Posted on 06/26/2014 12:28:00 PM PDT by Chasaway
I need some straight razor advice, from some straight razor veterans. I've been shaving with a safety razor, mug and brush for 12 years. I've moved to a shavette straight razor in the last 3 months.
It seems to me that moving to a pure straight razor will mean sending razors off to be honed 3-4 times per year @ around $30 per pop.
Besides the "romance" and general badass-ness of using a true straight razor, what would be the advantages/disadvantages of moving to a pure straight razor/throat cutter?
Yep. That’s what I’m talking about.
I want to get to where I can take my own razor, keep it razor sharp (see what I did there?), maintain it and later...pass it on. Not only the razor, but the skills.
I’ve got my 26 year old son shaving with a DE safety razor (also smoking cigars and drinking scotch). Obviously, not for convenience or speed. But for the general, overall luxuriousness of a shave, rather than it being a chore.
I just need to learn how to take care of one: Honing, stropping, etc.
Say, that reminds me. I’ve not seen Sweeny Todd in a while...
That’s an interesting damn question.
I don’t know the answer, exactly. Except to say that I like the feeling of being clean shaven.
I’ve got a mustache and chin beard, but I like my cheeks and throat to be slick.
I’ll shave the night before and any stubble won’t be “visible” throughout the next day. But I feel it. And I can’t wait to get home and shave it off.
Also, it might be that shaving these days isn’t a chore. Now, it’s something I look forward to. Matter of fact, stubble provides me with the opportunity to “practice” some of my grooming skills.
So, maybe it’s not the stubble. Maybe it’s just that I look forward to the experience of shaving and “stubble” indicates that it’s a good time for that.
I agree. I use pre shave oil and cream on a brush every morning. I tried the DE route awhile back and had real issues with my neck. The cheeks were no problem, but really scraped up the throat area. I went back to my Schick Quattro. If you are looking for good shave cream, the best I have for the price is Taylor of Bond Street. Good stuff, reasonably priced and comes in a variety of scents.
Another little tip. If you see one of those ads for the device that extend the life of your multi blade razors get it. They work. I have extended the life of my blades by double from maybe 3 weeks to over two month from a single cartridge.
Shaved with a straight razor for about 30 years, ever since I was a freshman in college. I thought I was cool.
My last shave with a straight razor was in Yemen — I had to leave in a hurry and left razor and supporting equipment, strap, stone and a lot of other paraphernalia.
When I look back at those 30 years I realize that I was not cool but just vain and stupid. During those 30 years I spent more time honing that f’n razor than shaving with it.
I had one of those fancy, Spanish, gold-inlaid razors that scared the hell out of my wife just looking at it. She always begged me to put the thing where the kids couldn’t find it.
In the book KING SOLOMON’S MINES, one of the explorers is shaving with a new fangled “safety razor” when a knife hits the tree near his head. He mentioned that if he had been using a straight razor he would have cut his own throat.
Funny, in the CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED comics of the 1950s they show this scene with the explorer using a straight razor.
Bad, bad Leroy Brown
He got a gun in his pocket for fun
and a razor in his shoe.
Say Captain, if we join the army can we carry our razors?
If we carry our razors in this war (yak,yak,yak,)
We’ll cut dose Germans to the core (yak,yak,yak)
I may be singing loud but a razor in a crowd
does more execution than a fourty four!(Yak,yak,yak)
They’ll be no dogone Kaiser,
If we carry our razors in this war!
That’s funny!
I wish I had that razor.
And (don’t take this wrong) vain is exactly what I’m doing it for.
I’m going to shave anyway. I just want to make it as luxurious and as “cool” as I can.
The fact that I’m shaving the way my ancestors did, with a [potentially] dangerous implement, taking my time and enjoying a close shave...is exactly what I’m after.
I also use Hoyt’s cologne. Initially made circa the civil war. It’s what the cowboys used to get when they’d come in for their shave after being out.
There’s newer stuff, and I own some.
But there’s just something about doing it the old way that gives me great pleasure and joy.
The American Indian method was to take two mussel shells, clamp it over a whisker squeeze and pull.
Anthropologists believe this is where the Indian word “Ugh” comes from. ;-D
Oh, that’s funny!
And (I know it’s not the book) King Solomon’s Mines with Stewart Granger is one of my go-to, fun-time movies.
Ditto on the Dovos as VR-21 mentioned. Have two that I use, alternating them daily. Have a strop and a two sided honing stick which I use maybe once a month. There’s a ultra-fine polishing honing paste. Can’t remember exactly but maybe 1400 grit plus. All that keeps them up to snuff. Real trick is to keep from getting nicks in the blade. Do not let anyone else use your razor.
Badger brush just for the luxury of it. Found that shaving creams and soaps vary broadly. Caswell-Massey almond shaving cream does it for me.
At first I had some problem with wrist and hand positions which change as you move to different parts of neck and face. The reflected image, swapped left for right, makes the cut throat very different from dragging a stick. Nervous at first? You betcha. But you quickly get into the quiet ritual of shaving.
Oh, after shower of course for best soak. One last tip. If you’re not alone either leave bathroom door wide open or lock it. Prevent some really big surprise that way.
The 1936 version (available free on archive.org) is excellent.
I have not seen that.
Oh....
That’s a good answer, too.
Good on you,but, why? There is a reason why those aren’t so popular any more...
I use a triple blade gillete, can’t remember the name, and probably spend about $35 total a year on replacement blades. I shave pretty much every day too.
“...Oh, after shower of course for best soak. One last tip. If you’re not alone either leave bathroom door wide open or lock it. Prevent some really big surprise that way.”
Heh. No s**t~!
I generally shave in the shower. I’ve got a no-fog mirror and can do my stuff in there and shave last. Beard’s nice and soft, then.
Otherwise, I’ll shave at the sink after a shower. Even then, I’ll wash my face with water as hot as I can stand it.
Thanks for the reply.
Well guys, do what makes you happy. I know that if I go too long without shavig my legs, there is a period of irritation.
As for the girls: There’s a period of irritation when a guy’s beard is starting to grow out until it softens. It lasts for about a week and we get serious burn during that time. It’s really uncomfortable.
Then it’s soft. And it gets softer.
After that, the only complaint we have is the loss of suction with a good kiss. (Facial hair does make that weird for awhile.)
But don’t think that you’ve got to bee ‘baby bottom smooth’ for our sakes. The painful period doesn’t begin for at least a day - usually two.
(And PLEASE... we’re begging... don’t do crap to your body hair beyond a slight trim. There is NOTHING more disgusting than stubble on a man’s back.)
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