Thread: Should a newbie stick to one razor and for how long?

As a relative newbie i have been wondering wheter it's best to stick to shaving with one razor for a period, say 3 months before shaving with others. I have 4 straights and i enjoy shaving with them all, they are different to use and are different sizes. I am wondering if i'm doing myself a diservice maybe i should stick to using just one at this stage? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Do whatever works for you. If you get a good shave without too many cuts or irritation and you feel like rotating between the different razors then why not? If you're experiencing some difficulty shaving with some of them then just leave them for a while, wait a couple of months and then try again. When I started out I owned a 5/8 Dovo and a 15/16 Filarmonica. Didn't take me long to figure out the Dovo was the wiser option for the first couple of months :-) I still own both but have to admit that the Filarmonica never became a favourite.

IMO yes, a newb should stick with one razor for a period of time before moving on. It allows many variables to remain consistant while learning: size, grind, stropping, balance, sharpness etc. I would say the time would vary from person to person, but when you feel comfortable AND confident wielding the blade and can achieve acceptable shaves it is likely a good time to move on to a second razor.

As each razor has its own "personality" and quirks, even different razors that are the same size and width can shave very differently, which is another reason why I would say stick with one razor at the beginning.

I think you know the answer yourself. Yes there are benifits as explained above.
how long? That depends on you. For me it was around the 2 or 3 week mark.
You could also try using one razor for the whole week then onto the next.
what about staying with one soap while learning a SR as well. As this is a large part of a good SR shave I would also recomend you pick your best and stay with it for a while. This will take out another variable.

i didn't. i mainly ran into stop issues due to size difference and the only other issue involved having a longer razor than another one and almost removing an ear

Thats something for you to figure out. I my self started with four different razors starting at a 8/8 and 9/8 one rounded point three with some wicked mean points