Oh no! Another newbie... and a quick question or two as well :)

**Hillie** · 03-22-2009, 03:20 PM

Hi everybody!

Jup, another newbie. A Dutchie living in Sweden, and upto now shaving in the shower with a throwaway Wilkinson Quattro (whatever, the thing with 4 blades and fencing wires), no cream or anything and usually the blades are older than I want. Pretty hardcore (in other words: Stupid :)), but that's how it goes so far.

During the days I work in high-tech stuff (chip design) and I enjoy some lo-fi technical stuff on the side. That's why I prefer my coffee coming from a semi-automatic espresso machine, or my little moka-pot. Involves a little ritual, and just "adds" to the experience.

For some time I've been interested in making the move to straight razor shaving, for the same reason. So I've been looking around and finally decided to join this forum. So, this is my planned shopping list:

1. Dovo hollow-ground straight razor. Doubting between a rounded point and a straight one (easier to manipulate around the goatee thing)
2. Some strop, haven't decided what yet. Extra wide appeals for apparent ease in stropping.
3. EJ Best Badger brush.
4. Tabac soap, no cream. Maybe an additional EJ and/or DR Harris as well, later on.
5. Alun block! :)
6. Later on perhaps a stone for honing and of course the paste stuff and all that to take care of the strop.

Any comments are welcome of course. :)

And for my questions:
1) After shaving, what does one do with the soap in its bowl? Rinse it off, let the remaining lather base sit (and dry) for the next day?
2) Travelling with a straight razor, I guess it'll be check-in at all times? I fly regularly for work.

Anyway, thanks for having a look and fill up the thread with all the nonsense you want.

**mdunn** · 03-22-2009, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by Hillie

Hi everybody!

Jup, another newbie. A Dutchie living in Sweden, and upto now shaving in the shower with a throwaway Wilkinson Quattro (whatever, the thing with 4 blades and fencing wires), no cream or anything and usually the blades are older than I want. Pretty hardcore (in other words: Stupid :)), but that's how it goes so far.

During the days I work in high-tech stuff (chip design) and I enjoy some lo-fi technical stuff on the side. That's why I prefer my coffee coming from a semi-automatic espresso machine, or my little moka-pot. Involves a little ritual, and just "adds" to the experience.

For some time I've been interested in making the move to straight razor shaving, for the same reason. So I've been looking around and finally decided to join this forum. So, this is my planned shopping list:

1. Dovo hollow-ground straight razor. Doubting between a rounded point and a straight one (easier to manipulate around the goatee thing)
2. Some strop, haven't decided what yet. Extra wide appeals for apparent ease in stropping.
3. EJ Best Badger brush.
4. Tabac soap, no cream. Maybe an additional EJ and/or DR Harris as well, later on.
5. Alun block! :)
6. Later on perhaps a stone for honing and of course the paste stuff and all that to take care of the strop.

Any comments are welcome of course. :)

And for my questions:
1) After shaving, what does one do with the soap in its bowl? Rinse it off, let the remaining lather base sit (and dry) for the next day?
2) Travelling with a straight razor, I guess it'll be check-in at all times? I fly regularly for work.

Anyway, thanks for having a look and fill up the thread with all the nonsense you want.

1) I rise it out. Thats not a problem though if you face lather.
2) Yep. Under the plane only

any reason why youre going after that dovo?

anyway, good luck!

**Hillie** · 03-22-2009, 03:58 PM

The Dove kind of appeals to my bad-taste-gene. I seemingly do have some style, according to people, but there's this part of me that just digs the pimp-style razors. It's got GOOOOOOLD!

And besides that, they have a good name as well. There's the one with the straight point (and bad-taste-appealing gold spine) for about €120 in this neck of the woods, but the plain ones will work as well of course. Perhaps I'll opt for a classic at some point in time as well.

Under the plane kind of sucks, but it's something I'll have to live with I guess. ;)

edit: Regarding the rinsing, I meant the soap bowl cleaning, not so much the lathering bowl (the tutorial here speaks of a seperate bowl for that, which didn't come to mind before I read it).

