straight razor

[darxus]

I ordered a carbon (not stainless) steel straight razor made by Dovo in Solingen. I used it for the first time last night. Bringing that blade to my flesh for the first time was more scary than I expected. I achieved a terrible shave, and only one tiny nick. I'm happy, I expected this to take practice. I strongly recommend hitting youtube before trying this.

Another thing I've been wanting to try for years off the list.
Yes, I'm coating it with mineral oil after each use, have a strop, and watched a video on that too.

I totally blame Fahrenheit 451 and Snow Crash.

Comments

[beowabbit]

Cool; I’ve been meaning to try a straight razor at some point.

I used to use a slightly less retro safety razor (the kind that takes double-edged razor blades, and was much happier with the shaves it gave me than with what modern multi-blade cartridges do. Then suddenly a year or so ago I started getting really bad shaves — as if the blades arrived already very dull. I’m guessing the distributor that provides razor blades to the various brands in the US started using a different supplier, or a factory was replaced, or something. It is sad.

I am, however, far too lazy to try sharpening individual razor blades.