A brief word of warning to those that have expressed interest in shaving with a straight: not only is it addictive, it can warp your outlook on life.
I bailed on modern shaving equipment in favor of antique (100+ yrs old minimum) straight razors over a year ago and I haven't looked back since.
Initial investment was roughly $200 for a good shave ready razor, soap, brush and a strop. My first multi-pass shave took me about an hour to complete.
Once I had my basic shaving technique down I bought a set of hones and started learning how to restore vintage razors to active use.
After a year and a half my findings are as follows:
- shaving with a straight provides the smoothest possible shave and turns shaving from a chore to a meditative experience that isn't to be missed.
- It's possible to do a three pass shave with touchup in 15 minutes without rushing.
- shaving with a straight is not economical compared to disposables.
- The fact that it's possible to restore a 150+ year old straight razor to perfect working order (I know this because I've done it myself) says quite a bit about modern build quality and designed obsolescence.
> The fact that it's possible to restore a 150+ year old straight razor to perfect working order (I know this because I've done it myself) says quite a bit about modern build quality and designed obsolescence.
It doesn't actually. It's simply selection bias. All the bad razors were thrown out years ago. The ones that were saved were the good ones.
Overall quality and price point for razors manufactured over the last 150 years or so are generally well documented, and there are more everyman cheapo razors floating around on the market than heirloom collector's items. Having done restorations on both types I can tell you "cheap" razors typically shave just as well (or better) than heirloom pieces.
Also it's substantially more likely that a "good" razor would have been used to death due to hone wear.
Hello. Fellow straight razor enthusiast here. Could you give any advice on how to get a razor back to working order? I have a straight razor that I love but I haven't used it in a while because (I assume) my honing technique is faulty. I have been using the ones that use a disposable razor but it isn't the same.
Short term: get in touch with one of the honemasters (Lynn does incredible work) on the forums and make arrangements to send your razor in for a professional hone.
Mid-term: examine the quality of your strop and your stropping technique. Assuming you have a quality razor a good strop and solid technique should keep it shave-ready for months at a time. Poor stropping technique is the leading cause of premature dulling.
Long term: browse the forums and howto sections for detailed information on honing and restoration techniques, procure quality hones if you haven't already done so, and then pick up some $10 ebay specials to practice your technique on until you've got it dialed.
I bailed on modern shaving equipment in favor of antique (100+ yrs old minimum) straight razors over a year ago and I haven't looked back since.
Initial investment was roughly $200 for a good shave ready razor, soap, brush and a strop. My first multi-pass shave took me about an hour to complete.
Once I had my basic shaving technique down I bought a set of hones and started learning how to restore vintage razors to active use.
After a year and a half my findings are as follows:
- shaving with a straight provides the smoothest possible shave and turns shaving from a chore to a meditative experience that isn't to be missed.
- It's possible to do a three pass shave with touchup in 15 minutes without rushing.
- shaving with a straight is not economical compared to disposables.
- The fact that it's possible to restore a 150+ year old straight razor to perfect working order (I know this because I've done it myself) says quite a bit about modern build quality and designed obsolescence.