**Gilgamesh2003** · 03-22-2009, 04:55 PM

Glad to see that they have ATHF in Sweden too! You can rinse off the soap or leave a little lather on top of it - Tabac is tough and as long as you don't keep it soaking wet it should be fine. I think most people here rinse.

I bet you can get a pretty blingin' Dovo for less than 120 Euros - there's one in the b/s/t forum for $110. It's not completely jewel-encrusted, but it does have a rad gold spine!

**SRock** · 03-22-2009, 05:06 PM

Welcome to the B&B and the world of better shaves!

**mdunn** · 03-22-2009, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by Hillie

The Dove kind of appeals to my bad-taste-gene. I seemingly do have some style, according to people, but there's this part of me that just digs the pimp-style razors. It's got GOOOOOOLD!

And besides that, they have a good name as well. There's the one with the straight point (and bad-taste-appealing gold spine) for about €120 in this neck of the woods, but the plain ones will work as well of course. Perhaps I'll opt for a classic at some point in time as well.

Under the plane kind of sucks, but it's something I'll have to live with I guess. ;)

edit: Regarding the rinsing, I meant the soap bowl cleaning, not so much the lathering bowl (the tutorial here speaks of a seperate bowl for that, which didn't come to mind before I read it).

Fair enough. Though be on the lookout for some vintage bad taste ones, they do come up!

I dont rinse the soap container. All thats left is soap residue on top of the soap itself, so it just dries out and I whip it up again later - no hassles.

However if you have a wooden bowl, like some of the fancier soaps come with, then I always dry and clean the exposed wood, just so it doesnt crack (though I leave the 'protolather' sitting on the soap itself)

**Hillie** · 03-22-2009, 05:32 PM

Thanks for the replies so far. No need to rinse the soap squeeky clean after use, that's quite handy.

I'll be looking around for a nice Dovo at some point in time, and I can find 'em a fair bit cheaper I guess than the 120 euro. That's here in Sweden, where everything in retail both on- and offline is aimed at being non-competitive and a total rip-off at that. Fortunately there is still eBay and the likes. :)

**Mr.Gentleman** · 03-22-2009, 05:40 PM

Hillie, welcome to B&B!!!

**Teiste** · 03-22-2009, 06:10 PM

wellcome!hope you like the straight razor..if not you will always have the chance to try safety razors like DE or SE.

**MinnMD** · 03-22-2009, 06:13 PM

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...=mantic+upside

MinnMD

**Hillie** · 03-23-2009, 01:10 AM

Teiste, I guess the straight razor will take some time getting used to, but that won't scare me off.

MinnMD, thanks for the link, quite interesting!

**rm71** · 03-23-2009, 01:38 AM

Welcome to B&B.

**rsvossen** · 03-23-2009, 10:45 AM

Welcome Fellow-Dutchman to B&B!
If you still visit The Netherlands regularly, you could check these sites:

http://www.scheerwinkel.nl
http://www.winkelplein.nu/barbershopsuply/

Anyway, good luck and enjoy your straight razor shaving experience.

**NickCutlip** · 03-23-2009, 01:44 PM

Welcome to B&B !!

**Hillie** · 03-23-2009, 03:16 PM

Hiya mr. Vossen, I found the barbershopsupply some time ago and happened to stumble upon de scheerwinkel just yesterday. Any good/bad experiences with either?

**Ru4scuba?** · 03-23-2009, 08:52 PM

Welcome to B&B!

**nrek619** · 03-23-2009, 11:11 PM

welcome to B&B!!!! great shaves ahead my friend!!!

**Hillie** · 03-24-2009, 06:13 PM

Alright, just ordered two of those Double Arrow $9.99 blades off of eBay. Means I can mess at least one up beyond belief (let's see how fast it's honed down to a 3/8

). The joys of buying new kit has begun.... And I managed to resist the pimp-blades for now. Call it economic crisis, call it sanity, call it the ability to resist temptation just a few days longer, it'll come at some point in time.