Thread: What type of razor did you start with?

Q: What was your first straight razor?
A: My first straight razor was kamisori wich I forge by myself from old bearing. You can see her in my avatar. But I have a couple of shaves with knives first

Q: Why was it your first straight razor?
A: Because I like to do it myself. And that was cheepest way to try straight razor shave.

Q: How well did it work for you?
A: Better then I expect.

Q: Did you hone it yourself or did you send it to a pro?
A: I honed that one by myself. KING 1k, 6k, and CrOx for the first time. Later I buy Naniwa 12k.

Q: Did you transition from DE shaving or jump right to straights?
A: Right to straights

Q: Did you ever cut yourself or do you worry about cutting yourself?
A: Of course, but nothing serius for now.

Q: If you had it to do over again what would be different?
A: Nothing

Q: Anything else you think beginners should or would want to know?
A: It's not so hard as it looks.

Mine was a gold dollar professionally honed and a strip from ruprazor. It was a fine razor. I went right into straights. Tried a De but preferred the straight. I was worried about cutting myself but never did till I knew what I was doing. I don't fall into the belief of beginner razors. You can learn on all of them. But I would warn against true spike. Sliced my ear lobe with one not taking care of watching the tip.

The only thing I would change would be to start sooner.

3 years ago I started with a 7/8 Herder round point hollow, at first finishing with my DE, but after a 3 week holiday and every day shaving with the straight, it became a little bit
faster so I could do it in the morning like the DE shaving.
I only cut myself 3 times all 3 on the side where I can't see properly so the angle when hitting the skin was a little of (nothing that a stiptic pencil couldn't fix)

Originally Posted by Danm

Some questions:
What was your first straight razor?
Why was it your first straight razor?
How well did it work for you?
Did you hone it yourself or did you send it to a pro?
Did you transition from DE shaving or jump right to straights?
Did you ever cut yourself or do you worry about cutting yourself?
If you had it to do over again what would be different?
Anything else you think beginners should or would want to know?

Well my first straight razor was my uncles 9/16Genco Grant Square Point. He had passed many years before and when his wife passed it was left to me.

The first shave sucked and as a former meat cutter I knew that I could hone it. Can you say; WRONG!

I hadn't found SRP but another forum offered honing so I sent it off.

Second shave went well, no blood and a decent shave.

I'd cut my teeth on my fathers DE then his SE and I had been using the 'disposables'

I've gotten very minor nicks and cuts but they keep getting further between.

If I could go back I'd find SRP first and do the reading before I got started.

I waited about a year and a half before I started learning to hone and I'm glad I did and I highly recommend that newbies do likewise as they have their hands full just learning the basics and honing is an art all of it's own.

What was your first straight razor?
New Dovo spike point with ebony scales
Why was it your first straight razor?
Got it along with a strop from SRD. If memory serves it was the looks in combo with a good price
How well did it work for you?
It worked very well as a first razor.
Did you hone it yourself or did you send it to a pro?
Came shave ready, then I started honing when it needed a refresh.
Did you transition from DE shaving or jump right to straights?
Straight to straights for me
Did you ever cut yourself or do you worry about cutting yourself?
I have cut myself, but not when I was learning. Never was worried about cutting myself.
If you had it to do over again what would be different?
I can't think of what would I do differently New razor from a reputable seller is the way to go for a first time user. There are many things that one does not know about straights to go for a vintage blade. Exception would be our classifieds althought there is no way to know if the razor that is coming is really shave ready.
Anything else you think beginners should or would want to know?
Can't think of anything other than research the brands before buying. Be prepared to hone or sent a new razor out for honing because it may not be truly shave ready.

What was your first straight razor?
Why was it your first straight razor?

I had purchased two razors. The first was a Boker 4/8 that I got a knife shop. Bad choice. Bokers are great but I was NOT into 4/8. But at the time I didn't know that they came much bigger. And it was NOT shave ready. I didn't know about SRP at the time so I had no idea where to send it. I came across a website with Dovos and they said they would send them shave ready. I thought I'd try again. It was NOT shave ready. By this time I stumbled on SRP and found what I consider to be my first SR, a 6/8 Eirene Solingen in the classifieds (thank you Stefan). The owner said it was NOS and would hone it upon my request. I was determined to buy my way out of this problem and bought it. Finally a shave ready razor!

How well did it work for you?

Once I finally had a truly shave ready razor, it worked wonderfully. I struggled like mad with the other two trying to get a decent shave and it was miserable. Once that problem was behind me, I was able to actually shave.



Did you hone it yourself or did you send it to a pro?

See above.



Did you transition from DE shaving or jump right to straights?

Yes, I was doing the DE shave for a couple years prior to.



Did you ever cut yourself or do you worry about cutting yourself?

I think I cut myself once besides the average nick here and there. It was when I was first starting and caught the edge of my ear. Nothing too bad though. Its still attached.



If you had it to do over again what would be different?

Well, assuming I had the knowledge I was lacking, I would have gone straight to one of my trusted vendors/honers for a razor that was already shave ready and skip the miserable shaves and added expenses.



Anything else you think beginners should or would want to know?

This is not for everybody. You have to really like this sort of thing. There is simply too much money to be invested and too much maintenance for someone who is just casually interested in it. Its the reason why SRs were pushed aside in favor of DEs in the first place. But if you like this sort of thing and find the maintenance and ritual fun, it provides an every day luxury. And the more you can fill your day with every day luxuries, the richer you become.

I started with an eBay razor HSB our very best. That was a disaster. Shortly after I bought a 5/8 vintage from oz.
It was a great first purchase and I used it for around 6 months.
Oz supplied it honed and I utilised his services for the first 6 months or so.
I made my own 3" strop which served me well, in fact I still use it.
The only thing I would have done differently would be to not buy the eBay razor.

My firstshave was with a Benchmade pocket knive,only one time!
My first razor was a Dovo best quality 5/8ths round point, I don't remember where I purchased it or whether it was shave ready or not. I do know my first few shaves wernt good.I ordered a few hones and went from there. This razor is still in my rotation until I get a bigger selection. My only regret is not doing enough research before I started but it didn't take but a couple shaves before I found SRP and began my journey on straight razor shaving.

My first was also a Dovo Best Quality round point. I struggled mightily until finally sending it to Lynn for a real honing.

If I had it to do over, I'd spend less on a vintage blade sold here by a forum member who offers it shave-ready.

Gold Dollar #208...

In the words of someone who I can't take seriously...

" this gold dolla was a great shava "

Its in a better place now.