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noob to straight razor, few questions...

Is there like an all in one kit I can get?

Like the SR and everything I need to hone for beginners?

it's not necessarily easier but generally much cheaper to assemble quality pieces individually. kits tend to to be of lower quality pieces assembled for newer users who don't really understand what they're looking at/dealing with. at a premium price for the pieces. especially hones. there's a huge variability in face feel off various hones, and you'll have to dial in what you like. I sent out razors to known honers to try out various stones/finishes to see if I wanted to pursue that type of edge. and it's the same for sizes and grinds of razors. we try out different things until we find what we like. Lapping film, and/or pasted balsa strops are the easiest/cheapest way to learn to get consistent edges, but stones can be satisfying too, once you know what type you like. or fun to discover if that's your thing too. honing is the deepest, and can be the most expensive rabbit hole we fall down.

quality pieces don't have to be expensive to a point, but you also get what you pay for. the way you keep the cost down is to research, and hunt out the bargain quality if price is an issue. good quality sets (all components) are very rare.

from where you are, you'd likely only need a good shave ready razor (or two, so one's always honed), a strop, and a honing set up if you want to do that work. brushes and soaps should already be in your inventory. starting with a known well honed straight limits your purchase options, but can be done. most new razors won't come shave ready from the factory but can be honed by a known good vendor. used/vintage razors should be assumed to be not shave ready unless the seller is known to be capable of it.
 
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thombrogan

Lounging On The Isle Of Tugsley.
If it’s alright with @saj1985 , I have a technique-related question:

A lot of wicked smart SR users talk about removing the lather instead of gunning for the stubble (proof of their intelligence confirmed by never having read a one of them use the phrase “gunning for the stubble.”). I guess my question is: is it as simple as it sounds? Just find an acute angle that allows the lather to be wiped off the face without taking the face?
 
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If it’s alright with @saj1985 , I have a technique-related question:

A lot of wicked smart SR users talk about removing the lather instead of gunning for the stubble (proof of their intelligence confirmed by never having read a one of them use the phrase “gunning for the stubble.”). I guess my question is: is it as simple as it sounds? Just find an acute angle that allows the lather to be wiped off the face without taking the face?
@thombrogan, as you might've suspected - it's YMMV and it depends and FWIW, some people will never get a close shave by simply "removing lather" (me being one of those guys). When you have tick, dense and coarse facial hair, it takes more than gently gliding the blade over your face. It takes some effort, some gentle pressure and a lot of repetitive strokes to get that glass-smooth BBS...
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
If it’s alright with @saj1985 , I have a technique-related question:

A lot of wicked smart SR users talk about removing the lather instead of gunning for the stubble (proof of their intelligence confirmed by never having read a one of them use the phrase “gunning for the stubble.”). I guess my question is: is it as simple as it sounds? Just find an acute angle that allows the lather to be wiped off the face without taking the face?
You start learning the gentlemanly art by just trying to cleanly remove the lather. Don't worry about the whiskers. They will also be cut. This will not produce a BBS (or anywhere near it) finish but it will allow you to start developing your technique.

As your technique developes you will become a bit more "aggressive" and start getting that BBS finish without any skin damage.
 

thombrogan

Lounging On The Isle Of Tugsley.
Thank you, @rbscebu for the how, the why, the limits, and the promise of a glorious future.

@DaveHStone , if it gets me on my way, I’ll weather the storm of only slightly reduced stubble.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
When starting to learn the gentlemanly art, it wasn't long before I was achieving socially acceptable shave (SAS) results. At about the 30 to 40 SR shave mark, I was achieving close comfortable shave (CCS) results. By about 70 to 80 SR shaves I was getting a consistent DFS result.

It was as I approached the 100 SR shave that my troubles began. The trouble was that I was starting to get BBS results. Some may say that this is what you should eventually aim for. I had to disagree. By 100 SR shaves I was thoroughly enjoying my daily shaves. With a BBS result, I had little to nothing to shave the following day!

I then had to work further on my technique to reduce the finish quality of my SR shaving. I eventually achieved my aim to where I can constantly get DFS+ results and still have something to shave 24 hours later.

SR shaving can be more challenging than you may first think.
 
If it’s alright with @saj1985 , I have a technique-related question:

A lot of wicked smart SR users talk about removing the lather instead of gunning for the stubble (proof of their intelligence confirmed by never having read a one of them use the phrase “gunning for the stubble.”). I guess my question is: is it as simple as it sounds? Just find an acute angle that allows the lather to be wiped off the face without taking the face?

