Thread: Trading standard str8s for a Feather AC

I am new and have never really tried to shave with a straight yet but I intend to in the next few weeks.

I would like to add my .02c which perhaps was already covered by another member, but if you have your razor honed by a professional, my understanding is that straights don't need to be honed as often as say a regular knife. Also you worry about screwing up the edge by poor stropping technique, perhaps you could find someone to give you a quick lesson?
I have read many posts about feather razors, simply coz I want one and a lot of people mention their fear of using it to start and some have mentioned that it becomes nicer to shave with after it had become slightly dull due to its extreme sharpness.
If you don't have the patience to learn to hone or strop, then perhaps you don't have the patience required to shave with a straight and if you try it with a feather you might end up with some serious cuts.

Again this is just my opinion, and I have only learned the theory so...

You can get straights deceptively sharp, where the shave is as good as any machine blade, but the smoothness and forgiving edge belies the keenness.
Machine-sharpened blades are sharp, but I still get weepers on a new or 2-3 uses blade when using a shavette, while I never, ever draw blood from a real straight.
The disposal blades of course take 2/3 out of the shaving equation, but all in all it's a tradeoff.
I like not having to buy blades.

Actually, I do like buying blades, now that I think about it. WTF. Scratch that.

LOL yeah i feel ya... but about never drawing blood? man.... i wish you could see my face... i fear im going to have to wait a week before getting another BBS shave... lol thank god i sent both my straights to Ivo... well, one is already his.. the wapi i sent him is mine... but yeah, so i wont be tempted to thrash my face for at least a few weeks lol my DEs will keep me comfortably smooth....

Feathers are really nice. Just open it and shave. It is so damn sharp that prep etc is not even that important.

They are also absolutely unforgiving. I have learned to shave with shavette and did so for years. I don't cut myself. Period. But before I got to this point I sure paid the price in blood

The nice thing about real straights is that they are much more forgiving and smooth. they may not be as sharp, but they will leave you with a much more comfortable result.

The one thing I don't like about them is that if the hair grows back, he stubble is as sharp and coarse as with a gillette. the stubble from a real straight is much softer.

I actually like using the Fromm hairshaper blades better than Feather.
Still not very forgiving but they strike a better balance for me.
My straights have kept my styptic pencil young.

IMO, the Feather AC razors (I have the non-folding, ACD-N, model) behave and perform more like a DE razor -- without the safety bar -- than like a traditional straight. The technique that you use for the Feathers doesn't directly translate to a traditional straight.

My recommendation -- stick with the DEs until you are fully prepared to commit to learning and mastering the tradtional straight, if that is your ultimate endeavor.