Looking to purchase my First Straight Razor

[The Shave Doctor]

I have been reading a lot of the information on this website.

Two comments that caught my eye in the "What should I get" section said...

1.) You don't REALLY know that you are in it for the long haul, so get in as cheap as possible. What is cheap as possible? It appears to me that anything from the sellers on the Shave ready list is going to be $100 probably closer to $140 or more. Is this the price range I should be looking in for a decent razor?
2.) Avoid buying your first straight razor on eBay. Should I be looking to purchase from Bob's Razors and Griffiths Shavings goods for my first razor? Are there any other places I should look?

I have seen some nice looking razors on ebay. Duke City Vintage Shaving looks to have some very nice razors offered.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for a first time buy that is affordable or "Cheap as Possible"

 

[silverlifter]

General suggestion. Post a little more here and then put a WTB ad in the BST section. You'll get a nice entry level vintage and more likely than not it will come with a reference edge. If not, then depending where you are in the world, someone here will hone it for you.

Specifically:

1) <$100 should be attainable if you aren't looking for a glamour piece. A vintage with character could be half that.

2) The bay is a minefield, but there are some reputable sellers among the sharks. Most razors sold as "shave ready" are probably not, and will be priced as if they were.

 

[Legion]

+1 on the BST.

The important thing is to buy from someone who shaves with straights regularly. The edge on the razor is more important than the brand, and your first razor needs to be properly shave ready or you, as a beginner, with be getting sub par shaves, but you wont know whether it is the razor or your technique. Also, you will need that benchmark to aim for when you start to hone your own.

If you go for a vintage razor that is not one of the "fad" brands you should be able to get one under $100US pretty easily.

 

[sanookd]

I have been reading a lot of the information on this website.

Two comments that caught my eye in the "What should I get" section said...

1.) You don't REALLY know that you are in it for the long haul, so get in as cheap as possible. What is cheap as possible? It appears to me that anything from the sellers on the Shave ready list is going to be $100 probably closer to $140 or more. Is this the price range I should be looking in for a decent razor?
2.) Avoid buying your first straight razor on eBay. Should I be looking to purchase from Bob's Razors and Griffiths Shavings goods for my first razor? Are there any other places I should look?

I have seen some nice looking razors on ebay. Duke City Vintage Shaving looks to have some very nice razors offered.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for a first time buy that is affordable or "Cheap as Possible"

I can personally attest to the fact that any razor you purchase from Griffith or Bob’s razors will be “Shave Ready”. If by the slim chance they are not, they will make it right.
Both vendors are highly reputable and you can’t go wrong purchasing from either.
Buy what appeals to your eye but at this point you really won’t know how big a blade or grind that you like.
A good place to start is either 5/8 or 6/8 full hollow but no hard fast rule.
Remember you will need a strop too.

 

[Straight up]

I started my son with a Gold Dollar equivalent (Comoy's of London). If he didn't want to stick with it, no harm done;$30Au. If he does stick with it, I can always get him something nicer.

I would recommend you get it honed, no matter how expensive the razor it can only shave as well as the blade allows. Knowing the blade is sharp then shows you how your technique is going.

 

[JPO]

This is a really nice razor to start with. Good French steel and good craftsmanship.
It was not shave ready for me, but that is subjective. Someone else here baught the same razor and was happy with the edge.
If you decide that straight razor shaving is not for you, I think you will get most of your money back if you sell the razor.

Gustave Lalune 6/8 straight razor "English Archer" Blackwood

Gustave Lalune straight razor 6/8: *high carbonsteel 100c6 forged in Thiers *fully hollow ground *plastic scales *satin polished *carton box SHAVE READY

rasoir-sabre.com

 

[Chard52142]

I can attest to DukeCity Shaving's razors! I have 6 razors from him and all I can say is the razors are value for $$$ and his edges are terrific.

 

[gpjoe]

As stated, when starting out it is critical that you buy a razor that is truly shave ready. I would by here from a trusted member, or buy from Matt at Griffith. You should be able to get a nice razor for ~100 bucks.

Alternatively, you could roll the dice on a $25 ebay razor and send it out to get it honed, which would likely be less expensive, but assumes that you know what to buy.

 

[cajunrph]

I was in your shoes a month or so ago. I watched the BST here and pounced on the first one I saw that was in my ballpark. The seller was very helpful with how he got into straights and pointed to Heirloom Shaving strops for a beginner strop and other places. I ended up going with Griffiths for a NOS Paul Drees "Sistrium." They honed it for me as well. They have them listed for $180ish I think. But Griffiths has other razors on their website less expensive. I must say Griffiths can trigger my SRAD in a second if I stay too long, that would be Straight Razor Acquisition Disorder. eBay razors are going to be hit or miss, mostly miss. You can get one and send it to someone to hone. I used Steve56 to hone one of my BST razors and it is a great edge. If you want to hone the razor, you'll have to venture into the honing section and likely will fall down that rabbit hole. It could happen, it happened to me.

The least expensive route would be a razor from BST here. Either watch for one to come up or post a WTB (Want to buy) ad for a razor. The strop I purchased from Heirloom was around $50ish. I would advise not to buy the higher line strop, but go with the beginner strop. I put a fairly good gash in my strop the first week of use. If I had bought the better strop, I would have been reminded of not only my knuckleheaded mistake that put a blemish on the strop but also of not heeding the advice I received to go with a beginner strop.

Best of luck in starting the journey. I am 25 days into straight razor shaving and as they say, I'm loving every minute of it.

 

[J B Addis]

I did everything the hard way, learning to hone at the same time as I learned to shave, which I don't consider to be the most efficient way to go in retrospect, so buying a known good edge to start seems very sensible. I haven't bought any razors from Griffith, but I have purchased other products and the service was excellent. I will say though that I would recommend a razor in the 6/8 to 7/8 range rather than a 5/8, as in my experience angle control is easier with a little more width, and the extra weight seems to help reduce unsteadiness in the stroke as you shave.