I just shaved with a straight razor for the first time today. It was terribly done, because of course it was. I know nothing, or rather my brain knows a couple of things, and my hands know nothing. I'm determined to make this work.
I came to this by a weird path. 20 years ago, I was doing woodworking as a hobby. It turned out that I didn't really want to build any furniture; I just liked working with wood, but what I really liked was sharpening and using those white and blue steel chisels and planes. What I liked even more was sharpening them. Somewhere along the line, I bought a straight razor, partly because I hoped I might use it, partly because of the fascination with a very different sort of edge. Thiers-something. Never did anything with it, put it away and forgot about it.
Fast forward 20 years, and I've gotten serious about sharpening, and all along, I've been serious about cooking, so I have an outlet, knives and Chinese cleavers, but as I've acquired sharpening skills, a desire to climb the ultimate summit of sharpening, the straight razor, has come along with that. Plus, I'd like to be more conscious about this shaving thing I do daily, even though I wear a beard, and the area I'm shaving is limited. Throwing an overpriced 5-blade plastic pivoting head with a strip of lubrication at the top at the problem seems...what, artificial? Unconscious? I'd rather do the thing right, and use some skill in the process, once I obtain some.
So I'm jumping in. I don't need advice, yet. I've read a lot on here, and I know plenty of things to try. But when I hit a hitch, you can bet you'll hear from me. Looking forward to getting this all sorted out.
Just wanted to say hello.
I came to this by a weird path. 20 years ago, I was doing woodworking as a hobby. It turned out that I didn't really want to build any furniture; I just liked working with wood, but what I really liked was sharpening and using those white and blue steel chisels and planes. What I liked even more was sharpening them. Somewhere along the line, I bought a straight razor, partly because I hoped I might use it, partly because of the fascination with a very different sort of edge. Thiers-something. Never did anything with it, put it away and forgot about it.
Fast forward 20 years, and I've gotten serious about sharpening, and all along, I've been serious about cooking, so I have an outlet, knives and Chinese cleavers, but as I've acquired sharpening skills, a desire to climb the ultimate summit of sharpening, the straight razor, has come along with that. Plus, I'd like to be more conscious about this shaving thing I do daily, even though I wear a beard, and the area I'm shaving is limited. Throwing an overpriced 5-blade plastic pivoting head with a strip of lubrication at the top at the problem seems...what, artificial? Unconscious? I'd rather do the thing right, and use some skill in the process, once I obtain some.
So I'm jumping in. I don't need advice, yet. I've read a lot on here, and I know plenty of things to try. But when I hit a hitch, you can bet you'll hear from me. Looking forward to getting this all sorted out.
Just wanted to say hello.