but my consumerism is based on buying quality products so they last a long time, therefore requiring less manufacturing and use of natural resources

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

You need a GOOD cream. We're a little limited in what we can get in Australia (though Men's Biz is a good site). I'd highly recommend Body Shop Macca Root, Musgo Real (one of the best in my opinion) and Truefitt and Hill Trafalgar. Speick isn't bad (but Musgo Real for me is better). La Toja is also good, but I've only tried the 'for sensitive skin' one and it's got hardly any scent. Stay AWAY from Windsor soap, it's not that good in my experience. If you are new to wet shaving, maybe start with creams rather than soaps, as creams are 'easier' (for me, anyway), but you do need to try an Überlather. Evelyn and Crabtree Nomad works well for an Über, and is readily available in Australia (at least in SOUTH Australia, but then, WE have culture (Google it, remember it's spelt with a 'C' not a 'K').

I got a Dovo strop, but wish I didn't, it's a little narrow. I think one of the Mick's sells strops, and he lives in QLD I think, maybe you could get one from him? I know my next one will be one of his...

I probably should have stated earlier on, to date, 95% of my shaving has been done using disposables.. Musgo Real must be a pretty good brand, it's completely sold out on the mensbiz website :S. What exactly is an Überlather? I read a thread that MickR had made saying he wasn't making them anymore due to obligations on the farm... Mick if you have one available I'd love a roo strop.

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

BTW, you talk of 'less dollars' for the creams. A tube or a tub of cream will last you ages. I was going to get some more the other day (I have only six or so) but based on my calculations I have enough for probably the next six months at least, in other words, don't be such a tight arse and spend some money on a good cream.

Thanks for the input, I think 60ish isn't too bad either, and I think a good quality brush is going to last longer, and do its job better, so the extra cash is worth it. And I will buy quality creams, I promise.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Speaking of Mensbiz they carry Cella which is an Italian soft soap, not quite a cream but inexpensive & efficacious. If you don't like the almond scent tho, ah fuggedabowdit

This actually looks pretty good, think I'll try it out, as well as a few others.

Originally Posted by MickR

Fauldings is boxed up and simply labelled "Shave cream" with the label fauldings either in small print or not mentioned at all.

*penny drops* OOOooohh I DID see it then, great! The packaging was so plain on that, I would never had guessed.

Originally Posted by MickR

Oh yes, and I'm the Mick, Carl meant when he referred to strops.

Yep, as I said a few paragraphs prior, I saw your roo strops but thought you didn't have any left. If you do, I am interested.

Originally Posted by MickJ

One of my favourites is Taylor of old bond street, its thick and slick and very easy to use, Tabac soap works pretty well too, i got them both from ebay UK

I like the scents that Taylor of Old have, so I'm going to get the lime one and a few other things from 'Himage'. Glad to hear its a good performer too. I figure $17 AU from ebay UK shipped isn't that big a saving on $19 plus combined shipping. Thanks for the feedback.