Do not think of it as just removing the lather. That will make you try to not let the edge touch your face.
Just make contact with the skin. As light as contact as you can imagine but you must make contact.
Exceedingly light pressure is all that's required.
 
Is there like an all in one kit I can get?

Like the SR and everything I need to hone for beginners?

Here's a sample kit:

  • Ralf Aust round point 5/8" shave ready $135 (Buy direct from his website)
  • Tony Miller Horween strop $50 (Buy direct from his website)
  • set of 3M lapping film sheets $20 (Amazon or the hardware store)
  • 3 syringes of TechDiamond Tools polishing paste $30 (Amazon or direct from TechDiamond)

You will also need a few pieces of balsa, a backing material
for the balsa and something to use as a base for the lapping
film (I use a hunk of plexiglass). Follow Slash McCoy's advice
on lapping film and The Method (search B&B for the threads).
Try it for a few months. It is not difficult. If you don't like it,
the Tony Miller strop and Ralf Aust razor should hold most of
their value. Sell them. No harm, no foul.

Total investment=about $250 + a little time + a little elbow grease
 
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rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
@Sukeroku that is about the perfect SR starter's kit. All up, including shipping, acrylic blocks and balsa, about USD 350 should cover it. That is about what I started with except I used a cheaper (Titan ACRM-2 at about USD 30) blade that I had to learn to hone myself and a cheaper Chinese strop (at about USD 15).

As a suggestion, I would add a spare leather (if budget permits) to the @Tony Miller strop to allow for the inevitable strop nicks that many beginners get while learning.

Having to teach myself to successfully hone was no great difficulty using the B&B Method.
 
@Sukeroku that is about the perfect SR starter's kit. All up, including shipping, acrylic blocks and balsa, about USD 350 should cover it. That is about what I started with except I used a cheaper (Titan ACRM-2 at about USD 30) blade that I had to learn to hone myself and a cheaper Chinese strop (at about USD 15).

As a suggestion, I would add a spare leather (if budget permits) to the @Tony Miller strop to allow for the inevitable strop nicks that many beginners get while learning.

Having to teach myself to successfully hone was no great difficulty using the B&B Method.
You could go cheaper, but as SlashMcCoy and others have stated, the beginner should start with a shave-ready razor so your spend your time learning to shave vs. learning to hone. Ralf Aust's are probably the best value truly shave-ready razors on the market. I also like buying directly from the artisan. Actually, if the beginner does 50 laps on diamond-pasted balsa via The Method religiously between each shave on his new Ralf Aust straight out of the box, he doesn't even need the lapping film. IMHO a shave-ready razor can be maintained with just a tube of .1 micron diamond paste spread on a hunk of balsa and a leather strop. I chose a Tony Miller horween value strop because these strops are reasonable but maintain value and it is a strop that you will enjoy for life. I don't like to buy cheap things and then spend more money on an upgrade later. Of course, postal rates vary depending on location but not everyone lives in the Philippines or Japan, where shipping can be quite high.
 
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rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I agree but @saj1985 was asking for "Like the SR and everything I need to hone for beginners?". By including the honing part, my thoughts were that the beginner's SR in the kit he was looking for may not be shave ready.

If budget permits, I too would recommend a Ralf Aust SR. They generally come shave-ready but not always up to some SR shavers' standard. With a new Ralf Aust you could do away with lapping film/whetstones, and all your blade maintenance could be done on a 0.1im diamond pasted balsa strop. I would however recommend all three (0.5um, 0.25um &0.1um) diamond pasted balsa strops as this would allow you to further refine the edge on the new Ralf Aust to an even higher standard than it came with.
 

thombrogan

Lounging On The Isle Of Tugsley.
@saj1985 , I cannot speak for head shaves, but I used the tips provided by @rbscebu and @stone and strop with a barber razor loaded with a Feather Pro Super (an expensive way to pretend it’s a shave-ready razor) and I don’t seem to have died. Focusing on the feel of the blade made the hand positions take care of themselves.
 
@saj1985

I will just put my input in here, when I started I used those very stones for the gold dollar mod contest. Yes they worked in a fashion they got the job done, living in the UK they were cheap as I tried to source lapping films with only one grit.

So yes it is a starting point then you can progress from there as I did, and never looked back my first strop was a windrose from the bay. 3 inch wide then I made some of my own strops and bought some good ones, once I learned on the windrose so yes go cheap to start with then get better stuff as you progress on your journey as we all did.

But one thing I will say is to get a good finishing stone to polish the edge, and a good lapping plate for the stones then you will know that they are flat.
 
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