Greetings from London, England

Hi all, I am the owner of a $20 plastic straight razor from Hong Kong that takes a razor blade, and have been having fun with that, gradually learning not to make pink soap. I love the challenge and artistry of the straight razor - I look forward to every shave, which I never, ever thought I would say (I have sensitive skin and used to hate shaving). I went from electric (ouch!) to safety (better, but still not great), and more recently to a straight.

I'm lucky enough to have a job where I travel a good deal, and discovered in India that being shaved by a barber was one of life's great pleasures. Since then I've been on the receiving end of a straight razor followed by a head and shoulder massage in Pakistan, Indonesia, South Sudan, Morocco and elsewhere. And finally I bought my own. Since I have only just discovered SRP I had very little idea of what I was doing and went straight for a full face shave with acceptable results - about 4 or 5 nicks and some razor burn on my throat from pressing too hard. I'm now down to about 1 nick per shave, with a nice close finish. I tend to let my stubble grow for 10 days or so in between shaves so a straight razor is perfect for cutting a shortish beard.

Looking forward to meeting some members in the UK, and maybe elsewhere.

I'm keen to buy a proper straight razor and get going with stropping and then practice some honing. Any advice for a relative newbie?

Good to be on the forum ... look forward to chatting with you.

Welcome to SRP! :)

There's a few approaches you might take to obtain a straight razor. First, you can dichotomise the decision to new or vintage/used. From there, you also have several choices. If new your best bet it to try a reputable vendor selling reputable razors - the most commonly occurring new razors are Dovo or Theirs Issard (TI). If you go the vintage route, again a reputable vendor selling reputable razors is your best bet, or the Classifieds section here at SRP can throw up good bargains on occasion (but mostly we know the value of the razors we sell, so "bargain" is not quite the same as what one might call an ebay "bargain" - by the same token it is not often that you will grossly overpay for a razor here in the Classifieds).

The other thing you will want to do, whatever route you decide, is to ensure the razor is honed and shave-ready, particularly as you are new to straight razor shaving. You will also need a strop for straight razors - you can go vintage with these but really, until you get more experience in what to look for, I would strongly recommend buying new for your first strop. Reputable strop vendors abound, and you can probably, with just a small amount of research here, find several in your area. One that immediately pops to mind is Neil Miller's site.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing more of you in the forums!

James.

Welcome to SRP forum and + 1 on Jimbo's thoughts. You will find there are quite a few UK members as well as members from the world over. Don't hesitate to ask any questions and spend some time going through our library for a lot of educational materials. Enjoy.