This morning I did my 500 th shave with a straight razor.
Shave number one was back in January 2020 and it took me about 12 months to get to shave number 100. First shave was with Grandad's old Bengal. I had fallen into the wet shave rabbit hole a few months before and there was Grandad's old Bengal sitting in my box of razors just begging me to get it honed and have a go which I did. I can still remember that first shave, standing there in front of the mirror all lathered up, holding the razor and wondering how to actually do it. I was pretty scared and basically had no idea, despite having watched the usual Youtube videos.
By about shave number 30, I was starting to get the hang of it and had added a few more razors to my collection. A band spanking new Dovo plus a couple of Gold Dollar 66's which were mainly to learn honing on. By number 30 I had worked out the fool's pass and had my technique worked out.
Shave 100 saw a huge leap forward in technique and the learning curve had flattened a lot. Number of razors had grown, and I had a rotation of approximately 10 razors. My honing technique was still pretty basic, but then, honing was never a rabbit hole I was going to fall down. It's just a way of keeping the razors sharp. Even now, I can set a bevel and go through the progression but end up finishing the edge on pasted strops. I do want to get a good finishing stone such as an Arkansas, but the postal rules make getting them from America extremely difficult. JNats seem interesting but have absolutely no idea where to start. My honing works for me and I get some good edges, and hopefully it will improve as time goes on.
I went through a phase of about 6 to 8 months where I shaved with nothing but straights. These days I use DE's which is probably why it has taken me so long to clock up 500 shaves. I enjoy the DE journey also, although I haven't bought one for a couple of years now.
I have learnt a lot on my journey - how to hone, how to buy total pieces of crap from Ebay. You just couldn't imagine some of the duds I have bought! Stropping technique these days isn't too bad either.
This morning's shave was with a Famex Bagpiper razor, the first brush I bought, a Yaqi and Tweed Soap, which was what I used in my first shave.
Probably run out of milestones now but still looking forward to many more years of straight shaving.
cheers
Andrew
Shave number one was back in January 2020 and it took me about 12 months to get to shave number 100. First shave was with Grandad's old Bengal. I had fallen into the wet shave rabbit hole a few months before and there was Grandad's old Bengal sitting in my box of razors just begging me to get it honed and have a go which I did. I can still remember that first shave, standing there in front of the mirror all lathered up, holding the razor and wondering how to actually do it. I was pretty scared and basically had no idea, despite having watched the usual Youtube videos.
By about shave number 30, I was starting to get the hang of it and had added a few more razors to my collection. A band spanking new Dovo plus a couple of Gold Dollar 66's which were mainly to learn honing on. By number 30 I had worked out the fool's pass and had my technique worked out.
Shave 100 saw a huge leap forward in technique and the learning curve had flattened a lot. Number of razors had grown, and I had a rotation of approximately 10 razors. My honing technique was still pretty basic, but then, honing was never a rabbit hole I was going to fall down. It's just a way of keeping the razors sharp. Even now, I can set a bevel and go through the progression but end up finishing the edge on pasted strops. I do want to get a good finishing stone such as an Arkansas, but the postal rules make getting them from America extremely difficult. JNats seem interesting but have absolutely no idea where to start. My honing works for me and I get some good edges, and hopefully it will improve as time goes on.
I went through a phase of about 6 to 8 months where I shaved with nothing but straights. These days I use DE's which is probably why it has taken me so long to clock up 500 shaves. I enjoy the DE journey also, although I haven't bought one for a couple of years now.
I have learnt a lot on my journey - how to hone, how to buy total pieces of crap from Ebay. You just couldn't imagine some of the duds I have bought! Stropping technique these days isn't too bad either.
This morning's shave was with a Famex Bagpiper razor, the first brush I bought, a Yaqi and Tweed Soap, which was what I used in my first shave.
Probably run out of milestones now but still looking forward to many more years of straight shaving.
cheers
Andrew
