Doin' it the way it was meant to be done!
Hurrah!
My tools are now assembled and I know that tomorrow night I will be having my first shave with a "real" straight razor.
I thought I would open my shave journal before my first shave. Because that's how I roll: I plan and prepare. So if you're looking for a shave post... go to post number 9 - this first post might be bedtime reading...
Pictures, show me pictures
Check out post #2 for pictures of my kit. Without any of the boring words.
Shaving background:
I went to a boys only boarding school in Western NSW. It was an era of double denim and mullet hair-does, glam rock, and... bad shaving equipment??
Somehow, around the time I was 16, I'm pretty sure Gillette dropped shaving gear on the whole form as part of our Health & Physical Education. I'd grown up on a farm with a father who did a lot of manual type work (lots of shearing sheep and other rural work), whose shave routine consisted of - single blade disposable or cart, luke-warm running water, and scraping his face. Hardly any better than what he did to the back end of sheep really. So the thing is, the shave creame Gillette droped on us was a bit of a *** moment.
For the next 20 years, a lot of which involved part-time millitary service, my shaves were either double-blade swivel carts, or electric. Even now that I'm approaching 40 years old, I don't particularly need a daily shave even for a fairly traditional office type environment.
But my electric has been increasingly lacking in the "satisfying process" stakes.
Planning the move
With my Braun Series 3 not really cutting the satisfacion mustard any more I poked around a bit for alternatives.
Being a frequent poster on the Australian "Whirlpool" forum, I checked out their "Classic shaving instruments" series of posts, asked questions, "politely ignored" the links to B&B, then tried the low-financial-risk and bought myself a Wahl "Barbers Straight". This came with a starter set of 10 Gillette DE blades (and with Shaver Shop pricing, it's almost cheaper to buy this than it is to just buy the blades
).
To go with that I bought some Crabtree & Evelyn soap. I was still relying on an old brush though.
Straight with Training Wheels
I still regard my approach as valid, but I haven't put my "real" straight to my face yet Time will tell there I guess?
The main factor I was concerned about, was: What if I can't keep a blade sharp? Here is where the shavette takes away the concern - any time it doesn't seem up to scratch, just replace the blade. There is also none of the hygeine concerns that come with second hand equipment when you're first starting out (although my body-piercing habits might be showing through there?
) - if someone may have drawn blood with a blade do I really want it anywhere near me? Still, that's nothing boiling and barbicide won't handle.
I had several shaves with my Wahl, in all it must have been a shave count of 30 or so - because I was getting around 3 shaves per 1/2 blade, I used about 5 blades all up. No real disasters, my shaves were somewhat rough but became better as time went on and the shave count came up.
Eventually I made the decision that this was something I wanted to do, so about the end of the Australian financial year (June 30) I committed to getting my tax sorted out promptly, and if I did, I would look towards getting a straight and the gear that needs in time for Fathers Day.
Buying "the real deal"
So I get my tax sorted and I still don't know how to proceed, it is now time to join B&B. I made my first post in the usual spot, because friendly though this site is I couldn't really find what I was looking for. I quickly met some friendly types, who put me on the right track.
So it was that I ordered my first real straight and brush, in true B&B fashion, via PM to a fellow member with an overflowing shave den.
Thanks Luc!
The Equipment
The package took FOR EVER!! to turn up (not really). Mrs Westie nicely enough picked it up for me, then forgot that she'd done it.... I still needed a strop, and I picked up a Barbers style strop from a nearby bricks & mortar store - Hair & Beauty Bargain Bazaar. It seems "functional" and priced sensibly enough. All in all, for under $200 (Australian) (about $50 US well a bit more really ) I've got:
Straight razor
Strop
Shave soap
Badger brush
Bay Rum aftershave
That's pretty affordable, and so long as I look after things, the only other "must have" will be a Barbers Hone I guess? (Go on, tell me I'm wrong with that choice I'm open for advice on this point
)
Hurrah!
My tools are now assembled and I know that tomorrow night I will be having my first shave with a "real" straight razor.
