Gelf Lover's journey into straight shaving

I have a few issues that I don't want to disclose that would most likely prevent me from being able to hone a straight razor. These same issues may prevent me from stropping as well, and might even prevent me from even shaving with it, so right now I'm just trying to get as much information as I can. Is it possible to have a straight honed by a honemaster on a regular basis and how often would that be? I do understand that it depends on a lot of factors but I'm just trying to get a rough idea. I do have a somewhat tough beard and I know that that will play into it a bit. Also I have not been able to understand on if a straight can be controlled to be mild in terms of aggressiveness. I've noticed that with a D/E the fewer passes the better, no matter what razor that I use, so I'm assuming that I have "thin skin" and that is the major part of my irritation issues.

I will admit that this curiosity is from the "cool factor" that using a straight gives.

 

Honing - annually would probably be sufficient, of course depending on certain things...plus you'll probably need touch ups every few months in between

Stropping - daily, figure in the 50 - 100 lap range (lap = up and back)

You may want to consider getting your hands on a shavette or a dull straight...heck, even a butter knife would work. Try going through the motions with the stretching and everything, see if it's something you can do. Go WTG, XTG, and even ATG. I should point out that the shavette should NOT have a blade in it...

The aggressiveness factor - I can get a better 2 pass shave out of a straight than out of a DE/SE. By better I mean closer and more comfortable. To get what I can with a straight, I need 3 pass with a DE/SE. Although, I think the stretching may be a factor since I don't do that with a DE/SE.

Good Luck and keep us posted!

 

I've already kinda tried out the motions for shaving and I don't have the limitations there. I may also try some face streatching with my D/E's and see how that does. Never hurts to try...well sometimes it does but not for long.:happy102 But 50-100 laps may be the breaker. I'll have to give that a few trys with a butter knife and a belt to see how that works out. To give an example if I have a rough time making a lather that can put me right at my limit. But that is also on a bad day. I good day might not be a problem. Would it bad to switch back and forth between using a D/E and a straight?

 

Matt pretty much set you straight. Honing is not really an issue for most sane people. Stopping, however, is not really something you can skip--like Matt said, just get a belt or something and a butterknife, and practice the motions of moving the razor and flipping it on it's back; you can even try the shaving motion the same way.

As for aggression, put me in the "straights are much more comfortable than DE" camp.

 

Of course not. It might take longer for you to get the motions right to learn to use the straight, but it's your face--you know better than anyone!

 

Switching back and forth isn't an issue. When I first started with straights (haha, only a little over 2 months ago..) I did WTG with the straight, then finished with a DE. I also only went every other day with a straight for a while. Use it when you can, don't when you can't. The whole idea about this hobby is to make a 'chore' more enjoyable. If you're in the middle of a pass with the straight and you feel you just can't finish, set it down, pick up the DE and do what you can. Also, the stropping does NOT need to be all at once. Do 10 laps in the morning, 10 when you get home, 10 after dinner, and finish up throughout the night until you reach your goal... or if you can do 20 at a time, do that....

The best thing is - there really are no hard and fast rules.... that's why YMMV gets thrown around so much.


EDIT: Thanks for the kind words there, Jim.

I'm in the same camp. :happy088

 

Matt really did give me the answers that I was needing. As for my limiting factors...well...they are not whether I can learn the technique but whether I can perform the technique and as often as needed.

 

Well Matt you just solve that problem without a butter knife.

I knew there was a reason why I like asking questions in TSD.

 

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that it was your problem...it's EVERYONE'S problem. Learning to use a straight is basically learning to adjust the angle and pressure to your face, and it takes a while to get used to it. That's what I mean by learning the motions--and I'm still learning after 4 months.

 

My problem is physical limitations that might prevent me from being able to use a straight. From what Matt has said so far It looks like the stropping won't be a problem if I can do it in spells. As for honing I'm not sure whether that is something that I could do or not, same issue as the stropping, but I have this feeling that I might be able to do it in spells as well as long as my technique is correct. But if I can't it doesn't seem to be a fault that would prevent me from being able to use a straight.

 

Well, with stropping in spells helping you out, I think it sounds like you'll be fine! And like I said, honing is not an issue at all--if all you want to do is shave, then there's no need to hone the razor yourself. At most, you might use a barber hone with 5 or 6 passes, much easier than stropping.

Give it a try! You might find that it works better than DEs for you!

Good luck!

 

That's why I like it here, too... to me you don't get that "<sigh> Not another newbie question" type of feeling that can sometimes come across at other places...

Glad we were able to help out and get you moving on a journey you may not have taken otherwise...

 

Very Very Very true! I wouldn't have started trying to use a straight if it weren't for this forum!

 

Sooo....after talking to my wife last night she might be bring home her grand-fathers straights. It's not a done deal and I have no idea what condition that they are in either. I was curious about strops and hones then. I know nothing about strops and a little about hones but I really don't know where to start. What size should I look for, what grit, etc. I'm kinda still looking since our budget is tight during the summer. And if I do get the family straights I sure that the will need to be restored before I could use them.

