Lessons from a Turkish Barber

[aodenkou]

Gents, I have wanted to try a straight razor shave on my own for some time - but very nervous about trying it on my own. Sooooo here I am in Dublin and I find "Ali Barbershop" 23a Aungir Street, Dublin 2 and what do you know they offer a class on doing a straight razor shave. I spent better than an hour with Ali as he went over to hold the razor, the angle, how to pull your skin, shave prep, what to do after the shave and direction which way to shave. At the end he gave me a razor (the kind you put a blade in) and some "jaxa". I have some blades, Tabac and Arko back in my hotel room and I am trying to decide if I want to give it a go........ but I feel like I could give myself a shave with a straight and not kill myself - or at least know when to stop before it gets bad.

He has given me his email and offered to give me advice or answer questions. He was a really nice guy and I was quite impressed. Oh as I waited saw him give a hair cut and it looked like a really good cut. So - If you ever get to Dublin give Ali a look up. I think you will enjoy the visit.

 

[VerbaVolant]

...I have some blades, Tabac and Arko back in my hotel room and I am trying to decide if I want to give it a go........ but I feel like I could give myself a shave with a straight and not kill myself ...

Check your travel insurance policy first.
I would wait till I get home and have a comfortable set-up.

 

[Seraphim]

Go for it!

It's not rocket science. Even guys like me can manage.

 

[Isaac]

People have been doing it for centuries.....Shaving..not killing themselves.

 

[aodenkou]

I thought some might enjoy a photo of the shop. By the way I did try a shave back at the hotel. Well that did not go as well as I hoped. I have a couple of cuts, a steptic pen took care of that. BUT I think I am going to take the blade out and do a bit of practice as a dry run, before I put a blade back in. Where I did get shaved, it was a nice clean shave. So I have some hope

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

I cut myself more in a week with a shavette than a year with a real straight. Welcome and be patient. Keep the skin tight and make sure the blade is not just sharp - it has to be SHAVE ready which is a whole 'nother matter.

 

[LittleLebowski]

Great story, thank you for sharing. Try it, it's not that hard.

 

[sychodelix]

Definitely give it a shot, just be nice and easy. Wicked sharp, but extremely effective.

 

[danjared]

Go for it!

It's not rocket science. Even guys like me can manage.

I went to school with rocket scientists and saw them do some pretty dumb things.

 

[aodenkou]

Gents, as I was shaving this morning a question popped into my head, and i dont have the experience. Why use a straight over DE ? My Feather blade is sharp, and I can change it fast if need be. The skill for a straight would be nice to have, but my face and throat has had a few nice cuts. What makes it worth the effort?

 

[coachschaller]

you can get closer with a straight and smoother shaves. I cut myself more with my DE than I do with my straight.

 

[MilkyLee]

Gents, as I was shaving this morning a question popped into my head, and i dont have the experience. Why use a straight over DE ? My Feather blade is sharp, and I can change it fast if need be. The skill for a straight would be nice to have, but my face and throat has had a few nice cuts. What makes it worth the effort?

The first time you hone your own blade and are able to get a good shave from it, you will see what all the fuss is about. Your going to get cut a lot more with a shavette than with a traditional straight if that makes you feel any better. I started out with a parker shavette and it about turned me off on straight shaving. Luckily I bought a shave ready straight and saw the light!

 

[BJJ]

its easier then you think brow, but i would do it with no hurry, wait to get home, get i nice straight shave-ready, study the technique...

 

[tomjr]

jump in the waters fine but a nice shave ready straight is more forgiving IMO. check out whipped dog straights and gear.

 

[aodenkou]

Gents I have to say I am a curious kind of a guy.....I am still traveling but now in Belgium. I have the razor with me and after the first pass with my DE I have been taking a "few" small swipes with the straight razor until I get nervous. So I "think" I will keep trying a bit more each day and just see where it goes.

 

[BJJ]

Gents I have to say I am a curious kind of a guy.....I am still traveling but now in Belgium. I have the razor with me and after the first pass with my DE I have been taking a "few" small swipes with the straight razor until I get nervous. So I "think" I will keep trying a bit more each day and just see where it goes.

dont forget de proper grips.

