How did you get into shaving with a straight razor?
- Thread starter abies
- Start date
A few chefs I worked with were into it back in the day. It had always intrigued me, and they made it sound appealing. I purchased a Dorko in 1990 and started using it. A disaster from the start. It was probably not shave ready, but what did I know? Nothing. I kept at it for a brief time, but it wasn’t pleasant. I put that razor down and picked it up occasionally over the years, same poor results. I was inspired when I joined this forum several years ago. With the knowledge, enthusiasm and support I found here, I set myself up for success. I have been shaving daily with a straight razor for several years now (still using the Dorko) and they really give me the most comfortable quality shaves. A rough beginning, but now a pleasure to use.
Never even considered a SR until I landed here. I don’t use one every day, but I have seven of them ready to go when I get the urge.
In a nutshell, from 2007 to 2009 times were really tight for me. I mean rice and beans tight. I tried to slash expenses, and the Mach 3 carts had to go. I wanted to pick up a SR then, but research led me to believe that it was too expensive up front. I started wet shaving with DEs, and kept at it until 2020 when a friend traded me a SR. Been at it ever since. Oh B&B helped out too, don't get me wrong. This place fertilizes the addiction.
FWIW, for all those that say there's no money to be saved, i saved a ton of money from 2008 to 2020 by DE shaving. Spent less than $300 on a couple razors, 200 blades, 1 brush, and soap during that time. I would've spent $100 a year on Mach 3s and canned goop easily.
FWIW, for all those that say there's no money to be saved, i saved a ton of money from 2008 to 2020 by DE shaving. Spent less than $300 on a couple razors, 200 blades, 1 brush, and soap during that time. I would've spent $100 a year on Mach 3s and canned goop easily.
Long term struggle with irritation from carts.
Childhood memories of my father using a straight.
Eventually the idea of putting a sharp blade against my throat was overcome by the need to find a way of shaving that didn't leave me irritated and covered in bumps for 4 days afterwards...
Never looked back, the couple of times I've tried carts or even DE since, thinking l get away with it just this once, have taught me that the only blade for my face is a straight.
DE works fine on my head.
Childhood memories of my father using a straight.
Eventually the idea of putting a sharp blade against my throat was overcome by the need to find a way of shaving that didn't leave me irritated and covered in bumps for 4 days afterwards...
Never looked back, the couple of times I've tried carts or even DE since, thinking l get away with it just this once, have taught me that the only blade for my face is a straight.
DE works fine on my head.
Lots of freetime on my hands in 2020, then going down the wetshaving hobby hole. One thing led to another and now I have enough straights to shave with a different one each day of the week.
I got led by the need for better, cheaper shaves and a sense of the traditional.
But I have to say I’d have gotten nowhere without the knowledge freely on offer in a forum like this.
I also owe a massive debt of gratitude to a guy called @garyhaywood who mentored me through my first year or so.
Without the forum I’d have had no idea about even basic terms like ‘shave ready’, ‘bevel setting’ and ‘cutting angle’.
I’d have had zero clue how to maintain my razor in terms of abrasives, techniques, even proper stropping.
Which stones to try, how to even recognize them.
Never mind using progressions of lapping films or using silicone carbide powders to flatten and surface novaculite for example.
Id have had no idea how to cope when things went wrong such as repairing chips and warps or doing even light restorations.
Hats off to those who’ve been doing this since before the days of the internet, who worked their way through it all by intelligence and perseverance and have passed the knowledge down.
Most of us would be lost in the dark without them.
It now seems a small thing to take an old battered razor to a gleaming, mirror edged, insanely sharp shaver, all done by hand on a piece of ancient seabed, but it’s no small thing my friends.
