Straight razor shaving and ingrown hairs

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Originally Posted by Iwan

Greetings from another UK member. :)



It's up to you but I personally wouldn't buy either razors or strops from Trumpers in London. They inflate their prices considerably because they have their long standing 'name' and because most of their customers are loaded and can afford it.

The best/cheapest place in the UK to buy razors/strops from is The Gentlemans Shop in Hungerford http://www.gentlemans-shop.com/ . But You'll find that it's often cheaper to buy from Europe or the USA, particularly with the £/$ exchange rate. Plus if you buy from the USA you can get your razor honed by an expert so it's ready to shave, none of the UK dealers can offer this service.

Incidentally i was in Trumpers a while back and showed the manager my 'Tony Miller' hanging strop thich I had in my bag. He was very impressed with the high quality and workmanship, and actually looked quite embarassed when he heard how cheap it cost compared to the inflated prices Trumpers charge for their rebranded Dovo strops.

My advice would be not to buy from Trumpers unless you absolutely have to. If you're after a strop look at Tony's site.

http://shop.thewellshavedgentleman.com/

For Razors, look at these sites for new razors.

http://www.classicshaving.com/Home.html
http://www.shaving-and-razor-shop.com/NL/index-e.htm
http://www.styleandgrooming.com/
http://www.shavingshop.com/index.php?maincat=8
http://www.coltellerielivi.it/# (if you're in Europe, otherwise contact Lynn)

And for restored old razors.

http://www.billysblades.com/Straights.htm
http://shop.writerferret.com/
http://www.vintagebladesllc.com/vsho...ome.php?cat=80

Also check the 'For Sale' forum here for members who sell restored razors there. Restored old razors can be superb, my 2 best shavers are old razors and shave nicer than some of my megabucks new razors.

Regarding the ingrown hairs, I used to get loads of these every day when I used cartridge razors. I stopped getting them immediately when I started using DE razors and then straight razors, I believe the 'lift and cut' action of cartridge razors caused a lot of these ingrown hairs for me.

Cheers,

Iwan :)

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Hi Iwan,

Only just saw your post and unfortunately I got my new razor a few days ago. Trumpers are definitely over-priced, but this one was a gift, so I didn't actually pay for it myself. I suppose I was lucky I got a look at it first...

Yes, I know Gentleman's Shop and I've used them before. There's also Executive Shaving. I also know ClassicShaving and I'm a big fan of that site for its info, but I've never bought from them. I'll be checking out all those links soon.

Totally agree with you on the ingrown hairs part. I switched to a cut-throat (replacement blade type) directly, so I never used a DE. I got one later though (3-piece, Dovo one again), just to try it out. I use it sometimes if I'm in a hurry. But I still get ingrown hairs (only one a month, say), sometimes quite big ones. Usually, I just pluck them out with my Art of Shaving tweezers (very sharp point). I also have the AoS Ingrown Hair cream (Gentleman's Shop stock this and also The Perfect Shave) which is quite effective. Still, I would much rather eliminate them completely, even though this will be difficult due to my very curly hair and dry skin.

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Originally Posted by PuFFaH

Hi Rum from another UK member.
All good advise to you so far and quite a lot of it:) My contribution is;
Buy the best razor you can afford, get a cheap ebay razor for a practice razor and get them pro sharpened for the first time. You be cheaky and ask that they strop it for you for the first time so you have a comparitive benchmark to work from :)
Any DOVO strop is goos starting point for your best hanging strop but make sure you get the Dovo strop paste to go with it, it really improves the strops draw.
Try:http://www.diamondedgeltd.com/acatal...rushes_52.html for cheap but not rubbish UK shaving supplies and buy thier cheap No1 strop for your starter/practice strop. Ebay strops are a minefield that you dont want to walk into at this time. Hones are freely available on the net to order and the Norton 4k/8k seems to be prefered on this forum as a good all-rounder to start with. As for paddle type strops, I would recomend the Loom style for its flexability.

I could go on but I think it's all been said by others, so Good luck.

PuFF

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Thanks PuFF. The DiamondEdge link looks great, as does Tony's strops.
All I need to do now is find someone that will sharpen my current razor for me.

oeh oeh pick me pick me!! I do a simple honing service for european members. 10 euro's including return shipping.

But there might be someone in the UK (not across the pond where I am) who'll do it for free.

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Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

oeh oeh pick me pick me!! I do a simple honing service for european members. 10 euro's including return shipping.

But there might be someone in the UK (not across the pond where I am) who'll do it for free.

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Thanks, LX! If there are indeed no UK takers (which I'd prefer due to postage costs), I'll drop it by your way. That sounds like great value. We'll speak via PM.