-
Domain Change - We have moved to https://paste-and-cut.com as our new domain.
If you are using shortcuts or bookmarks for the old paste-and-cut.com.au domain, you need to update these or they will cease working from the 25th January, 2025. Please check the notice post for more details on this change to the forum.
Why DON'T You Shave With a Straight Razor?
- Thread starter rbscebu
- Start date
Nanook
"Abandon all money, ye who enter here."
This is why I've all but stopped using them. I love a good straight razor shave but don't seem to be able to find the time on a weekend to maintain the blades anymore.
That's why you need to have MOAR razors!
I have recently done the count, I even took pics, should you want to see them. I've got 31 of them that aren't leaving my home.... Eight of them aren't even honed yet. I haven't retouched the edge on my razors for ages. All the honing I do is for razors I sell.
Why DON'T I...
Because shaving the back of my head with a straight requires more patience than I can muster, for no advantage. It was easy using one for my face, though not without a mirror.
Because shaving the back of my head with a straight requires more patience than I can muster, for no advantage. It was easy using one for my face, though not without a mirror.
Actually no one needs to train their non-dominant shitty hand. Whenever I shave with my Japanese style Drew Dick kamisori, I use exclusively my dominant hand. I am certain I could do a one hand shave with a regular straight razor.
Ferret619
Foolish Possums are not Grand Poobahs
2018 Sabbatical
2019 Charity Auction Winner
2020 Charity Auction Winner
It’s really not a particularly hard skill to master, it’s just that it isn’t even slightly important to the average person anymore, there isn’t some mystical quality to having and honing a blade, it’s the same as keeping your kitchen knives sharp.. just something one does if so inclined
Ebonysw45
Member
So few, only 31. That means you have to use each razor 12 times a year. You’ll have them worn out in no time. I suggest that you need to at least double that amount.
I second that, although the figures are wrong. Chemo makes my beard grow really slowly, only recently have I managed to reduce the waiting time to less than five days.
Still, there are razors on the way, I have a Puma and an ERN I need to make scales for and I reckon those will stay.
Nanook
"Abandon all money, ye who enter here."
I own 13 SR's from memory. Honestly, I probably don't need any more
Nanook
"Abandon all money, ye who enter here."
I totally agree.
I'm chronically left handed and although using both hands gives you access to better angles, you can still have a comfortable shave with just one hand.
How are you going to wipe butt with your bog roll, if, your good hand is out of action.
Wipe ya butt on the grass like a dog.
rbscebu
Mr. Strop
There is a big difference between need and wantI own 13 SR's from memory. Honestly, I probably don't need any more
.
Hard to click on an unavailable video.
Regardless, I fail to see your point, probably due to me having had a shit night.
Last edited:
Jaco
Member
I think it's not the shaving part that puts people off, its the maintenance. I remember starting with shavettes, because I couldn't be bothered with the "sharpening" bit. Information is also very ambiguous, and very confusing for beginners.
Do yourself a favour and ask a forum, how many shaves you can do before it's necessary to hone a razor. It's a perfectly reasonable question for a newbie, but the answers will never be straight-forward.
In my case the answer is never, because I use pasted balsa strops to maintain my edges.
Even that becomes tedious after 5 years, so I often see the razors piling up until I have time to do it.
Do yourself a favour and ask a forum, how many shaves you can do before it's necessary to hone a razor. It's a perfectly reasonable question for a newbie, but the answers will never be straight-forward.
In my case the answer is never, because I use pasted balsa strops to maintain my edges.
Even that becomes tedious after 5 years, so I often see the razors piling up until I have time to do it.
I don't find honing, stropping and the like to be a significant time sink. Even when I take a razor back to a bevel set, it is only a 30-odd minute session in the garage, listening to the radio and enjoying the quiet time. More often than not, I only have to take out a finisher, touch up two or three edges, and I am set for the next month. Most of the times that I elect to do more, it is to justify the cost of the stones... 
Honing, stropping, and shaving are all meditative actions for me, I enjoy that time, and prioritise it willingly. I won't go to my grave thinking, "Gee, I wish I spent less time doing something I found so satisfying..."
Honing, stropping, and shaving are all meditative actions for me, I enjoy that time, and prioritise it willingly. I won't go to my grave thinking, "Gee, I wish I spent less time doing something I found so satisfying..."
I think it all comes down to how much you like shaving with one. Even the busiest of us somehow manage to scrap some time for the things we really like doing. We sacrifice sleep, we sacrifice meals, some people sacrifice family time (idiots, if you ask me) to get to do what they really want to do. Hardly any of us is busy 24 hours a day.
Bottom line - and please, please don't take this as a criticism, it really isn't -, if you can't find the time to do a little maintenance on a razor it's because you can't be arsed to do it. And it is fair enough. I learned this with my wife, we used to ski together until she didn't anymore. She didn't like prople skiing around her, didn't like it when the snow wasn't perfect.... I tried persuading her to ski again and then, one day, she said: listen, I just don't love it enough to deal with everything that's uncomfortable, or plain dangerous about it.
She didn't love it enough. That opened my eyes. I do love it, that's why I don't mind skiing in shit weather, dealing with shit snow or having to be constantly aware of sooooooo many idiots around me, on the slopes. I broke my shoulder skiing and I still love it.
I love maintaining and using my razor, thus I manage to find time for it.
Bottom line - and please, please don't take this as a criticism, it really isn't -, if you can't find the time to do a little maintenance on a razor it's because you can't be arsed to do it. And it is fair enough. I learned this with my wife, we used to ski together until she didn't anymore. She didn't like prople skiing around her, didn't like it when the snow wasn't perfect.... I tried persuading her to ski again and then, one day, she said: listen, I just don't love it enough to deal with everything that's uncomfortable, or plain dangerous about it.
She didn't love it enough. That opened my eyes. I do love it, that's why I don't mind skiing in shit weather, dealing with shit snow or having to be constantly aware of sooooooo many idiots around me, on the slopes. I broke my shoulder skiing and I still love it.
I love maintaining and using my razor, thus I manage to find time for it.
rbscebu
Mr. Strop
Time wise, I can SR shave (three passes) in about 15 minutes. That includes 3 to 4 minutes total spent on blade maintenance (stropping and refreshing the edge on pasted balsa).
I spend about 2 minutes on the pasted balsa after each shave. That's about an hour per month. I could dispense with the pasted balsa and just refresh the edge on a whetstone about once every 3 to 6 months, taking about 15 to 20 minutes.
Over the years, I have worked out a SR shaving routine that extends to over 30 minutes for each shave. Why? Because I enjoy SR shaving and the me time. Nothing interrupts my SR shaving time. The world can just wait.
As for the "skill" required to hone a SR, that should never be required. If you start off with a truly shave-ready edge and maintain it on diamond pasted balsa after each shave (about 1 or 2 minutes), that edge should never need honing again.
I spend about 2 minutes on the pasted balsa after each shave. That's about an hour per month. I could dispense with the pasted balsa and just refresh the edge on a whetstone about once every 3 to 6 months, taking about 15 to 20 minutes.
Over the years, I have worked out a SR shaving routine that extends to over 30 minutes for each shave. Why? Because I enjoy SR shaving and the me time. Nothing interrupts my SR shaving time. The world can just wait.
As for the "skill" required to hone a SR, that should never be required. If you start off with a truly shave-ready edge and maintain it on diamond pasted balsa after each shave (about 1 or 2 minutes), that edge should never need honing again.