I wrote a little poem, it has no title:-
Once I lived inside my cave,
And I was happy with my shave,
I’d never heard,
Of lighted loupes,
Of pebbled edges,
Hollow grinds and near wedges,
Bevel sets on 1k stones,
Thuringians or barber hones,
Leather strops with linen backing,
Jnats, Welsh slate, schists, Shellacking,
Guaranteed flat granite tops,
And diamond pasted balsa strops,
Chips and dents and Old school scents,
English Fern and Blasted Heath,
Chromium Oxide, Silicone Carbide,
Dodecahedral garnet teeth,
Novaculite and schists and slates,
And diamond covered lapping plates,
Lapping films, Sub micron paste,
Tuning edges to my taste,
Silvertips in lather swirled,
And stone from all around the world,
And foreign words like coticule,
Nagura, kiita,
Atagoyama,
Kamisori, Katakuchi,
shoubudani,
Nakayama,
Ball pein hammers, grit progressions,
Late night razor honing sessions,
Restorations, one step forward, wet and dry glued to a tile,
Commiserations, one step backwards,
Slices, nicks, and all the while,
Adding tools fit for purpose,
In the knowledge I’ve but scratched the surface.
I think if I’d stayed in my cave,
Of the time and money I could have saved,
But it’s my belief that if this maze I hadn’t ran,
I would’ve been a poorer man.
But I have to say I’d have gotten nowhere without the knowledge freely on offer in a forum like this.
I also owe a massive debt of gratitude to a guy called @garyhaywood who mentored me through my first year or so.
Without the forum I’d have had no idea about even basic terms like ‘shave ready’, ‘bevel setting’ and ‘cutting angle’.
I’d have had zero clue how to maintain my razor in terms of abrasives, techniques, even proper stropping.
Which stones to try, how to even recognize them.
Never mind using progressions of lapping films or using silicone carbide powders to flatten and surface novaculite for example.
Id have had no idea how to cope when things went wrong such as repairing chips and warps or doing even light restorations.
Hats off to those who’ve been doing this since before the days of the internet, who worked their way through it all by intelligence and perseverance and have passed the knowledge down.
Most of us would be lost in the dark without them.
It now seems a small thing to take an old battered razor to a gleaming, mirror edged, insanely sharp shaver, all done by hand on a piece of ancient seabed, but it’s no small thing my friends.
I wrote a little poem, it has no title:-
Once I lived inside my cave,
And I was happy with my shave,
I’d never heard,
Of lighted loupes,
Of pebbled edges,
Hollow grinds and near wedges,
Bevel sets on 1k stones,
Thuringians or barber hones,
Leather strops with linen backing,
Jnats, Welsh slate, schists, Shellacking,
Guaranteed flat granite tops,
And diamond pasted balsa strops,
Chips and dents and Old school scents,
English Fern and Blasted Heath,
Chromium Oxide, Silicone Carbide,
Dodecahedral garnet teeth,
Novaculite and schists and slates,
And diamond covered lapping plates,
Lapping films, Sub micron paste,
Tuning edges to my taste,
Silvertips in lather swirled,
And stone from all around the world,
And foreign words like coticule,
Nagura, kiita,
Atagoyama,
Kamisori, Katakuchi,
shoubudani,
Nakayama,
Ball pein hammers, grit progressions,
Late night razor honing sessions,
Restorations, one step forward, wet and dry glued to a tile,
Commiserations, one step backwards,
Slices, nicks, and all the while,
Adding tools fit for purpose,
In the knowledge I’ve but scratched the surface.
I think if I’d stayed in my cave,
Of the time and money I could have saved,
But it’s my belief that if this maze I hadn’t ran,
I would’ve been a poorer man.
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This is one of best ways I've ever heard shaving with a straight encapsulated.
Love it!
Former member Twelvefret enabled me. I had probably been at least slightly SR curious most of my life.
Part of it was my interest in the everyday history of ordinary people. My family background is small town and rural, reaching back into the late 19th century for 'grand' relatives I knew.
Sharp tools: Once I got started, shaving straight was great, but learning the creation and maintenance of an SR edge transcended my life-long enjoyment of edge maintenance on knives and tools.
