Newbie tiptoes into straight-razors...

[Shangas]

I reckon it probably will be...until/less I find something better.

Just had a practice strop on it. It's smooth and without problems. I used a few key-rings and a length of chain to lengthen it out a bit. Now I can hang it on the back of the bathroom door and use it without having to stretch my arms all the way up. It's within good reach and I can use it comfortably.

Here's a few more photos of it...

A stupid question, I know, but, does anybody have any idea how old this strop might be?

 

[Shangas]

Been a while. I've given the $12 vintage hanging-strop as good a polish as I can, and these are the results:

Compared with this, beforehand...

Has nobody got any idea of how old it might be? Or why it's set up the way that it is? It's not a one-off, I know that much. I saw an identical one (although in worse condition) at the flea-market on the weekend, so they were obviously a mass-produced item.

Anyway, today's posting is entitled The Importance of Hot Water (or "The faucet lied to me!")

For about a week now, ever since I upped on the stropping, I've been getting good shaves.

Good shaves. Not great. Good. But I wanted Great. I started straight-shaving for a dozen reasons, but one of them was to prove to myself that our ancestors were on to something good when they developed this method of shaving. The key element of this method being...Hot Water. Which my bathroom sink was producing, but which was of questionable temperature. It took ages to get really boiling hot, and even then it wasn't that hot at all. It never heated up the soap and it never heated up the brush or scuttle, either.

Disappointed with these results, I decided to do something different today. I went for the full Victorian-style shave this morning, like what our ancestors did.

I took my shaving-scuttle to the kitchen and filled it with boiling water (literally) from the hot-water heater in the kitchen. I took it back to the bathroom and popped the brush into the scuttle and then warmed up my face with the hot water that splashed out of the scuttle when I put the brush in. After a suitable few seconds, I took out the brush and proceeded to lather on the puck, before then applying the brush with hot lather, to my face.

I thought I would scald myself and run screaming out of the bathroom. But to my surprise...it's actually amazingly pleasant. Soft, fluffy, hot lather being gently rubbed into my face. I reckon that doing this helped my face, skin & hair relax just that little bit more. I then proceeded to do my usual shaving-routine. The end result:

Perfection. A five-star shave with no disasters at all.

I think I will shave with freshly-boiled water from now on, and stop relying on the 'Hot' tap over my bathroom sink, no matter how 'hot' the water gets.

 

[Skrymr]

The strop looks great, and congrats on a great shave!

 

[Luc]

If it feels right the way you do, that should be fine.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Hot water from a kettle and a lather is one of the greatest parts of wet shaving. The smell that comes from your lather is awesome.

 

[Shangas]

Oh yeah, you got that one right. I'm gonna do boiling water from now on.

 

[Gustav]

I think I might give the boiling water thing another shot too. I tried it during the summer and was surprised at how effective it was, especially on the parts of my face where the stubble seems the most resilient. Either that or I will just bite the bullet and give in to my urge to buy a SWK scuttle.