Thread: Hello from China

Hi,

I'm a Swiss expatriated in China ( Hunan province at the moment ). I've just started straight-shaving about 3 weeks ago.

At first I bought a local very cheap but unefficient Gold Dollar, but really soon realised I would never be able to shave decently with that thing. Fortunatly, I found the SRP and read a lot of stuff and watched several videos.
Last week I went to Hong Kong and met up with Burt / leadingedge, a very nice and helpful fellow who honestly saved my straight-shaving experience; I guess without this website and Burt, I would never have known much about straight razors and related materials and would have given up very soon ...
I came back with a Dovo shave-ready, south-african strop, 'art of shaving' starter kit and a chinese 12k.

Now it's been several days already, I'm really improving except for a few tricky spot around my chin and some parts of my throats and I'm ready to throw away all I have left of disposable razors and stuff from my previous life.

I'm already looking at the next step - honing - and considering buying a set of Taidea for a start ( 400/1000, 3000/8000 and a diamond sharpening stone ).
I also hope I would be able to set-up a paypal account (not easy with a local debit card from China ) to eventually purchase a pre-honed razor from Lynn, maybe later this summer.

Francis

Hello, and welcome to SRP.
Glad to hear you got help, and that you are already shaving.
Don't hesitate to ask any questions that may arise.
Good luck on setting up paypal, so you can get more nice shaving gear.
It can be an addictive thing
Best of luck

Hi Francis,

I too am an expatriate (British), living the last 4 years in Guangxi province.
About a month a go I bought a Gold Dollar straight razor and a canvas strop for just 15rmb (about $2.30 USD) yup, just 15rmb and both items new. I then went off and bought two stones, both recommended by the owner of the stall for sharpening razors. The one was a slightly coarse stone while the other was a natural, hard, finishing stone (20rmb for the two).
Well, despite all my efforts I could not get it shave ready, it would take the hair off my arms but not my face. I gave up on it and then a few weeks later I bought a Heng Bao straight razor, this looked marginally better quality that the GD one, however, despite all my efforts I could not get that shave ready either.
I need to go to Guangzhou sometime later this Summer, so I think I might just pay a visit to Hong Kong too while I'm near. Where about in Hong Kong did you buy your shaving equipment / were the prices reasonable and was there a good selection?

Cheers in adavance

~ Alan

Welcome to SRP...be part of the pack! Grüße nach China.

Good day to Both Alan and Francis and welcome to SRP. This is truly an international bunch of men with a common interest. I would recommend that you get an old razor from one of the fellows that sell them on this site. Make sure it is honed, and while you wait for its delivery, get a hold of a leather strop (or make one yourself) and practice with it using a butter knife. Take it easy and slow so you can learn how to turn the blade with just your fingers and not your wrist. Learn to go very lightly as you move the blade back and forth. The time you put into this simple act will well reward your future shaves. And have fun with this new Art.

Welcome aboard!

Do you guys eat a lot of McDonalds over there?

Welcome to SRP. Very pleased to have you aboard.

Originally Posted by gurnsy

Do you guys eat a lot of McDonalds over there?

I live in Liuzhou City, it is considered by the locals to be a smallish city, with a population of about 3 million - it has just one McDonald's, which as you might imagine does get rather crowded!

Thanks to everyone for their warm welcome and to BanjoTom in particular for his sound advice... much appreciated!

Hey Alan,

Actually I haven't bought any stuff directly from the shops in Hong Kong, all the stuff I came back with was sold to me by Burt (leadingedge is his pseudo on this website). Burt took me on a tour and show me where to look in the future.
There are indeed a couple of shops along the Jordan Road which sell genuine basic Dovos, but nothing fancy and most important none is shave-ready. A small selection of creams, soaps, oils and strops can be find at Fanda, Ground floor of the Mirador Mansions. Prices are reasonable, a new simple Dovo goes for HK$ 380.00.
I really recommend you'd try to contact Burt and see if he could help you as he's helped me. Maybe if prior to your visit you give him some time he could buy and hone a Dovo for you.

Another option is if you can use a credit card or paypal account purchase a pre-honed razor from Lynn (click on the add at the top of this page); this is eventually what I want to do too, but I still have to setup my paypal account.

IMO there also must be some places in Guangzhou selling Dovos, but that place is so big, don't know where to start looking. Anyway there surely won't be any shave-ready.

Let's keep in touch!