Thread: Hello from Belgium! Newbie razor alert!

Hello dear gents! My name is Steven and I am 29 years old. I work for the Belgian railroad and just got my first straight razor for Valentine from my girlfriend (it's the one from my profile picture). I hope I didn't make a bad choice. I hope to see an active community here

Welcome to this great place. There is no pic showed on your avatar.
Eyoy your stay over here

Will fix that

Now you can see it

Welcome to SRP!
The picture is showing in your avatar but a larger picture would be nice to see. Have you already acquired a strop and shaving brush?

please read the beginner's guide in the wiki it will help with some common issues.

and while we encourage full participation throughout the forum there is a dedicated sub forum for people in your area - BeNeLux

as long as your razor is from a reputable maker and it has been properly honed (factory edges are not really shave ready) it will shave your well.

enjoy,
jim

Welcome. We do indeed have a Benelux forum which is handy for local things.
And of course we have several people from Belgium, including myself

Welkom Steven,

There's quite a few countrymen here.
I'm from Duffel myself.
Don't hesitate with your questions, either here, on the benelux subforum, or via pm.

Cheers,
Wim

PS: what razor did you get ? hard to see on the profile pic

Here's the link: http://www.benl.ebay.be/itm/22118792...84.m1497.l2648

I hope it's a decent 1

It's a 4/8" which is fairly small for a razor. Most razors are 5/8" - 6/8".
It's vintage Solingen so the razor in itself will probably be good quality.

But I doubt it will be shave-ready, so you'll have to find a way to sharpen it. Normally we advise the new guys to buy a razor already sharpened, but since you have yours already, well, let's deal with this one. I see three options:
- find a volunteer to do it for you (personally I don't have the time the coming few months, sorry!)
- pay a reputable vendor to do it (in the EU)
- if you become member of coticule.be, they will hone one razor for free for you

I'm not sure where you are with your gear, but you will need a strop, brush and a decent soap as well. For the soap, I recently found out that the Essenza shops stock the Scottish Fine Soaps shaving soap, which is a great soap !