You Should Try Straight Razors

TL;DR: it's not that hard. There are affordable options. It's surprisingly gentle on the skin.

Hello everyone,

In November, I will have been wetshaving for 10 years. I started using a safety razor, soap and brush my freshmen year of college when I finally had to be the one to buy razor blades. My journey with straights has only taken off more recently. It is important to mention that before I tried straights, I had plenty of experience using safety razors, lathering, pre and post shave routine, etc.

Around 6-8 years ago, I ordered a straight razor. It was a Dovo 5/8ths, basically the cheapest new straight razor I could find that wasn't junk. I bought it from a big manufacturer, and like most of them, it did not come shave-ready. I tried it once, and it was very uncomfortable. I then ordered a cheap 4000/8000 stone on amazon and the cheapest, crappy strop I could find on ebay, but I didn't know what I was doing, and even if I did, I'm not sure the stone would've been quality enough. I ended up oiling it and putting it away for the future when I wanted to try again.

I am now a teacher, and last summer, I decided I wanted to try straights once again for real. I bought a quality strop (shout out to Duke City) and I sent the razor to a real honemeister. I have used straights last summer and this summer; during the school year, I went back to safety razors..By the end of this summer, I am shaving just fine and even honing my own straights with a quality stone progression that I got an amazing deal on from r/shave\_bazaar

After I started, I realized it was not nearly as hard as people think. It was not a bloodbath. It was not irritating. As of a few months in, I get less irritation and a closer shave doing my first two passes with a straight razor and my last pass with my r41 than I do with any safety razor alone. (I have very odd growth on my neck, and I can't do ATG on parts of it with anything due to sensitive skin. I end up doing multiple cross grain passes)

Fixed-blade, traditional straight razors are actually very forgiving. There is a learning curve, but it's not rocket science. I think so many people are so intimidated by them, but I get less weepers with a straight than I do with safety razors. I've also never really cut myself with a round point straight (the square points have gotten me a couple times above the chin!)

You can also get a cleaned and honed vintage straight razor and a strop for less than $100 total from highly reliable vendors on ebay. I've now acquired and polished/honed a few rusty ones myself.

Neither skill nor finances should gatekeep you out of trying straights.

As always, YMMV

Edit: I'd say the hardest part is actually having the time and patience to learn the sort of muscle memory of how to hold and maneuver the razor, especially with your non-dominant hand.