I thought I would open my shave journal before my first shave. Because that's how I roll: I plan and prepare. So if you're looking for a shave post... go to post number 9 - this first post might be bedtime reading...
Pictures, show me pictures
Check out post #2 for pictures of my kit. Without any of the boring words.
Shaving background:
I went to a boys only boarding school in Western NSW. It was an era of double denim and mullet hair-does, glam rock, and... bad shaving equipment??
Somehow, around the time I was 16, I'm pretty sure Gillette dropped shaving gear on the whole form as part of our Health & Physical Education. I'd grown up on a farm with a father who did a lot of manual type work (lots of shearing sheep and other rural work), whose shave routine consisted of - single blade disposable or cart, luke-warm running water, and scraping his face. Hardly any better than what he did to the back end of sheep really. So the thing is, the shave creame Gillette droped on us was a bit of a
*** moment.For the next 20 years, a lot of which involved part-time millitary service, my shaves were either double-blade swivel carts, or electric. Even now that I'm approaching 40 years old, I don't particularly need a daily shave even for a fairly traditional office type environment.
But my electric has been increasingly lacking in the "satisfying process" stakes.
Planning the move
With my Braun Series 3 not really cutting the satisfacion mustard any more I poked around a bit for alternatives.
Being a frequent poster on the Australian "Whirlpool" forum, I checked out their "Classic shaving instruments" series of posts, asked questions, "politely ignored" the links to B&B, then tried the low-financial-risk and bought myself a Wahl "Barbers Straight". This came with a starter set of 10 Gillette DE blades (and with Shaver Shop pricing, it's almost cheaper to buy this than it is to just buy the blades
).To go with that I bought some Crabtree & Evelyn soap. I was still relying on an old brush though.
Straight with Training Wheels
I still regard my approach as valid, but I haven't put my "real" straight to my face yet
Time will tell there I guess?The main factor I was concerned about, was: What if I can't keep a blade sharp? Here is where the shavette takes away the concern - any time it doesn't seem up to scratch, just replace the blade. There is also none of the hygeine concerns that come with second hand equipment when you're first starting out (although my body-piercing habits might be showing through there?
) - if someone may have drawn blood with a blade do I really want it anywhere near me? Still, that's nothing boiling and barbicide won't handle.I had several shaves with my Wahl, in all it must have been a shave count of 30 or so - because I was getting around 3 shaves per 1/2 blade, I used about 5 blades all up. No real disasters, my shaves were somewhat rough but became better as time went on and the shave count came up.
Eventually I made the decision that this was something I wanted to do, so about the end of the Australian financial year (June 30) I committed to getting my tax sorted out promptly, and if I did, I would look towards getting a straight and the gear that needs in time for Fathers Day.
Buying "the real deal"
So I get my tax sorted and I still don't know how to proceed, it is now time to join B&B. I made my first post in the usual spot, because friendly though this site is I couldn't really find what I was looking for. I quickly met some friendly types, who put me on the right track.
So it was that I ordered my first real straight and brush, in true B&B fashion, via PM to a fellow member with an overflowing shave den.
Thanks Luc!
The Equipment
The package took FOR EVER!! to turn up (not really). Mrs Westie nicely enough picked it up for me, then forgot that she'd done it.... I still needed a strop, and I picked up a Barbers style strop from a nearby bricks & mortar store - Hair & Beauty Bargain Bazaar. It seems "functional" and priced sensibly enough. All in all, for under $200 (Australian) (about $50 US
well a bit more really ) I've got:Straight razor
Strop
Shave soap
Badger brush
Bay Rum aftershave
That's pretty affordable, and so long as I look after things, the only other "must have" will be a Barbers Hone I guess? (Go on, tell me I'm wrong with that choice I'm open for advice on this point
)
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I have a netbook with a camera so I know the picture is probably not showing us the full picture, but from what I see it looks nice enough. I'm sure the shavette helped eh?
but it should polish out OK?? (yes, the swearing was an essential part of preparation).
That should let me get the razor back to as good as I can have it before I get a high-grade maintenance hone.
