Thread: What made you guys want to shave with a straight.

i used to go to a barber shop and get a shave every other friday when i get a haircut....then i got sent to korea...not allowed to go to barbershops for whatever reason and on base i would sit down in the chair and then they start cleaning my hands with a rag asking if i wanted a manicure. right then i was like WTH i want a haircut not a maniure so against my better judgement i let them cut my hair... they couldnt even get a high and tight right so then it was time to buy me some clippers and and start searching for some straight razors and equipment and learn how to just do it myself...no sense in paying 8-10$ for a jacked up haircut i can cut it all off myself for free(until i get to germany and find a real barber again) and learn to give myself a good shave every day!! sorry about the long rant but thats how it all happened and how i eneded up here..OH YEAH ONLY 6 MONTHS LEFT!!!!

Well, I use to shave with a Schick quattro. The whole existance of this safety razor is about taking your money. It's a huge waste of money and blades! Also, the blades gumming up was pain, smacking the razor on the sink!
With a SR, I don't have to worry about conserving blades and having to remember buying replacement blades. Now, I enjoy my shave. Since I picked up a SR 1 year ago, I have not looked back. I Love the art of a SR!

My sentiments exactly!!! Replacing something you hate with something you Love.!!

When i was little kid i remember the old timers of the family shaving with straight razors. I've always been interested in playing with simple things that work: hand tools, knives etc. Some years ago i just got an idea about trying to get my late grand fathers straight razor sharp and test it. It wasn't so easy at first, but little by little i got it better. Then one day i just realized that straight razor is another tool that works much better that any electronic buzz****s.
I thought that i am the only nuthead in the world as it took fome years before i found the SRP.
When at work (and days or weeks away from home) i use DE.

It's something to do until the Mach 12 comes out??

Originally Posted by sbrouwers

I am not going to lie I got into it because shaving with a straight Is hella cool!!
That and I am a man dammit and straight shaving is a manly thing to do.

Enjoy
Stephan

ps. Don't tell anyone but I love how soft and smooth my face is after a proper shave.

Yeah That! I've always just had kind of a soft spot for old stuff (pipes, men's dress hats, pocket watches, etc.) This is probably the product of my Mom dragging me through every antique store in town at least twice a month when I was a kid. Old safety razors and then straight razors just kind of seemed to be naturally progression from that idea.

PS: Two things I used to see alot of in antique stores when I was a kid that I always said "When I grow up and have a lot of money, I'll have to get one of those."

1. The old school pitcher and basin preferably on one of those shaving tables with a mirror attached

2. A full sized no-kidding Cigar Store Indian

But given the fact that I'm neither grown up nor rich, I guess both will have to wait. I see the basin and pitchers all the time and occassionally the stands. I haven't seen a real no kidding cigar store indian in years (but you gotta admit, it would be a wonderful addition to any man cave.)

Originally Posted by 1OldGI

I've always just had kind of a soft spot for old stuff (pipes, men's dress hats, pocket watches, etc.) This is probably the product of my Mom dragging me through every antique store in town at least twice a month when I was a kid.

+1 on that brother. My childhood was spent in my grandmother's antique and junk shop. She raised me till I was around 10. Old things just make me feel peaceful and warm inside. For me it's more than just shaving.

I've sharpened knives for many years. Recently I got a belt sander 1x30" and have had fun learning and doing one heck-of-a-job sharpening knives for myself and other folks. I got interested in knife forums and there was talk about "tree topping" where you get the knife so sharp that it catches hair and cuts it without the need to be down on the skin with the blade. Did some searching. Found Straight Razor Place, and started reading. Then joined on around Feb 8th. Feb 10 bought my first 2 razors at an antique store, a WISS & Sons and a Wadsworth & Sons. Both fairly nice razors, but needed a bit of sharpening, and stropping.

All I had really was geared toward sharpening knives. I've since gotten some very nice Norton slip stones 1K, 4K, 8K from Troggie (Alan) and a Swaty and Pike Emerald barber hones, along with a couple of Belgian Couticles.

I found a couple of other razors at a local antique store and got them both for 7.00. One was a Mulcuto that had a chip out of it, and the other was a Gold Bug by A. Witte (Solingen Germany). I dulled the Gold Bug down to learn holding the razor, technique and etc. I practiecd with that dulled down razor many times a day. Bought another razor off ebay that was a J.A. Henckels for about 30.00 It is a very nice razor but is arond a 4/8 or a bit smaller, and more difficult for me as a newbie to master.

