Thread: Shaving with the same razor every day

As I am new to straight shaving, I liken this to my DE expperience.

I had a large number of vintage gillettes and one new merkur HD.

I shaved with my most expensive razor because I thought it was the best.

It wasn't untill I gave away most of my vitages gillette to family that I ended up selling the expensive one or two and only have the merkur HD left.

After that my shaves only got better. There were no surprises when coming to the sink first thing in the morning.

I am resiting switching razors until I get consistantly good shaves that I am satisfied with.

Currently using the F. Renolds frameback that I won in a givaway a couple of months back.

A fine little razor.

Well after a couple of weeks of staying with one razor a week I have noticed some significant improvements.

After just a couple of days in a row with the wapi I noticed it started to actually get sharper undoubtedly due to daily stopping. By the end of the week it was scary sharp and had to put it down as my neck needed less and less pressure/angle otherwise I would get some burn.
My next razor was a newly aquired Super Adjustable that I thought might be fun to try out since I had not tryed one prior. This lasted a few days till the blade went south.
My next rotation was a freshly honed #44 Fox which gave an okay shave the first day and a great shave the second.

So far this new rotation technique is working out splendidly...

Sean

I'm funny in that I usually shave with the same razor daily until it needs a touch up. Then I hone up another and shave with that one until either it needs a touch up or I tire of it. I'm plagued by a psychological razor tug of war; I have a desire as most of us do for trying as many razors as possible. However, the other "tug" I have is a desire to go "old school" and commit to one or two razors tops for years and just go with those. Right now a DD Dwarf and alternately a Larkin are the razors I've used for months.

When I shave with the same razor daily and since that one razor is part of my daily regimen, that razor seems to become a part of me. I didn't get that feeling when I'd swap razors daily in the beginnings of shaving this way.

Chris L

I'm a lot like JimmyH-AD! I really like shaving with different razors. Looking at his picture reminds me of my herd, although, I would kind of like to shave with one razor, but how could I pick one? - and, could I be faithful to it? That's funny!

I don't think I could stick with one razor, maybe 6 or 7????

Steve

Yeah, I agree, it would be hard to stick with or even choose one. That's why for me I think that "tug of war" I referred to will be a lifelong internal battle.

I do admire the guys that commit to a small stable of razors though.

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chris L

I do admire the guys that commit to a small stable of razors though.

Chris L

for me being in Australia, the shipping and exchange rate mean that I have to be very careful about what razors I get/buy/etc

At its highest point my stable has been of two razors, right now it's one, with one on the way. Does this matter? I don't know, i do know that the shaves I get are fantastic .

Originally Posted by keljian

i do know that the shaves I get are fantastic .

That, my friend, is ALL that matters!

Chris L

I have only 4 razors in my rotation, and I shave with whatever razor I feel like at the time. For whatever reason I put off honing for as long as possible. I also shave only every 2 or 3 days.

I have more razors in my 'todo' pile, but I plan to sell them after they are restored.
I plan to hang on to the interesting razors (like my 8/8 W&B and my 6/8 John Barber) but I want to sell my resto razors after they're ready.

My need for razors is much less than my need for restoration equipment. Restoring razors is my hobby, and I sell the finished ones to pay for that hobby.

Until recently, I was forced into this exact situation!

I am currently deployed overseas and brought 3 razors with me; a DD Pearlduck Special #1, a Torry and my Friodur. The pin on the Torry turned loose and I managed to bugger the edge on the Duck with no hones to restore the edge leaving only the Friodur for roughly two months. With an occasional touch-up on a VERY small pasted strop, the Friodur actually worked out pretty well!

I recently received a package from my wife containing my Spyderco hones and some MF hardware to fix up the Torry. All three razors are now back up to snuff, but now I find that I have used the same one for a week or so (in this case the Duck) with excellent results. My best guess; I attribute it to each razor having it's own unique "personality" and becoming more familiar with it after repeated use. As I become more familiar/comfortable with a particular razor the shaves get better/closer. Less variables I guess would be a way to look at it....

I actually swapped back to the Friodur this morning to test her out after touching up with the hones. Very nice shave but I nearly nicked the hell out of myself! I guess because I had become accoustomed to the previous edge (getting much duller than I had realized) and I had been using the Duck for the previous week or so. Test complete, it's sharp!

Tomorrow I intend to put the Torry in service for a few weeks to see if the thought about a "personality" holds true (for me anyway).

v/r

Allen

I have always kept one razor on the go till it wont respond to normal refreshing. I will then hone this razor and and put it away oiled. Then sit and pick over which razor to bring into service. With a quick hone etc everything is set.
I am sure like the rest of you guys, there are some in the collection that don't ever see the lather after their first outing. With me this covers razors from my fathers set and some that it just seems a shame to hone and strop any more. razors I use in this protracted rotation only numbers 5 and they are all no better than can be bought cheaply for on Ebay.

PuFF