Straight Razors

A few guys I know have been to this place, have heard a lot good things about them.

http://www.theartofshaving.com/taos6/group.php?group=1&cat=1

I attempted to attempt it in college.  Asked an old timer of a barber about them and he had one for sale, leather strap and all and showed me how to sharpen it.  Said that it was fit for shaving when you could pluck a hair, 'drop' it across the blade and the blade would cut it.  A lot of nights trying to sharpen that razor on the leather strap and never got it sharp enough.  Found out by trying it on the face and it seems to rip hair more than cut, so gave it up.

If you give it a go, I applaud your efforts.  If you are successful, please report back as I'd like to try again one day.

Like you, tired of buying and throwing razors away, even if just the blade head.

I can see the coroner's report listing my death as suicide if I went with a straight razor.  I use the following:

Safety Razor

Brush

Soap

Pre/Post cream

Less than $75 to get started.  The packs of ten double edged blades for the safety razor are about a $1.50, and the soap and cream last for a long, long, long time.

For a number of years str8 razor shaving and collecting were one of my passions.

Yes, I really am a dork. And yes, to those other dorks who are into it, it's cool to call them str8's. But of course, completely lame to everyone else.

Anyway, I had amassed a huge collection of razors, most of which were serviceable, but some so rare and expensive that I didn't risk trying to hone them. It took me several weeks to get the knack of shaving with one, but one accomplished, it really is a superior shave to any safety razor. It isn't so much learning the act of actually using the razor, but it's the art of honing and stropping that takes patience, practice and skill, since a $1000 bone Wade & Butcher is useless if you can't place and keep an edge on it, and once you've buggered the edge, it can be a real pain to get it back. I've even paid to have some of my more expensive and persnickety razors shipped across the globe to have them professionally honed. Then there's the cost - properly set up with good honing stones (couple hundred), leather and linen strops (another couple hundred), and a couple of quality razors - ideally you would never shave two days in a row with the same razor; you need to have a rotation of razors, again ideally, seven or more. Thus the reason behind the once-popular gentleman's 7 day-of-the-week sets. One decent razor will set you back around $75 to start. Then a quality brush - a handmade full size silver tip will run you $150-$200 to start, but is well-worth it. Time for a proper shave increases dramatically as well, taking up to 30 min from prep to finish. 

I gave up shaving with them a few years ago after having a near-fatal blood clot in my lung and finding out I have a clotting disorder that resulted in me having to take blood thinners for the rest of my life, because even small nicks in the skin caused me to bleed all day. 

It wasn't long after that that my interest waned and I sold off my collection; in fact, I used some of the money to finance my first year in triathlon. 

I haven't been there in ages, but was once an active member at a Yahoo! Group by the name of straightrazorplace: a fantastic resource for all-things str8 and very newbie friendly, with a great user's classified/buy/sell/trade area.

I still collect and shave with vintage DE razors, though, and use a silver-tip brush with traditional hand-made proper shaving cake soaps. I did keep my collection of scuttles and shaving mugs, and enjoy using them all.  

I keep thinking of the scene in "untouchables" when Di Nero was getting shaved by the nervous barber and got nicked....

Classic scene....

wait, you went on a XXX cruise? Niiiice.