Overall my goal is to get everything ready to attempt to start trying it out this fall. If it does workout for me I'd like to get this. I think it is purtty.

 

Yes...yes it is very purty--you've got taste. I'm partial to this one myself, and of course this one...

Yummy eye candy...

As for strops, there's a lot of good stuff, and SRD of course sells some popular ones; Tony Miller sells some but his store's gotten a bit sporadic recently for personal reasons. The Shave Den has Proforma strops in stock and on sale so there's a great option. Really, just avoid brands like "Selective", "Zeepk" or most "new" strops on eBay and you'll probably be fine.

Hones are just all kinds of complicated...it all depends on your needs and desires--basic maintenance, restoration, etc. If you want to restore your wife's grandfather's straights, which is a perfectly fine thing to do, then you'll probably need to go from the bottom up. 1K, 4K, 8K, then whatever high-grit polisher floats your boat.

But of course, always get your first razor professionally honed so you know what to shoot for when you're learning to do it yourself. (I believe I'm legally obliged to say that... ).

One word of warning: be careful with restoration and the like, it's every bit as addictive as RAD, SAD, and the others.

 

Speaking of Zeepks I was considering buying one, dulling the blade to a butter knife and practicing stropping and shaving technique. But that was a passing thought. :happy102 My biggest thing about a strop is that I would like to get a cheap one since I'm sure that I'm going to mess it up while I learn technique. But there are all of these options about different types of cloth backings that I don't understand.

As it goes for honing and restoration. I'm still waiting to see if my wife brings back the razors, and if she does I will probably get with Glen and have him do the restoration if the straights are still in good condition. I'll also have him do the honing to get it/them shave ready. I would like to start with just a "barber's stone" but I would know what a good one would look like on ebay if it landed in my lap. I did find this but I don't know what size I would need or even if it would suit my purpose.

So much to learn just to get started...I'm sure it's worth it though.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't even waste the money on a Zeepk even as a practice razor...LOL... I'm not sure about the other brands out there, but from Tony Miller you can purchase a practice strop for <$10 when you buy your strop (I'm not sure if you can buy one separately, though...). A very good idea, IMO, because you can nick up the practice strop, and then move to the good strop when you get your technique down...

I think that's a wise decision sending them off to get done. I just picked up that hone you linked to - it's still too new to me to comment on, but it does seem to be liked. For the price, I don't think you can go wrong there, I opted for the smaller $20 one.

To me, right now at my stage of things, it sure beats $100 for a Shapton 16K. My personal opinion, my plan, or however you want to call it - get a finisher/touch-up (barber's hone, Chinese 12K, Shapton, etc....) first to see how you like even just touching up razors before investing in the whole slew of hones needed for full on restorations....

 

Don't forget the paddle strop. It may be of value to you depending on your physical limitations.
I'm camping out with Matt and JimR on the comfort of a straight, and Justin is right. I'd have never even tried a straight if not for this forum. Probably wouldn't have tried out the DE or the SE either.

 

Sorry I forgot to respond to this part of your post. They are Gorgeous. Who knows I may start collecting them even if I can't shave with them. happy102:happy102

Hehe...the Zeepk idea was just a passing though, I had seen on the SRP WIKI that all of their product were very inferior in quality and should be veered away from. But I did notice that Ken from RupRazor posted today a combo that might be hard to pass up if it is a quality set. $60 for a new shave ready razor and beginners strop doesn't sound like a bad deal. I would appreciate to hear everyone's thoughts on it. I was thinking of getting that and maybe a better strop later if it works out.

Cool. That will help out alot. I'm already getting from the wife "I think you have enough stuff" already and so getting a cheaper one to start will help.

I have no desire to ever restore a straight razor myself. I'm too much of a perfectionist, I've been slowly coming to terms with that LOL. I would have to get it to brand spankin' new quality and would probably ruin the razor then. And with these being family heirlooms I would want someone who knows what they are doing to do it.

The paddle strop is on my list. I want to try a regular strop first and if that doesn't work then I'll try a paddle. And if that doesn't work then I'm posting back on here and I'm sure that we can figure something out.

When I first started looking at alternatives to cartridge/electric razors I really thought about starting with a straight. But I wanted to give D/Es a whirl first. So far I'm very glad I did and I think that it will help with using a straight since I've been working on lathering technique and skin care and also learning more about my beard. But reading Justin's thread about how he is doing with straight shaving is what put me over the edge.

Overall though...TSD has taking something that I dreaded to do and turned it into something that I look forward to everyday. It's now my hobby, luxury, and my relaxation. So I'm very happy and VERY thankful to everyone here for helping and enabling me.

 

I recommend kenrup's starter set that you pointed out. he stands behind his quality work