Thread: Help me find a straight razor!

Thanks a lot guys!

Just a quick question, is buying used SR's sanitary...?

Also, any suggestions as far as brands go? There are so many that my head is spinning, i'm looking at Dovo's because the name has been tossed around A LOT everywhere.

Most people clean their razors before and after honing, and there are very few things that can live on a razor anyway. If you're concerned, a quick rinse with rubbing alcohol is usually more than enough.

The reason you hear about dovos so much, is that there are really only two companies still mass producing quality razors. Dovo, and Thiers Issard. (AOS razors are made by Thiers Issard)

Dovos are less expensive, so more people buy them.

As far as what brand of vintage razor to buy, the truth is that it doesn't matter. With new razors, you have to be careful to buy a quality blade, because there are companies out there like Zeepk, Tomahawk and Best Brand that are totally unusable garbage. Any vintage razor that is shave ready will work well. So, I return to my original advice. If it's less than $25 there's probably something wrong with it. After that, get whatever vintage straight is in your price range that looks the most appealing to you.

If you are on a budget, you don’t have to buy a whole set now… here is why;
As a new shaver, you have a learning curve top overcome, learning to shave, learning to properly strop and taking care of the razor (cleaning and keep it dry). You may slice the strop with the razor or ding the razor on the faucet (or drop the thing on the floor)… and a host of other accidents… You don’t want to practice on brand new (and costly) equipment, so buy a cheep razor and strop from the classifieds (currently $40 to $50 is good) or a reasonably priced set from ruporazor.com and get your feet wet with that… after all you wouldn’t teach someone to drive in a new car?

When you are ready, and you are sure this form of shaving is right for you, then you buy a set from any of the reputable vendors on this site (or in the classifieds again).

I believe a straight razor is one of the most hygienic instruments for personal hygiene ever invented, cold steel is very easy to keep clean, in fact back in the old days straight razors with metal handles were used to shave patients in preparation for surgery… simply boiling or placing in good disinfectant for a length if time would be enough to have the instrument ready for another… and some folks here go to further than that… do a search in the forum and you will find many posts on this subject.

Soap and warm running water goes a long way, not perfect, but does help “wash” away anything that shouldn’t be there.

+1 on all the advice given so far. You should not have any problem finding a great starter razor from the classifieds here. Almost all of them come "Shave Ready". My very first brand new razor was sharp, but not shave ready as I would have thought with being new. I thought I was good to go but had a few miserable shaves with it. Then I bought a razor from the classifieds that was shave ready and what a HUGE difference it made. Having a shave ready razor will clearly lower the learning curve that is inherent in straight shaving. Best of luck and keep us posed on your progress.

The advice that you have received so far has always been the prevailing wind so to speak on SRP in fact I have given it out multiple times....
It comes from many peoples past experiances...

Things they are a changing though, we have several vendors out there That provide starter kits made shave ready from reputable "Honemiesters" Kenrup came up already, and of course SRD with their Dovo starter kits... These are both very reputable starting points...

The problem is making sure you start with a shave ready razor, I would suggest asking before buying in the classifieds that the razor is "Totally Shave Ready" and guaranteed to shave WITHOUT you stropping for the first shave....This will eliminate the sorta/used to be, shave ready razor, and the "well it shaves for me" sellers... Only people that are truly confident in their honing abilities will guaranty the razor for out of the box shaving...Make sure the seller knows that you are a newb...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

The problem is making sure you start with a shave ready razor, I would suggest asking before buying in the classifieds that the razor is "Totally Shave Ready" and guaranteed to shave WITHOUT you stropping for the first shave....This will eliminate the sorta/used to be, shave ready razor, and the "well it shaves for me" sellers... Only people that are truly confident in their honing abilities will guaranty the razor for out of the box shaving...Make sure the seller knows that you are a newb...

As usual, Glen speaks truth. Lots of other truth in the stuff I snipped, too.