I owe a small debt of gratitude to all the people who handed me a dull tool, either in ignorance of how their tool should perform or with full knowledge that I would be unable to hand it back without a proper edge.
My great grandfather used one his whole life up to age 99. Was always curious about it. Getting a Rolls Razor blade sharpened up was the gateway drug, and watching a YouTube video of a man who is legally blind and with shaky hands do it was all I needed to give it a go. Haven't looked back.
Received a Hoffritz razor, some kind of brush
and strop for a gift. Had no idea what to do with them. Tried them for a bit....not a pleasant scene. Stuck them under the sink and pretty much forgot about them. Discovered them once again after fixing a leak. Strop was trashed; razor was 90%+ rust.
Brush was still in good shape. Used it with a DE for some time until I just picked up a Hart Steel on impulse. That was about 2009-2010. And here we are today.....
and strop for a gift. Had no idea what to do with them. Tried them for a bit....not a pleasant scene. Stuck them under the sink and pretty much forgot about them. Discovered them once again after fixing a leak. Strop was trashed; razor was 90%+ rust.
Brush was still in good shape. Used it with a DE for some time until I just picked up a Hart Steel on impulse. That was about 2009-2010. And here we are today.....
I love westerns and always wondered about the straight razor shaving scenes. Shaving always sucked for me using a cartridge razor also. Finally got a DE straight razor shave one day on holidays in Spain and that was it, was hooked. Found this forum soon after and got my first 2 bokers and coticule off Gary Haywood and he was a great help in getting me set up, giving advice etc. i learnt to hone one while chasing the edge he put on the other, lovely boker arbolito it is, my profile pic. I'm an engineer also so enjoy the chase of perfecting a skill. I do enjoy having time to myself with the blades, switching off from the wife and job and ensuring i repeat that "zero irritation" shave every time. That feeling sure aint going to get old!
There's a few similar threads on B&B.
Basically, being curious piqued my interest. Finding a Wester's 5/8 in a flea market was an opportunity to take action.
Working through the learning phase wasn't terrible.
I like shaving with straights so I stick with it.
Basically, being curious piqued my interest. Finding a Wester's 5/8 in a flea market was an opportunity to take action.
Working through the learning phase wasn't terrible.
I like shaving with straights so I stick with it.
About 1980 I received a mail order catalog from Caswell-Massey. Within I saw a straight razor for sale. I became fascinated with the idea of using an “old fashioned” straight razor, but did not purchase the one in the catalog. I finally bought my first from a cutlery store in San Francisco that same year or the next.
- Thread starter
- #17
So, what was the difference? You liked the razor you bought more, or do you think it had been brewing in your mind awhile, or both?
It brewed for a while in my mind. And I had to do a bit of research before committing. In the early 80’s there were no online forums for wet shaving, or anything else, that I was aware of (Al Gore hadn’t invented them yet). Therefore no support, fellowship or mentorship. Using a straight razor, especially at that time, was a pretty outlandish idea, at least in my circle of acquaintances. It was a very Maverick thing to do. Maybe even irrational. And, I was fairly poor. Buying a straight and all of the accessories was expensive especially when I could get a months worth of Bic disposable razors for about a buck, or less.
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It was through the natural devolution of shaving: beard, carts, DEs, SEs and then my wife brought my attention to a Rolls Razor in great shape, so I restored it, but the hone in case and strop didn't seem to provide a good edge. I happened on the lapping film threads to get the Rolls edge sharp, and then one antiquing trip I stumbled on a 5/8 hollow square point in what looked in good condition (i.e., it was made in Germany) in one shop and a vintage barber strop in another; all for less than $20. I still have and use the razor and strop, but I've abandoned the Rolls, but I should revisit it. Basically I stumbled on the SR rabbit hole in the forest, and fell in reaching for the shiny Rolls Razor just beyond my reach, and decided to just stay here....
One desire was to get away from the disposable plastics; now, here I sit with 20 plastic tubs of soap.
