Having seen on old westerns and black and white movies men shaving with straight razors I was always fascinated about it. I even faintly recall that my dad used to have one, I think I was told off having a touchy-feely look at it. I don't wonder knowing now how sharp they are. I guess he moved onto disposable ones as soon as they made their advent because I don't recall seeing it in years.
1930's German made Solingen blade and the old broken handle
Then I recall the time I was in Mumbai, India and thought to treat myself with a shave, the Indians being quite hairy I assumed they'd be experts in shaving. They are, but they don't know about the thin beards we Scandinavians have and I was given a true 3-way shave but in the end, it felt like my face was being peeled off. In hindsight I reckon his razor might have needed a bit of honing despite the vigorous stropping the barber made.
I recently renewed my interest in my spare time and had a read about straight razors and became interested in the old way of shaving. There is actually a lot of material out there including tutoring videos of how to sharpen and strop your razor including shaving techniques, whetstones and other benefits. This article lists 11 reasons why a straight razor is better than a disposable one.
The Solingen with a new handle by yours truly
But last if not least there is an environmental angle to using a straight razor, you cut down on the refuse you produce from discarded shaving foam bottles, dull disposable blades and single use plastic and cartons that goes with it. Sure, there is a bit of initial outlay in getting your shaving kit together but once there you can keep on using it for years (if not a lifetime) so many times over that you'll get the money back quickly if you consider the price of e.g. high-end Gillette blades today (discarding one every 2-3 days).
Brush + blade stand and soap bowls
Initially I ordered a razor from China via Aliexpress that was not bad, but I did not understand whether it was sharp or not as I was scraping my face into tatters with my first shaves at the same trying not to decapitate myself in the process. I also had a whetstone ordered from China and tried to use it as per their instructions with 17deg angle and so forth. After that the knife cut nothing, at least not facial hair. Oh well, like they say, RTFM when you hit obstacles or when the device starts smoking, in this case I resorted to an Uncle Google consultation.
My leather and cotton strop
I started researching and quickly discovered I knew nothing of razor sharpening, the technique was totally different from ordinary knives. Then I also discovered that the whetstones I possessed were far too rough for a razor. I started researching for whetstones, there's a million of them providers out there too for various stones and degrees. Finally, I settled (found it on Etsy) on a stone from Belgium called
"coticule" as it was close to Italy and not too expensive. At the same time, I ordered a brush and bowl set and a couple of shaving soap cakes, a strop with linen and leather straps, some stropping paste (iron and chrome) and a couple of cheapish Damascus steel straight razors. I was on a roll.
The denim strop that came with the Aliexpress razor
Then I just had to sit down and wait and after a few days some packages started arriving. Unfortunately, the coticule stone came last. In any case once I had the stone, I could finally start learning my new skill and to keep my facial hair off the face in a manly manner by applying a big-ass knife to my jugular every morning (or most of them).
Belgian coticule stones and stropping paste
After hours of honing, I finally managed to get my Chinese razor cutting. The coticule is considered around grade 20000 and the pastes on a strop around 60000grit, so one can see that a regular whetstone with 3000 or 9000 grit is not going to "cut it" for you, pun intended. The technique is to have the knife lying on the stone, i.e., the angle has to be as acute as possible. The coticule also advises to put a strip of electrician's tape on the back of the knife in order to lift it just that much off the surface to give a minimal angle that would apparently be that much sharper and cut better. It seemed to work; I was cutting beard instead of scraping skin now.
Brush and razor stand
But the 2 Damascus razors were impossible to get to cut anything except butter, no matter how much I honed and honed them with or without tape. Luckily, they had not been too expensive, I think they might be more like showpieces than for the real thing (remember Peaky Blinders!). So, I went back on Etsy and other platforms to look further and as it happened, I found listed an old razor in Ukraine from an antiques dealer there. Not too cheap, not too expensive, but it would require a new handle as the old one had become brittle and broken apart (see pic on top).
The razor brand "El Barbero de Sevilla"
The blade from Ukraine took months to arrive, not sure how the courier transported it. Meanwhile I had acquired a French blade in Nice, the brand was the famous Thiers-Issard, very thin and nimble blade, light too and with a fragrant wooden handle from juniper. It reminded me of home and my childhood when I was carving butterknives from juniper for my mother. At the same time, I found myself a stainless-steel soap bowl and a brush made out of badger tail hairs, it was perfect for working up the lather from the cake.
I also started using the China made denim strop for pastes to strop instead of making my linen strop dirty. Finally used the back side for iron paste and the front side for chrome paste to give that extra cutting edge.
Small bottle of knife oil
The Thiers-Issard did the job, but I was not happy how it cut, I seemed to be nicking myself every once in a while. Maybe I just needed more exercise. Once the blade came from Ukraine, I was enthusiastic in getting it cutting so I sacrificed one of the Damascus razors and took the handle. At the local hardware shop, I found some brass nails to be able to rivet the handle to the blade. Said and done, I had it fixed and then with it on to the whetstone and I honed it carefully according to all coticule rules. Boy, it cut hair off my arm like air so next step was applying the knife to my face to see what it could do. It was much heavier than my French blade, so it took getting used to, especially when stropping. Eventually I got used to it and it shaves very nicely now.
Et voila', freshly shaven
So that was the short story of building up my straight razor kit. Actually, doing a shave I don't think takes much longer than with a disposable, might be even faster, especially if you skipped a few days. The lathering is another treat, it feels great on your face when you move it around in a figure of eight and when shaving it also peels off any old skin so it could be considered a facial at same time. How's that for a double treat?
I have now been carrying my 100yr old Sevillian barber around the world for about a year and am doing just fine s(h)aving the nature, I don't miss at all the disposable ones. On the other hand, try that with a Gillette or any other disposable for that matter, you won't be shaving for long & there is the expense to deal with.
I have noticed that in the tropics the blade tends to rust a bit between uses so it is also necessary to carry a small vial of knife oil in your kit bag. I had earlier bought a new kitchen knife that came with some oil, so it fitted right in my toiletry bag. I am not sure what the Chinese knife oil consists of but I'm sure that when in need even olive oil can be used to prevent rust, might even be better.
The soap I am using is enough for after shave, my gf loves the smell, so I don't need to splash any cologne, hence no need to carry any either.
For the interested, below are a few YouTube videos that I found useful from a favourite youtuber
Geofatboy, as another footnote the
coticule website has a very good video on stropping too.
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