Thread: thinking of buying a straight razor. and question

Originally Posted by shiznix

Hey


Newbie here.

I suppose that having BOTH straight razor + shavette (those with interchangeable blades are called that way, I think?) at hand would be a good idea.

Hang on to that thought and see if you will repeat it in a few months. Once you go to straights and have settled in, you will have absolutely no interest in shavette's. I have my traveling razors (not worth much over $50 to me) and then nice razors I keep at home & for show & tell...

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Hang on to that thought and see if you will repeat it in a few months. Once you go to straights and have settled in, you will have absolutely no interest in shavette's. I have my traveling razors (not worth much over $50 to me) and then nice razors I keep at home & for show & tell...

@shooter, you might be right there. possibly.

thing is, I would consider it a hassle to take with me:

-a razor
-a strop
-a brush
-shaving cream/soap
-knife oil

I would be glad to be able to dump some of these items (i.e. oil+strop). I am really finnicky about my razor, so I want to be sure it won't rust, hence the oil.

Then again, I might not. Who knows? I've been into straight shaving for three weeks now, so I really cannot tell. I haven't ever even used a shavette (or a DE razor, either).

I learned to straight shave with a Parker disposable blade razor (from Amazon) and now use it for my travel razor. But once you have a "real" straight razor there is no comparison. I made the mistake of buying my first real straight off ebay and found out that I needed to send it out to be honed! Stick with the classifieds.

Pick up a stainless blade and that will eliminate the oil need. I have a paddle strop, tube of bigelow shave cream (face lather), and any brush for traveling. What got me to get a stainless blade (gold dollar is what I have) is that my vacations are around the gulf coast. Salty moist air and carbon steel just don't get along. I picked up my razor from "mysterydoll".

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Pick up a stainless blade and that will eliminate the oil need. I have a paddle strop, tube of bigelow shave cream (face lather), and any brush for traveling. What got me to get a stainless blade (gold dollar is what I have) is that my vacations are around the gulf coast. Salty moist air and carbon steel just don't get along. I picked up my razor from "mysterydoll".

I have read where stainless steel holds an edge longer & tend to agree w/ that at least in my case. I have only one SS razor- Dovo Renaissance- & it tends to stay sharper longer than my other razors and no worries about using oil.

I would only add the caveat that good NEW name-brand razors aren't necessarily cheap so keep that in mind.