Thread: Need advise with shaving woes

As previously mentioned in the UK The Invisible Edge here is a fine source for a new or vintage straight razor. Though I am in the USA I have bought a TI from Steve and it was delightfully sharp when I received it. Check out the SRP Wiki here for tutorials and videos on all things straight razor related and make sure you read SRP founder Lynn Abrams on your first straight razor shaves here.

It does take the skin a little time to become accustomed to a new shaving method. Many people find that they suffer irritation at first. This is likely lack of good technique though. That said, your problem does seem to be crap kit. You really don't stand a chance.
PM me your address. I'll take a chance & lend you a razor so you can find out if it works for you. No strop though, i'm afraid. You'll have to sort that out yourself. Let me know if you're interested.

Forgot to add. KOS just isn't good enough for a straight. Get a cheap brush (even a wilko one!) & a tube of palmolive. Under £1.50 total & far, far better.

Hello,

I would suggest purchasing a new DOVO from SRD. I just bought my second one from SRD and was pleased. I made the mistake with my first razor before knowing of SRP. It was also like a butter knife. A lot has to do with the quality of the steel used. I ended up sending mine out to be honed by a pro. The classifieds may be an option. You can get a decent razor for a fair price.

Thanks Guys for all of the advice, this is without a doubt the most helpful forum I have ever had the pleasure of visiting!

I am very much looking forward to a proper shave with a proper razor and will be investing in some decent kit like soap and maybe a hand-held strop.

I will let you know how I get on.

When I began my adventure with straight razor shaving, I bought a real bargain priced set (brand name "Selective") that included a new strop and three new razors. I could easily judge the quality of the strop -- it was very cheap junk. I later bought a nice strop, handmade by Tony Miller.

The razors were another matter. They looked new and shiny, but they weren't sharp enough to shave with. After reading these forums I realized that I really had no idea how to tell if a blade was sharp or not. I decided to eventually get some honing stones and learn to sharpen up those 3 blades, but in the meantime, if I was ever going to know what a sharp blade feels like, I had better buy one that is professionally sharpened. I bought a new Dovo from SRD that came professionally sharpened. This is what I learned to shave with.

Later, I bought a set of hones and tried to sharpen the cheap new EBay razors. What a joke! The edges were not parallel to the spine, so sharpening them was not possible.

I have since bought some vintage razors on EBay. I had good luck with a seller named Altima55. When he advertizes a vintage balde as "shave ready", it really is.

Hope this helps.