 

[Anonymous]

Gents, as I was shaving this morning a question popped into my head, and i dont have the experience. Why use a straight over DE ? My Feather blade is sharp, and I can change it fast if need be. The skill for a straight would be nice to have, but my face and throat has had a few nice cuts. What makes it worth the effort?

This topic may be a little bit delicate for some people and I don’t want to stir up trouble, so I’ll preface my post by saying that these are my opinions alone and are not meant to reflect the opinions or experiences of the wet shaving community as a whole. Anyone who reads this is free to disagree with anything I have written here; shaving is very much a personal experience and so everyone’s opinions will vary somewhat. Now, on with my post:

In my opinion, a shavette isn't a real straight razor but more like an oddly shaped DE. Remember, the blades you're using are the same as you'd use for a DE so how could it possibly give you a shave comparable to a straight razor? (for clarification I'm referring only to the ones that use DE blades, I understand that feather shavettes are an exception.) I'm not trying to say that there is anything wrong with shavettes, on the contrary, there are many people who get good results out of them and love them. But the fact is that they can't ever hope to recreate the experience of shaving with a real straight razor. In fact, there are a lot of people who were put off straight shaving because of their experience with shavettes only to try shaving with a real straight later on and realize what they had been missing.

Again, I'm not trying to put you off shavettes, if you can get them to work for you then feel free to keep using them; but please don't mistake it for the feeling of using a straight razor. If you're really curious about what it feels like to shave with a straight then the only way to go about it is to buy one and shave with it. In my experience, the reason I use a straight instead of a DE is because of how incredibly comfortable shaving with them can be. For example, I have an area on my neck that always, without fail, gets irritated by a DE (thanks to some oddly growing hair.) In 5 months of DE shaving I was never able to completely illuminate irritation in this area and was generally confined to a single pass on the neck to avoid making it uncomfortably irritated. Then I tried straights, and every single shave I've had with them has left my trouble spot comfortable and irritation free. What’s more, I've been able to increase my passes on the neck from 1 to 3 and I still have no soreness, redness, or bumps. As always, YMMV, but if you are curious about shaving with a straight razor then I highly recommend that you go out and get a real one to shave with. I think you will be happy that you did.

 

[djm]

I will have to agree with Anonymous (for no other reason that he is Canadian and right...) I will add a couple of other personal reasons for my preference.

I truly like the history of razors and most of my blades are old. I am just getting to work on a frameback razor made in the first half of the 1800s and expect it to shave as well as any modern instrument at any price. The look and feel of a hefty blade makes a difference in my mind over a replaceable edge and mass manufactured holder (shavette or gillette.) In addition to that there is the close shave and the enjoyment and relaxation of slowing down and not rushing things. I do occasionally enjoy a DE or SE (as you may notice in the sig line) but really love taking a few quick swipes with a blade and coming out clean shaven.

I just seem to find that a straight forces me to slow down and pay attention to the moment in a way that no DE safety razor ever will. In my mind, a shavette may force you to slow down as well and force your attention to narrow to the task at hand. However, at that moment it forces your attention on the instrument you are using- and that instrument lacks history, soul and is a poor replica of what it is attempting to imitate (if that makes any sense...) I am somebody who dislikes things that are dressed up to appear as something that they are not and my shave is actually diminished by a modern, factory produced holder.

 

[aodenkou]

Gents, thanks for the infomation. But more questions pop up with more info....... for example what makes a shavette more likely to cut you than a real straight? Would not a factory sharp blade every two or three shaves would seem to be sharper than one you have to use a strop on, and even have honed?

 

[Anonymous]

Gents, thanks for the infomation. But more questions pop up with more info....... for example what makes a shavette more likely to cut you than a real straight? Would not a factory sharp blade every two or three shaves would seem to be sharper than one you have to use a strop on, and even have honed?

A shavette is more likely to cut you because it's sharper and because you have two square points at each end. Most straight shavers tell noobies to avoid square ended straights because of their tendency to dig in and cut you. In my opinion, having a square point on each end of the blade is just asking for trouble.

As for why straights are so comfortable, one theory I think I remember reading from Larry (from whippeddog) is that it has to do with stropping. If I remember correctly, he theorized that stropping rounds the edge a bit so that the cutting edge sort of floats slightly above the skin (at a microscopic level of course.) He felt this is why the edge on a straight becomes more comfortable to use two or three shaves after honing.