Setting Myself Up For Success (First Timer)

It's almost the anniversary of my first wet shave (been using various DEs since last Thanksgiving) and for some reason I came back from vacation with an itch to break into straights.

I've read through the Guides as well as a lot of newbie threads on the forum and feel relatively confident. Right now I'm trying to figure out what I should/need to assemble as my "starter kit". Razor and strop, of course, but I am away from home a lot (Active Duty) so I'm worried about needing honing, so considering a paddle strop as well with some 1.0 micron diamond paste? What do you guys think? I'd like to break into this for $150 or less, but I'm aware that to a certain degree you get what you pay for, especially regarding sharpening tools.

So far, I've found three candidates for razors on the Shaving Mall forum:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...RA-BRUSH-(Marsh-Bros-Hart-Steel-Dovo-Special)

(Dovo - slightly too pricey, I think)

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ller-Dorko-Heljestrand-Thiers-Issard-and-more

(TI Le Gnome)

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/432002-straights-for-sale-(tennis-Jos-allen-Puma)

(Tennis Solingen - best price)

As far as strops go, I was looking at just buying an Illinois strop and then a relatively cheap paddle strop with some diamond paste from ClassicShaving, but after looking at the Whipped Dog Poor Man's Strop package, it seems like that will take care of both my stropping AND sharpening concerns for quite a while...what do you guys recommend?

Also, I am currently deployed. Am I insane for wanting to try learning straight shaving while on a Navy ship? Note: The ship doesn't roll as much as you think - I shave pretty quickly/efficiently with my DE every morning with no issues whatsoever...but...I'm concerned about it nonetheless.

I would think the Tennis Solingen as a really great starter razor, myself. It's what most go for when starting. But any straight can be your first, honestly. As for keeping the edge going, that is a bit rough when starting out. We are all pretty notorious for killing edges fast when we are learning, and even paste stropping can't always bring them back. I would go with the cheapest starting strop and edge maint things you can get, since you will invariably also nick (or cut) the first strop you use and learn on.

If the ship doesn't roll then no issue, it's any unexpected movement it may make which could be the problem. lol How often could it suddenly pitch or roll without warning?

My humble opinion:

Get two shave-ready straights. The most important part of a straight—especially for a beginner—is the edge. It has to be sharp, but as a beginner, it's easy to dull it beyond your ability to fix it. So, if you're on a ship and without easy access to professional honing, have a backup razor.

Is that too expensive? Not if you're willing to start with something basic. Whipped Dog has sight-unseen razors (I started with a Whipped Dog straight), and buca(some-numbers-I-don't-remember) sells Gold Dollars (I haven't tried a razor from him but have read positive reviews).

With a basic strop kit (strop or two, CrOx, etc.), you'd be set, and I think you could come in under budget.

That's how I'd do it, if I were in your shoes.

Best of luck.

As mentioned, WhippedDog and some of our hobbyists provide a nice low-cost entry kit into straights. I would rcommend you start off that way, but that Tennis does look rather nice.

+1 to what shave_rat and gash said, I killed my fist edge right after my first shave. By the end of my first week I had to have two of my three razors re- honed. So being on board ship, it's great advice to have more than one SHAVE READY straight razor.
The allure of beautiful razors is strong in allot of us, and if $ is not an issue then why not have many, but if you want to be truly successful it's far more important to have good user grade straights that are honed very well and truly ready to shave. If you stick with this there will be plenty of time for the pretty ones.

Good luck on your journey. Thanks for your service.

Thanks all for the well-wishes and advice. I'm coming around to the idea of a second razor. Single point of failure has never worked out well for me in the past. Can anyone give me their $0.02 on how often to leather strop ONLY versus use balsa+CrOX as well? And a recommendation on number of laps for balsa+CrOX? I know 60 is a rule of thumb for leather, but I don't want to over"grind" the blade trying to keep it sharp with the balsa.

So here's my general stropping routine... right after the shave I wipe the blade and scales down with tissue, strop 10-15 times on the cloth component, then 35-40 on leather. Pre-shave I strop 25-35 on leather only. So the edge gets the 60 ish leather laps between shaves. I could do it all at once, and no harm, I just like the routine of stropping before and after the shave, so I split it up. You can do all the leather after the cloth, or stop at the cloth and do all the leather before the next shave, really doesn't make any differences.

As far as the balsa/CroX goes, you have to remember you'll only be removing very very tiny amounts of material from the edge, so it's tough to "over grind" the blade, but you can do more harm to the edge than good. I'd say no more than 10 laps on the balsa, and how often really depends on your technique and such. When first starting out some need to refresh an edge every 5-7 shaves. Once you have it down pretty solid, 30-45... after that, you can go 100+ shaves and not need anything other than plain cloth and leather.

After you strop on the balsa/CroX, before you do anything else, wipe the blade well with tissue. You don't want those CroX particles getting into the leather/cloth of your standard use strop.

Tacetman said:

Thanks all for the well-wishes and advice. I'm coming around to the idea of a second razor. Single point of failure has never worked out well for me in the past.

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Your "heirloom" razor doesn't need to be your only. It doesn't need to be your first either. And, likely, a vintage razor will last longer than you if you take care of it.

Can anyone give me their $0.02 on how often to leather strop ONLY versus use balsa+CrOX as well? And a recommendation on number of laps for balsa+CrOX? I know 60 is a rule of thumb for leather, but I don't want to over"grind" the blade trying to keep it sharp with the balsa.

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Strop daily. Every day. I say 40-50 laps, others say more (60+). I do 5-10 laps on felt to clean the blade and then move to leather for 20-30 laps right after shaving in the morning - then another 30 or 40 the night before.

Balsa + CrOx is used to refresh the edge. It's when your edge is no longer as keen as you want it to be. I use CrOx after about a week.

Well I am proud to report that I ordered my start-up kit! I have 3 straights, 2 leather/cloth stops and one balsa/CrOX combo heading my way (Being deployed it takes the mail quite a while to reach me so I've found that redundancy is very helpful). Still, thanks to the good advice you gave I came in under budget! Now all I have to do is exercise patience waiting for my packages to show up!! Hopefully they will be here by Christmas and I can get started. I have enough time left on deployment that I feel confident I can get my 100 shaves in, assess my skill and enjoyment level and hopefully buy myself a very nice razor as a "welcome home" gift!

Awesome! I hope you enjoy the experience.

Sounds like a perfect plan! Looking forward to the progress updates.

Good luck! Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

Update: starter kit is here!! Tomorrow I will post my first shave in my Shave Journal...

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ile-deployed-on-a-boat!?p=6956664#post6956664

I just started myself and youd be surprised how inexpencively good quality blades can be had for. Check ebay or the local forums. You can buy a really nice restored razor that is shave ready for less than half the cost of a new blade. The difference can be better applied to a nice strop.