Moving on.. bought another ebay razor just for the fun of it and with an idea it would replace my Gold Bug as a practice razor, and got the bid and won at 1 cent. $5.99 shipping and I received my Pakistani razor. Now I know why they are not on the "best buy" list!!! LOL I dulled that one down, and then took the Gold Bug, which was completely dull and had to do some breadknifing to get the edge flat so it didn't have a frown on the blade. When I got that done I carefully and lightly set a bevel on my 1" belt sander with a 1000 grit German belt. I looked in the loupe to see the edge and had to keep at it a couple more passes as there was some pitting near the blade's edge and I had to get good steel to have a clean edge all the way with no "cut outs" along the blade even if they were tiny. After I was satisfied I took the Gold Bug though the 1K, 4K, 8K and Franz Swaty hones to sharp and stropped it. I have shaved a few times with it and it is, without a doubt, one of the nicest shaves I have had, EVEN a bit better than a new Dovo that I shaved with tonight (Friday 3/11) that Lynn had professionally honed and stropped. Don't know why, but it's a keeper.


I had that other blade, a German Mulcuto, but it had a nasty chunk out of the blade about 1/3 of the way from the back heel of the razor. I used my Dremmel and ground the curvature so that it got rid of the big chip out of the edge and gave it more contour, and then dulled tha whole unusable part. I honed up the front 1/3 of the blade and it's a great shaver in it's own right. I've shaved with it and it has less drag than the Wadsworth, Dovo or the Gold Bug. Used it just tonight to do some edge trimming around my sideburns up near the top of my ears. Great trimmer razor... LADIES!! This may be the razor you NEED for under the arms! It's only a slight bit wider than a 2-blade disposable.

The pitting along the spine is sad because of the neglect of the poor blade. I used electrical tape to smooth out the spine edge so I could hone it. Like I said, it's a keen shaver.

After the practice razors and trying out these old vintage I bought a 6/8 Dovo Best Quality. Nice razor and gives a great shave. Lynn did an excellent job on the honing!! I have to keep in mind the front tip is sharp too. I find myself nicking myself by virtue of not paying attention to where this larger blade is at when starting or moving across my face. Other night I went to put the razor up to start a pass and went too far up and touched the tip on my upper lip. Nice clean, but little cut. Styptic stick and onward.

I've shaved with wet razors since 1970, so lather is nothing new. That crock shaving mug is my Uncle Herman's along with his old Badger hair brush. Vintage 1950 or so. Still works.

Now I've got my eyes on a German Revisor razor (or two or three) SEE what happens!! Life was simply 2-blade disposables until about a month ago!! Stopped in a local "used anything" store in Fennville, and saw a gentleman that had a few razors. One was kind of old and looked in really great shape. I asked him "how much?" "make an offer", he said. "How about ten dollars?" "make it 15.00" he said, and so I plopped down fifteen dollars and brought home a Ramapo vintage razor with really nothing wrong at all with it, except is's old with some patina. Last bit of history I've gotten on this thing, is that it was made around, and probably in 1854 by someone around Ramapo, Jersey City / New York, mabe by William Gilchrist, who made razors from 1851 to 1861, a span of only 10 years. I honed it, stropped it and did some shaving with it already. Not bad for something that was made before the Civil War. It may have shaved people that fought on the North during the war, and for fifteen dollars.




I was around, and in school when John F. Kennedy was assisinated, being 11 at the time. One thing I remember him saying. We choose to go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard" ....something along those lines. Well, I choose to shave with a staight raozr because I can do what 99.9% of the rest of the people in the U.S. do, which is shave with a disposable, but I choose to do something that the other 0.1% (my figures may be off.. there MAY be more straight razor shavers than I know) do, and not because it is easy, but it feels right, and I'm just that much different. I can also pressure flake stone into arrowheads and knives, not because I need to, but because I wanted to learn. I love learning new things. I have to honestly say that the 1 cent Pakistani razor has been invaluable learning tool !! I learned form and hold, technique, positions, angles and witout the possible cutting AND since I carried it in my pocket I had a chance to "practice" many time a day. I hold it with the same pressure and lighness that I would if it were really cutting. Last night's shave I lathered up and shaved twice with long even nice strokes and no nicks, no cuts and probably one thing that really makes one NOT nick is "confidence" If you are hesistant, if you are shaking or nervous and you "think" you are going to cut yourself, I think that your chances of nicks escelates. I feel pretty confident in shaving now, and it's been around my 8th time (for real). Enjoy EACH of everyone of your posts and suggestions, comments and trials and tribulations. It's all great!

I started because I actually stoped shaveing for a while. Once you grow a beard safety razors just dont cut it (bad pun intended). After about 15 minutes of cleaning out the razor with only about an inch shaved I called my uncle who lives a block away and used to be a barber. After asking him if he still had his old straight razors, and how to hone them enough to shave with, I finally got that beard lopped off. I thought they were neat so I tried them a few more times and have been hooked ever since.

now I'm up to a 7 day rotation with 2 that im working on.

My great aunt ,who raised my father from a small boy, babysat me often and while I was with her she would show me family photos and
various keepsakes one of which was the straight razor I have now. It's a Wadsworth stamped BOSS.

I would think of that razor for days after visiting with her.

About three years ago my father knew he was dying of heart failure, so he gave me a few of his keepsakes one of which turned out to be the razor.

Jim