So I moved through the wet shaving game rather quickly. I'd been using safety razors and shavettes for 5 months. Then, I had my first straight razor shave 5 minutes ago. I bought a vintage Amendola Bros special from eBay, a German export to New Haven, Connecticut from around the ww2 Era. I followed the steps, shipped it to a honemeister for a restore and a hone, bought an Illinois Fromm #206 strop, and did the thing. I thought SRs were overhyped after using a few different shavettes. Boy am I a believer now! Stropped it around 50 times on the canvas to get the motion down, then about 100 slow strokes on the leather to practice. This stuff is really cool.
My first straight razor shave
- Thread starter IvoryScales
- Start date
Congrats on your first shave! It just gets better from here! 
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Congrats on the first shave and welcome to the SR club.
You will get no better shave than a straight razor, but there are actually 3 learning curves, shaving, stropping, and honing, but you can forego honing for the time being by having someone like Alfredo (@Doc226 ) put the edge on it.
You will get no better shave than a straight razor, but there are actually 3 learning curves, shaving, stropping, and honing, but you can forego honing for the time being by having someone like Alfredo (@Doc226 ) put the edge on it.
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
I have been told that after about 4000 to 5000 daily SR shaves it starts to reduce getting better. Ten more years to go for me.Congrats on your first shave! It just gets better from here!
Welcome to the rabbit hole!
Congrats on your first shave. Nice looking razor. And, yep, this stuff is really cool!
Congrats! Welcome to the club. You got a nice setup there.
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
@IvoryScales, you never forget your first. Congratulations.
Welcome @IvoryScales! You’re gonna love it here. Your first SR shave is something special, and then they keep getting better.
Woooo another victim!
Welcome to the club. It gets better too.
Welcome to the club. It gets better too.
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
@IvoryScales, it is important, if you can, to shave daily with your SR. This will more quickly build up your muscle memory in the gentlemanly art. How your technique improves in 30 daily SR shave will take about 90 days to achieve the same if only shaving every second day.
Just remember to take your time and never rush a shave. Bad things happen when you’re in a hurry. With that said, enjoy the journey! Quite a few of us here have been doing this a while and we can give pointers along the way.
Larry
- Thread starter
- #13
Absolutely. I sent my vintage out to a man by the name of Glen Mercurio, in Idaho, for a restoration and a hone. He surpassed my expectations. We communicate through Facebook messenger, and met in the SRP groups. He suggested staying away from the Norton 4/8 due to quality issues regarding flatness and smoothness. He used Naniwa 1-5-10k and finished mine with a green Escher. He also suggested that, if I choose to take up honing, start with Shapton Kuromaku stones and watch a ton of videos.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Glen is a great restorer and honer, you did well!
Welcome!
That's awesome! I've been DE safety razor shaving since about 1969 off and on. Then, last year I discovered the straight razor. Well, I fell in love on the first shave! Now I have 3 of them and one being made. I think they have rabbit genes in them because they multiply. Be warned.
Congratulation! It gets only better.
Similar threads
