Finally Stopped Lurking and joined up. Wanted to say thanks for all the info
So here's my story....
My wife one day says to me "check out this website.... the Art of Manliness" of course I says back, "what the hell is that supposed to mean", but she calmed me down in her cajun fashion so I checked it out. The straight razor shave hit me and intrigued me so I started looking into it.
Not sure where all I went but I am sure all the usual suspects we have all checked out. So I started looking for gear. Being poor as hell and not knowing what I was doing or if I would like it I started with a cheap disposable from a beauty supply place for 9 bucks. I happend to already have a brush, and some Colonel Conk shave soap. So I went to cutting. Cut myself pretty good too that first time, of course, but I kept on the horse.
After I got comfortable with the disposable I started looking for the real deal. One of the things I saw a lot was that you can pick up a great razor at antique shops and the like. Not around here apparently. I haven't been able to find a servicable razor anywhere within 30 miles of where I live. So I started asking family. I started with my dad. I remembered my grandmother once showing me a box with my grandfathers personal stuff (he died in 1952), in it I remeber there being at least one straight razor. So I asked my dad about it and he told me my uncle had them and to call him and get them. So I did. What a great find!
My grand father, and possibly my great grand father had a Hess Hair Milk labs 100, a Clauss, and a H Boker Our Very Own. They looked like hell. They were sitting in a box for 60 years with no oil and no case. But I was determined to get them in working condition. And I didnt know anything about them except I was not willing to mail them, or trust anyone else to touch them for fear of losing them. Thats just me, i would rather break the scales or chip the blade and be mad at myself than at someone who is otherwise an artist at restoring razors who may just had a bad day or freak accident. These things mean a lot to me. i want to pass them down to my son and show him how to use them. So the adventure begins.
As of now I have them clean and honed (not to a mirror finish) but I am using them thanks in part to the great wealth of information here at SRP. So I just wanted to stop by and say Hi, and thank you all for this huge library of information that has helped me out so much.
pics of Hess Hair Milk 100 and Clauss
I do most of my surfing on my phone. This post is supposed to have pics but I can't seem to get them from my phone to here. I'll have to get my laptop out and do some shuffling. BRB.