Thread: Should I supplement my dtraight shave with a DE?

Check your local antique shops before you buy one on the 'bay. There are some really good buys at some stores.

Originally Posted by robellison01

Check your local antique shops before you buy one on the 'bay. There are some really good buys at some stores.

Don't forget to give me a heads up on them shops! I drive though Mansfield every sunday on my way to sword practice.

And here I was thinking, "where ARE our local antique shops?"

I found about 5 straights in an antique mall here in Irving. I only bought one of them and I paid a little too much.

I thought I had found one with Ivory scales. Fooled myself. It cleaned up very well and I shaved with it Monday. I'll doubt that I'll keep it.

Some suggestions:

1. If your face "can't stand a straight-razor shave every day", maybe you're using too much pressure on the blade. If you press down on a cartridge razor, nothing much happens. But if you press down on a straight razor, you'll get razor burn (or worse).

so, it might pay to use lighter pressure than you're used to. If the blade doesn't cut, it might be dull.

2. Vintage DE prices, at auction, are approaching the prices of high-grade new DE razors. The EJ 89 "Barley" is really good. Since I bought mine, my Gillette Tech and Aristocrat (a very nice razor) have been gathering dust. The Tech was $3, and the Aristocrat was $10 at antique shops.

3. The sharpest DE blade you can buy is the Feather. You must use _no pressure_ -- else, you'll get razor burn and cuts. You could start with a Feather blade, and work down (in sharpness) to an Astra, and everything else.

Charles

Thanks Charles. I've had razor burn problems my whole life. The burn doesn't start until two days after the shave, usually. It has gone down significantly since switching from the Fusion to a straight. And I use three passes with the straight, otherwise I have permanent shadow.

Well in the way I see things the DE Safety razor is top in regards a simple Fusion. You will see the difference in terms of low amount of pases you have to do with the Fusion..K

Well, this is funny. I walked into an antique store today in Mansfield. They didn't have one, but a couple kids who were also there (what kind of pre-18 year old kid visits an antique store?) stopped me outside in the parking lot and told me they had five of the razors they're looking to sell. We met up again a few minutes later and they sold me all 5 for $30!! Waaay better deal than ebay would have been. None are exactly what I wanted, but I'll start here. Only one has a date code on them and none have serial numbers, so I have no way of knowing what these are. A shame, as I'd love to find out. The only one with a date code is X-3, so the mid-1970's. But one of the unmarked ones are silver and a TTO, one is silver and a 3 piece, and then there are two gold three pieces. One of the golds has thick combed sides. Can't wait to try one out. Even my wife wants to give it a shot.

I got a gillette tech for 10 bucks at an antique shop. I really like it. I started using straights first and ended up with the DE by accident. I went into the shop to look for straight razors. He mainly had overpriced rusted razors. Well, they were overpriced for me. But the tech was 10 bucks so I went for that. I do not regret it at all. So I use a straight razor on most days and the DE on some. It is also nice for travel. My fusion with it's one cartridge left now sits in the cabinet under the sink. Hopefully I will never have to use it again.

Had my first DE shave last night. Like my first straight shave, I got a bad first shave out of the DE as well, but with no blood . The interesting thing is, after using a straight for a year and a half, I'd apparently already learned to take the pressure away, and so I needed to actually put a little pressure back on! I went through a complete circuit on my face and it hardly cut anywhere. Some had to do with the angle, which I'm still learning, but it looks like a lot of the bad habits I learned from modern razors I've already lost.