Thread: Good starter razor?

Hi,

Yes I am new to all of this and would love to give shaving with a straight a try, I really like the nostalgia of the idea and 5 blade razor refills are way too expensive.

Anyway I was suprised to find no thread like this in a search so here it goes.

I am looking for soemthing new preferably, and have seen the $60 range dovo and am thinking of picking it up here in a little bit. Any suggestions on other razors to start off with or what to stay away from?

Also a good online retailor for this would be helpful as well.

that's on the low side for usable new razors.

www.vintagebladesllc.com and look at the starter kits as well

www.classicshaving.com again look att he starter kits too

then in hte classified section look for kenrups razors too

whichever option make sure you get the honing service

Thank you, this is what I was looking for!

I found these articles on the wiki
You may find them helpful

Good Straight Razor Brands
Brands of Straight Razors to avoid

Tomcat, don't be lulled into a sense of thrift about using straight razors to save money. It ain't gonna happen!! After you get your first razor, you will begin to think "Hmmm. I wonder how this other brand/type shaves?" Of course you are going to have to try out the myriad selection of creams and soaps, not to mention the aftershaves to decide which ones best suits your tastes and wants. Stupid . Forgot to add many, many brushes. And you must have hones and strops to maintain your razors' (note plural!) edge. I am sure others will add more to this list...

However, I do buy your rationalization of nostalgia. I agree wholeheartedly with that.

a member here named Kenrup sells a very well priced starter set for around $65 last i looked. if you go to the Vendors Corner here there is a thread about them called "FS: Startup Razors and Strops". i would check that out for sure.

Yes I see that it can get to be an expensive hobby, I guess that is just the way it goes!

Originally Posted by dward

Tomcat, don't be lulled into a sense of thrift about using straight razors to save money. It ain't gonna happen!! After you get your first razor, you will begin to think "Hmmm. I wonder how this other brand/type shaves?" Of course you are going to have to try out the myriad selection of creams and soaps, not to mention the aftershaves to decide which ones best suits your tastes and wants. Stupid . Forgot to add many, many brushes. And you must have hones and strops to maintain your razors' (note plural!) edge. I am sure others will add more to this list...

However, I do buy your rationalization of nostalgia. I agree wholeheartedly with that.

SSSsssshhhhh! Youll scare him away!

Like anything you can fall as deep as you want down the rabbit hole.... anyone up for electron microscopy on the blades edge following various hone meister techniques? :-P

Thrift is relatively possible but may be more likely to lead to "inadequate" results if you don't know how to hone. Personally I'm enjoying some pretty nice shaves from a razor I found for $10.50 in a local antique shop (Had to go through quite a few to find one still in nice shape though) polished up with a bit of 400 then 600 wet metal sandpaper and honed on a series of Arkansas and stropped on an old leather belt :-P

(luckily my grandfather had the hundreds of dollars worth of hones to let me put to use when I went home for thanksgiving only have a medium DMT in my collection so far...)

That being said many fine folks on this forum offer reasonably priced honing services.

Of course the grand parents got me started on sharpening at age 8 and I have been a bit of a knife collector in the past. And I did go out and spend maybe 20-25$ on a styptic pencil, mug shaving soap, and cheap brush from CVS.

Originally Posted by Tomcat

Good starter razor?

A sharp one.

Seriously, a used one out of the classified section is definately an option... unless you really just want an unused blade to start with.

I'd caution you to stay away from Ebay at first .. until you develop a sense of likes and dislikes.

Your price point is decent for a starter razor, but I think you could get a bigger bang for your buck if you bought from the used market. Within that same price point, you might be able to get a working razor + strop +.


Just steer clear of new blades made in :
- China
- Pakistan
- India

If you are interested, I have a used razor I would sell to you for a very low price, complete with honing.