Minimal prep for straight razor shave?

Zach · Feb 25, 2015

I'm curious. What is the most minimal beard prep for a straight razor shave you've ever done? Has anyone here tried just olive oil or just water? What about just Proraso Green? Any shave gels work well by themselves for a straight razor shave?

I don't think I'm quite there yet, for me lather = security blanket right now, but I'm thinking ahead for the times when I travel; it would be so cool to just bring a straight razor and a strop and not have to worry about soap and brush, though maybe that's asking the impossible.

Seraphim · Feb 25, 2015

Soap and brush take up very little space in a suitcase.

Leave you extra underwear and socks at home. Pack the brush and soap.

Focus on what really matters.

appa69 · Feb 25, 2015

I've used just shaving cream in a can and got by. Always after a shower. Always. It worked. I suppose you could, in theory, just lather with any soap and go to town. Technique, I believe, is paramount to any and all prep.

Lmarkow · Feb 25, 2015

When I travel I bring a brush, soap, strop, razor, etc. A few minutes with the usual stuff is a nice way to start the day, especially if the rest will be spent in a conference room . . . .

Seraphim · Feb 25, 2015

lmarkow said:
When I travel I bring a brush, soap, strop, razor, etc. A few minutes with the usual stuff is a nice way to start the day, especially if the rest will be spent in a conference room . . . .

Yup.

Use all the hot water you like. Leave the sink & counter wet. When you come back at the end of the day the room is neat and tidy again.

It's like magic!

Zach · Feb 25, 2015

lmarkow said:
When I travel I bring a brush, soap, strop, razor, etc. A few minutes with the usual stuff is a nice way to start the day, especially if the rest will be spent in a conference room . . . .

+1 This is very true, and I have brought many a brush to conferences, kind of a pain to dry though and I always worry about them getting moldy. I guess I should have specified that I was thinking of fun trips, not work trips, trips where I'm pressed for time in the morning because I'll be tandeming or kayaking all day. on those trips it would be cool to bring a straight but not have the meditative prep.

Zach · Feb 25, 2015

appa69 said:
I've used just shaving cream in a can and got by. Always after a shower. Always. It worked. I suppose you could, in theory, just lather with any soap and go to town. Technique, I believe, is paramount to any and all prep.

oof... Cream in a can with a straight terrifies me! You must have to be very careful. Maybe I really do have a ways to go on my technique.

appa69 · Feb 25, 2015

I actually never bring a strop. I use the news paper when I travel. Si cela fonctionne...

Seraphim · Feb 25, 2015

Bring a shavette and a can of goo if you're not going to take your time. Shaving without proper prep will wear down a straight edge quickly. Just pop a new blade in if you're using a shavette.

Still get that straight edge feel though.

Zach · Feb 25, 2015

Seraphim said:
Bring a shavette and a can of goo if you're not going to take your time. Shaving without proper prep will wear down a straight edge quickly. Just pop a new blade in if you're using a shavette.

Still get that straight edge feel though.

Never thought of wearing down the edge but it totally makes sense. I have done shavette and gel with minor cuts on vacation.

phat · Feb 25, 2015

Considering you can strop on a belt, or a travel strop, and a small puck of soap is a lot smaller and lighter than olive oil I'd just take regular soap. My last trip I took Proraso in the tub and a brush and strop. I expect if I take anything in a backpack to the boonies where I gram count I would take a stroppable belt with a small thing of dual purposable soap that can wash and shave me. Might skip the brush and just lather with hands but I'll try a bit at home first.

Biggest problem for me is the razor can't go in carryon because of the pre flight performance art

GBinOZ · Feb 25, 2015

Semogue 620 brush, Tabac stick and a Feather AC-DX, and leave the strop at home.

Cheers, George

C FrankC · Feb 25, 2015

When you really think about it the bare necessities just don't take up that much space. Small travel brush, small tube of cream or stick soap, small travel or paddle strop,and a straight.
On an extended trip I add to this another straight and a small J-nat with a couple of Tomos, oh and don't forget a mirror if you are camping.

Seraphim · Feb 25, 2015

Or, just grow a beard.

Alum of Potash · Feb 25, 2015

I've heard of guys shaving with olive oil, and grapeseed oil has also been mentioned as a possibility. Not that I'm necessarily recommending it.

When I'm on a brief trip, or changing places frequently, I bring a Parker shavette and 1/2 DE blades, a stick of soap, a synthetic brush, and a small vial of Thayer's witch hazel. The synthetic brush is great here because it dries out quickly.

Mango · Feb 25, 2015

lmarkow said:
When I travel I bring a brush, soap, strop, razor, etc. A few minutes with the usual stuff is a nice way to start the day, especially if the rest will be spent in a conference room . . . .

+100

phat · Feb 25, 2015

Seraphim said:
Yup.

Use all the hot water you like. Leave the sink & counter wet. When you come back at the end of the day the room is neat and tidy again.

It's like magic!

I know but I can't help it even when she is half a globe away I still wipe everything down and dry everything off. The eye of Sauron sees far...

McVeyMac · Feb 26, 2015

You have learned your lesson well Grasshopper.

Seraphim · Feb 26, 2015

phat said:
I know but I can't help it even when she is half a globe away I still wipe everything down and dry everything off. The eye of Sauron sees far...

