Thread: What got you guys into straight razor shaving?

I thought it might be interesting to hear what brought us all to the love of pressing cold steel against our throats lol?!!! For me there was a certain mystique about it that always piqued my interest, I was a 19 year old impressable young man who just started a apprenticeship for millwrighting, my mentor was a crusty old, been there done that kind of guy who seemed larger than life and harder than wood pecker lips! He just so happened to shave with straights and had a certain affinity / love for sharp oblects. I remember thinking this fucking guy is insane "badass but insane" needless to say he lit my fire all those year ago and well here I am now , and I don't think I'll ever shave any other way. I'm grateful for that dude telling me all he did not only for my career but lighting my fire for this wonderful and might I say damn near exclusive hobby we all enjoy. I'd love to hear what lit your guys fire and why you got into this almost lost art!?

Admins if this doesn't belong here I apologize wasn't sure whether to post here or the conversation section move accordingly!!

It was just a natural progression for me. Years ago I bought my brother some T&H shave cream as a gift. I knew he liked it but I didn’t use it. When I ordered there was a sample. So I tried it and liked it. So I looked into it further. Everyone was pushing safety razors. A little while later I was shopping for cartridges for my razor and was angered at the cost. Imagine that. I looked into DEs again and saw the cost of a blade being a few cents. So I tried it as a cost saving thing. I was shocked at how well it shaved. So I was doing the DE thing for a bit and liking the whole wet shaving experience. But I kept reading that a straight razor was the best. While at my knife shop, getting them sharpened, I saw a Boker there. So on a whim I bought it and tried it. Horrible . I didn’t know about shave ready. I didn’t know about honing or if people would do that for you. I tried other razors hoping the experience would be better. Some were marginally better. Later I found this place and bought a shave ready razor. Like everyone else, one razor led to two, two to three, three to four….strops, hones, soaps, brushes, aftershaves, balms. What was supposed to be a cost saving thing lead to an expensive obsession.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

It was just a natural progression for me. Years ago I bought my brother some T&H shave cream as a gift. I knew he liked it but I didn’t use it. When I ordered there was a sample. So I tried it and liked it. So I looked into it further. Everyone was pushing safety razors. A little while later I was shopping for cartridges for my razor and was angered at the cost. Imagine that. I looked into DEs again and saw the cost of a blade being a few cents. So I tried it as a cost saving thing. I was shocked at how well it shaved. So I was doing the DE thing for a bit and liking the whole wet shaving experience. But I kept reading that a straight razor was the best. While at my knife shop, getting them sharpened, I saw a Boker there. So on a whim I bought it and tried it. Horrible . I didn’t know about shave ready. I didn’t know about honing or if people would do that for you. I tried other razors hoping the experience would be better. Some were marginally better. Later I found this place and bought a shave ready razor. Like everyone else, one razor led to two, two to three, three to four….strops, hones, soaps, brushes, aftershaves, balms. What was supposed to be a cost saving thing lead to an expensive obsession.

Reading that last sentence made me grin! No truer words my friend!!

When I first started growing a beard, I was not happy with the shaves I got (electrical and cartridge).
I started looking on the internetz for DE razors or any alternatives, when my dad walked by and said, heh, those aren’t real razors, my grandfather used real razors!
I went to my grandparents house and asked if they still had their parents’ razors.
A few weeks go by and I was in the possession of my great grandfather’s and his father’s razors along with his natural combo coticule and his horsehide strop.
That started it all for me.

50 years ago I was in the UK and spotted a “Royal Guardsman” straight at a flea market for cheap so I bought it. That was the start. Then I discovered my dad, who had never used a straight razor, had 2 very good strops hidden in the basement. It turns out one of those is a Kanayama! Then I picked up a Norton 4k/8k and a barber hone and started honing without really knowing what I was doing.

Over the years I picked up other vintage razors at antique shops and flea markets and eventually bought a new TI from Phil at Classic Edge Shaving in Ontario. It was part of a package with a paddle strop (felt one side, balsa the other), CrOx, small badger brush and a leather bench strop. It was the first truly shave ready razor I had experienced and set the stage for the purchase of more stones.

The internet (Lynn, Glen and others) showed me videos about how to properly hone with the Norton and barber hone. Over the years I acquired other hones and started to learn how to use them. SRP in its former and current incarnations has contributed to and enabled my passion for this hobby and got me started on minor restorations.

Did you ever ask your dad why he had those strops?

Originally Posted by DZEC

Then I discovered my dad, who had never used a straight razor, had 2 very good strops hidden in the basement. It turns out one of those is a Kanayama!

Wait a second, how did that happen? Damn!

Originally Posted by Axeman556

Reading that last sentence made me grin! No truer words my friend!!

...

So first of all this site is a family rated one so watch the language please.

I was using a DE and just almost by accident stumbled on the old Straight Razor Place on Yahoo Groups and it got me interested.

I was suffering from very dry, easily irritated skin. I absolutely hated shaving. At this point in time I was using canned goo and disposables. (All the Gillette ads said 'more blades were better' and their goo was for 'sensitive skin'.) A visit to the dermatologist confirmed a case of rosacea. The doc suggested I only shave if necessary and to throw away the canned stuff and use aqueous cream in its place. This helped but I still wasn't happy. I thought there surely had to be a better way to shave and take care of the skin. So I started looking online for a better way and stumbled on SRP. Thanks to all the info and advice gathered from here I now enjoy my shaves and dry, irritated skin are in the past.