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How do I travel with a safety razor or a straight razor?

With a safety razor, I need a shaving brush, a shaving soap, and a shaving bowl.
With a straight razor, I also need strop.

How do you travel with either option?
 

never-stop-learning

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Traveling throughout the USA, the blades for your safety razor and your straight razor will either have to be shipped ahead to your hotel or placed in checked luggage - never in carry on luggage.
 
Cheap Vanderhagen safety razor in case I forget it somewhere
Feather blades
Simpson case brush with matching travel container
TOBS sandalwood cream
I skip the shaving bowl cuz I don’t want the excess weight and room taken up and face lather instead. And the TOBS has a great portable container. All goes inside my Dopp kit very neatly.
 

never-stop-learning

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Staff member
Traveling throughout the USA, the blades for your safety razor and your straight razor will either have to be shipped ahead to your hotel or placed in checked luggage - never in carry on luggage.

To expand: I never check luggage so I pack my Gillette Atra, synthetic brush, Poraso Shaving Cream and my Original Stetson Cologne.
 
I travel with Gillette Guard single blade razors. They are for the Indian market but can be found on eBay. They provide a great shave.
 
I used to travel by air several times per month. To keep the weight down and the security personnel happy, I carried a cartridge razor. Normally, I shaved in the shower and used the shampoo from the hotel as my shaving cream. It did not provide the best shaves, but it was expedient.

If I travel now, it is usually by car. Sometimes I take a straight razor. It is usually an inexpensive Gold Dollar as I figure the chances of losing or damaging the razor in a hotel bathroom is much greater than doing so at home. For my strop, I take a DIY bench strop made of veg tanned leather bonded to balsa. I take an inexpensive cream like Cremo and a $10 synthetic brush that will dry quickly. If I decide to take a DE razor instead, it will be a cheap Weishi razor that I would not miss if I left it in the hotel room or dropped it on the tile floor. I always have a cartridge razor in my Dopp kit as a backup...just in case.

Never take anything on a trip that you would hate to lose or damage. I suspect many a nice strop has been left hanging on the back of the hotel room door when the previous night's occupant got in too big a hurry to check out after breakfast.
 
TSA agents are highly variable. You can bring a DE in a carryon but they are more likely to search your bag, etc. Expect questions even if you don’t carry a blade.

This means that I am back to carts (UGH) for air travel as I am a 1 bag traveler.
 
To echo what many here have said: If traveling with only a carryon, use a cart or something with a fixed blade (i.e. disposable.) If you’re checking a bag, you can put the DE razor and blades in the checked bag. As for straight razors, i’d leave them home. Don’t think i’d trust them even in a checked bag.
 
Since I am now retired the only trips I take are leisure. I usually take three or four trips by air and at least five trips a year. My routine is always the same. I always check my bag since my wife packs cosmetic supplies, etc. that can't be carried on. I have a permanent travel bag that contains a synthetic brush, blades, a Red Tip razor, aftershaves, etc.
 
How you are traveling will dictate how you carry.

My 1qt carryon/weekender kit, and Tony Miller travel strop. Pick one of the brushes and I’m set. It goes with me everywhere and is easy to work out of. I’ve done two weeks out of it. If I’m flying commercial and carry-on only (preferred), I use the Trac II that’s in there, and the Feather SS comes out. If I have to check bags, this goes carry-on and the straights go in checked.

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I also have an LL Bean hanging travel bag that I can work out of for a couple months.

If you’re using a full sized bag, you can use a full sized strop, just lay it flat in the bag and pad it on both sides with other items, just take care to not have anything sharp or poky press into the strop. I did that for a few years as well, just fine.
 
I don’t know if TSA has any restrictions on alcohol after shaves, but I would pay attention to the bottle containing any. Since I started wet shaving, I have only taken witch hazel in a small plastic bottle whose top makes a good seal for air travel.


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Never take anything on a trip that you would hate to lose or damage. I suspect many a nice strop has been left hanging on the back of the hotel room door when the previous night's occupant got in too big a hurry to check out after breakfast.

This is why I wouldn't want to travel with vintage stuff. Even though we trips for us mean driving, it's all to easy too lose an item. While I did use a vintage injector on my last trip, usually I pack a couple of disposables. May go to a modern, cheap, DE or an SE Type L clone for another trip.
 
Out of curiosity, went to the US TSA site and looked at a list of items. That can be found at What Can I Bring?

Oddly, didn't find mention of aftershave. Liquids and shaving creams are limited to no more than 100 ml / 3.4 oz in carry-on. There are travel sized foams and gels that meet this requirement. There also seem to be travel sized aftershaves.

That said, did find this item listed:
Light Saber
Sadly, the technology doesn't currently exist to create a real lightsaber. However, you can pack a toy lightsaber in your carry-on or checked bag. May the force be with you.
 
Just ordered a bottle of “Cold Fusion” aftershave splash and it was actually marketed as “TSA compliant” so you should be fine bringing aftershave 3.4 oz or below.
 
For a straight razor, I want to carry a strop coated with abrasive for sharpening. Someone on this forum recommended a balsa strop coated with diamond paste. I don't think I can carry a balsa strop coated with diamond paste.

I could do a backpack travel or an air travel.

What kinds of portable coated strops can I use for sharpening a straight razor?
 
For a straight razor, I want to carry a strop coated with abrasive for sharpening. Someone on this forum recommended a balsa strop coated with diamond paste. I don't think I can carry a balsa strop coated with diamond paste.

I could do a backpack travel or an air travel.

What kinds of portable coated strops can I use for sharpening a straight razor?

Balsa strops are generally about 8-12" long and 2-3" wide and 1/4" thick, so there is no reason you could not pack one in a suitcase, backpack, etc. You just purchase a piece of balsa from your local hobby/craft store, sand it flat and then apply the diamond paste or other abrasive (CrOx, CBN, Dovo paste, etc.)
 
Balsa strops are generally about 8-12" long and 2-3" wide and 1/4" thick, so there is no reason you could not pack one in a suitcase, backpack, etc. You just purchase a piece of balsa from your local hobby/craft store, sand it flat and then apply the diamond paste or other abrasive (CrOx, CBN, Dovo paste, etc.)

I would need a portable enclosure for a pasted balsa strop. Otherwise, the paste would be contaminated in a backpack.
 
If you bring a de in your carry on, just take the razor apart separating the head from the handle and it will be less likely to get you flagged as a razor and investigated for a blade in it or not. I've done this for a while now and they've never even looked at it. I wrap the head and base plate in a napkin as well as a second base plate and place it all inside a pill bottle along with the handle. This way it looks nothing like a razor at all. No T shape to look for. A brush goes into a pill bottle as well with some holes drilled in it. Soaps in small screw top containers. A plastic salsa bowl to lather in and a small bottle of aftershave balm in the dopp bag as well.

If I wanted to straight razor shave while traveling I'd probably purchase a Feather Artist Club razor and use the AC blades as that way I wouldn't need to bring a strop or have to worry about maintaining the edge.

Either way, do keep the blades in checked luggage or send them to your hotel via mail.

As mentioned above, don't bring anything you're not willing to lose.
 
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