OK, my friend, it's time for an intervention.

First we have your Overlord belittling your lovely Kanayama strop, and now we have you cleaning up the sink half a world away?

Step one:
Get (and drink) a 6 pack of Budweiser and on consecutive evenings watch:
Dirty Harry
300
Cool Hand Luke

And then comes the hard part:
Don't shave for at least two weeks.

After one week, she will think you are just being lazy. After two weeks, she will start getting worried that you actually may be intending on growing a beard. When she confronts you on this, you need to turn to her and return her gaze with steely eyes and tell her in no uncertain terms: that avoiding growing a beard requires shaving, shaving requires resources, quality imported strops, an assortment of razors, and an abundant amount of water, that may very well splash up, over and around her precious sink. And she needs to ask herself one question.....does she want a beard or not?

Regain control of the shave den! Don't let it become her "powder room". The beard is often considered our opponent here at B&B, but I rather like to think of it as our "secret weapon", to be unleashed at the proper time to regain control and set the world aright.

Here's a couple of quotes from previous posts I've made on the subject:

My wife hates my beard.

I haven't listened to her yet. It is the ultimate subversive mariatal campaign. She used to complain that I was "taking too long shaving" with all my straight razor stropping, and associated doo-dads. Now she's complaining because I've stopped shaving (my face).

What you need to realize is that The Mrs will never be satisfied with any choice you make, only ones she makes.

Grow a beard. She can't stop you.

and:

Happy wife, happy life. Unhappy wife...

Do you know who came up with that saying?

A woman no doubt.

A castrational little quip to keep a husband meek and retiring...

Come on guys. Isn't it enough that they make you pick up your socks off the floor? That they don't let you rebuild the carbuerator on the coffee table, nor find the subtle nuances of fine cinema such as Terminator, Mad Max, 300, or even Dumb and Dumber acceptable as entertainment fare.

So, what can you do? Talking back will get you in trouble for sure. Logic is likewise useless...Forget reasoning...

So, one day you find you haven't shaved for four days, that's happened before....Then it stretches to 5-6....a full week without a shave...She may start to be suspicious, but just assumes you are being a lazy good for nothing, as per usual.

Then one day in week two will come the question "What's the deal with your whiskers? Are you growing a beard or something?"

Thats the first gut check.

You may have enough testosterone to grow a beard, but do you have enough to tell your wife that is exactly what you intend to do?

Well, do ya?

Then comes the twin pronged forks of Hades: for a while you will be in no man's land: you are scruffy, but not really bearded yet. You look like a bum. And it itches.....You long for the feel of crisp steel gliding across your cheeks leaving behind BBS goodness....At the same time your wife will be reminding you of how old it makes you look, "You not really growing a beard, are you?", assertions that you are probably having some sort of mid life crisis......

My reply: "It's just a beard"

Just a beard, true enough. Yet for all your manliness in your life so far have you ever actually gone and grown a beard? Are you going to spend your limited days on this spinning globe circling the sun and never have a go at growing a beard?

Really, if its something you want to try, go right ahead. It takes a remarkable amount of will power to actually do it.

You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion.
G K Chesterton

And about SWMBO: the funny thing is, there really isn't any justification on their side why you or I shouldn't actually grow a beard. Deep down we know we should pick up our socks, work on the carburetor out in the garage etc....But growing a beard is truly personal, and nobody else's decision but your own. She may bark about it for awhile, but eventually, if you tough it out, a new serenity pervades. A new feeling emerges...Not only are you now bearded, but you have mounted the palisades and fired a shot back in the name of Mankind. In the age of Dr. Phil et al and "getting in touch with your feminine side", you have slowly, quietly, day by day built a sign in neon upon your visage that undoubtedly proclaims "I am a Man, dammit!" The way it has been proclaimed since time immemorial.

Did this guy ask permission?

Obidiah Swane? Did he wring his hands about sprouting some righteous facial hair?

Good, bad, or ugly.......grow a beard

Do you think Chuck asked: "Honey, is it OK if I grow a beard?"

"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man."
William Shakespeare

I pity da fool!

Last edited by Seraphim; 01-25-2013 at 11:07 PM.

phat · Feb 26, 2015

Seraphim said:
After one week, she will think you are just being lazy. After two weeks, she will start getting worried that you actually may be intending on growing a beard. When she confronts you on this, you need to turn to her and return her gaze with steely eyes and tell her in no uncertain terms: that avoiding growing a beard requires shaving, shaving requires resources, quality imported strops, an assortment of razors, and an abundant amount of water, that may very well splash up, over and around her precious sink. And she needs to ask herself one question.....does she want a beard or not?

Oh I would get asked sooner than two weeks. She *HATES* a full beard.

However here is the difference between my lovely wife and what you are expecting. If I were to try that, I know what her answer would be.. She'd present me with a lovely NOS Philishave

So as it is, we simply have detente. I have shaving stuff. She makes occasional comments. I gaze at her with steely eye and say "It's Japanese it's Awesome" or "It's a Fili and it was a deal!", and I recieve the requisite eye roll, then all is well.

But I do need to wipe the sink, otherwise she'll look in the den and start counting, and we don't want that.

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Minimal prep for straight razor shave?

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