Thread: Best choice for a rough beard?

I came across nashvilleknifeshop.com a while ago and they have the whole set up with razor, strop, soap, mug and brush for around $270. I am not sure of the quality of the miscellaneous supplies; however the razor they offer is a henckels, which are supposed to be good. Maybe some of the members have done business with these people before and can comment. Good luck and welcome. This stuff is a lot of fun.

Welcome and don't be afraid to make mistakes! I've got a very thick beard as well and I've learned that a good shave is obtainable through proper beard prep: I shower and immediately lather up. Then I hit the strop for a good five minutes. I'm not fast like the rest of the gang so five minutes will give me about 200 - 300 passes on the strop. "It's excessive but it insures the soap softens my beard and my blade is nice and straight."

Another important aspect to consider is honing the blade yourself. Do some solid research on stones and get with one of the senior members here to help you out; or do what I did and just punt it out there. Our site has some of the finest individuals from all over the world here and the information they share is invaluable!

Not sure if its been said (I'm not thinking straight) but any blade will give you a good shave if its sharp. MOST of it is personal preference. One thing I have heard though is full hollows on tough beards is skip/jumping against the grain, where it catches then jumps and nicks you. This has only happened to me once though and more because of me being careless than anything else. Only cut on my right side now that I think of it. The word on the street that I feel makes sense is wedges are heavier and tend to be wider- wider allows for more hair/soap to accumulate before you rinse (convenient) and the heavy allows it to cut through thick stuff better apparently.

Originally Posted by CaptainBlade

Hi Pabster, thanks for that advice. You don't happen to know which TI and Dovo models would qualify those specs, do you? For example, the Bismark, or the Le Dandy? I can't seem to find in-depth descriptions, about model spec, and blade spec, on the retail sites.

I see a lot of nice members have jumped in to help out. I don't have enough experience with too many Dovo's or TI's. to advice you properly. From what I heard from others with tough beards, they like the stiffer blades, Wedges and 1/4 hollow, but in the end, you will be the one to figure it out.

Its about getting started and moving up the learning curve!

Pabster

Thanks everybody for all the responses. I did shave today, with the latest freak-show razor by schwick, the Quatro. Yikes! 8 blades, I used two razors as usual, and one hour, is what it took to do the job!

Anyways, I'll continue reviewing this thread throughout the week, and purchase my first razor and strop by my next shave day, which will also be in about a week.

I sure do like to keep a shadow hanging around. I also see I'm in no rush, as I expect to use my first straight razor very little, during my first shave with it.

I'm leaning toward a Thiers Issard, especially since there were a few posts about, "getting a razor I will like," as opposed to getting one considered for, "rough," beards.

I've also thought, maybe I should pick up the other parts of the kit first, and then grab the razor last. So I'm going to review the kinds of soaps, oils, and strops, before making a razor decision. Seems like I should pick up another pack of Quatro's as well, as I'm all out.

Hate to sound like I'm being picky, apprehensive, or overly conscience, but impulse buying is so passe. We simply don't point, click, and shop like we used to, do we? I'll bet few, if any are left with that behavior now.

Thanks again to all, you've been so very kind.

Cheers

Originally Posted by fritz

This blade is a Full Hollow, but because it's Inox (stainless steel) it is stiff like a 1/4 hollow or wedge. I have a tough beard, and find this blade stays sharp longer than my carbon steel blades. {Full disclosure: I have one and I love it! See the title I use...}

How about a Friodur? Still available new (5/8 or 6/8) and vintage (8/8), latter at shavingshop.com

Originally Posted by Kees

How about a Friodur? Still available new (5/8 or 6/8)

What a great call! I had to research what a Friodur was, and I just found it at Zwilling dot com. It looks awesome, I'm just going to do some more reading up on Zwilling.

I'll let you know.

http://database.zwilling.com/artikel.../1938/size/600

Great looking blade!



Nice scales...

http://database.zwilling.com/artikel...29948/size/600

Where do you get the new Friodurs?

Originally Posted by khaos

Where do you get the new Friodurs?

Yes! This is what I've decided I want to buy too. However, "a contact us," form produces this auto message sent back in your email: "Guten Tag, leider kann ich Ihre Email nicht beantworten, da ich bis zum 27.07.2009 nicht im Hause bin. Danach werde ich Ihre Nachricht aber umgehend beantworten."

Translates something like, "I'm on vacation, coming back on 27th, will reply then."

I want to get in touch with this company, before I buy anything. Their blades look totally awesome, and the scales are nice!

What company though? Zwilling.com?