How Do You Know When Your Razor Needs A Re-hone?

After a few opinion pieces, it's time now to get back to shaving. 

This is a question I get from time-to-time.  It usually happens when someone who had a properly honed razor and is an experienced wet-shaver, begins to experience more nicks than usual and just finds shaving more difficult.  The first sign of this tends to be the razor beginning to "catch" on hairs that it used to slice through and shaving will become a bit frustrating.  You can first try stropping the razor and, if that fails, a few passes on each side of a well-lubricated barber's hone (PLEASE rest the hone on a flat palm while using) will, for a time, return the razor to service.  If you have our Magnetic StropBox and our soon-to-be-released Little Stropper Premium Diamond Slurries, you can put off the inevitable even longer.  But eventually the razor will be too dull to use safely, and will require a trip to a competent honemeister for re-honing.  This is why most experienced shavers like to have at least a few straights on hand. Not only will rotating your razors extend their useful life, but should one become damaged, you will not have to return to the now dusty Mach III in your medicine cabinet to get a great shave.

If you suspect that your razor is too dull to use, feel free to send us an email.  We will help you determine if it needs to be sent out.

The Vintage Shaving Shoppe & Little Stropper Get Vocal With Our Toll Free Number!

In order to provide even better support to our current and prospective customers, Vintage Shaving Shoppe and Little Stropper can now be reached by phone - toll free at 800-636-9670.  So all of you folks that would rather talk to a person rather than send an email, now have a number at which to do it.

Speak to you soon!

Don't Strop Under Stress!

I give good advice.  The problem is that sometimes I don't take it.  It's 1AM and I'm stropping razors after honing up a whole bunch.  That can be a very bad idea.  After performing the same "blade first" motion several hundreds of times on the hones, it can be hard to switch gears and go into the "spine first" motion required for stropping.  "Muscle memory" is a bitch.  Unfortunately, I am quite good at honing and on one stroke I forgot to turn the razor around - needless to say I soon had an irreparable slice across my strop.

Now had I been using my traditional $65 hanging strop, I would have been quite angry with myself.  Fortunately, I was using my Magnetic StropBox system with a leather StropTop.  While I wasn't happy about slicing my StropTop in half, at a retail price of $19.95 (and since I manufacture them I get a bit of a discount) I can only get so upset with myself.  I simply pulled off the damaged Leather StropTop and placed a new one on the box.  The whole operation took about three seconds.  Although afterwards, I did take a bit of a break to get my mind into stropping, rather than honing, mode.  Now I am happily stropping away on my newly replaced Leather StropTop.

If you haven't already done so, why don't you take a look at the Magnetic StropBox system?  It's what I use to finish and maintain the razors I send all over the world.  You will still be annoyed if you cut into your Leather StropTop, but there's a whole world of difference between being $19.95 annoyed and $65 furious.

New Product Launch! Read Carefully For FREE Offer!

Dear Client,

This has been a very exciting week at The Vintage Shaving Shoppe!  Now that we have finally filed for our patent, we can let the "cat out of the bag" on the newest and most innovative product available for maintaining your straight razors and fine knives. The Magnetic StropBox^TM along with our Magnetic StropTops^TM, part of our Little Stropper^TM brand, provide a low cost, easy to use system for keeping your blades shave-ready longer than ever.  And you will never have to look for a place to hang a strop again! For a long time, I have been telling my customers about the benefits of stropping on surfaces with varying degrees of abrasiveness.  But that used to mean having a whole bunch of strops hanging in the bathroom – not a wife-pleaser.  It’s also a very expensive way to maintain your razors, with strops running $30 to $70 each.

Those days are over.

Using the power of flexible magnets, the Patent Pending Magnetic StropBox^TM and Magnetic StropTops^TM create a completely swappable straight razor, knife and tool maintenance system that can be carried and used anywhere!  And since the 8.25” X 2.5” X 2.0” Magnetic StropBox^TM unit has a sliding door on the bottom of the unit, it’s perfect for storing a razor, a shaving brush, a barber’s hone or a small tube of abrasive paste – if it fits, it is secure inside the Magnetic StropBox^TM.  And the system  couldn’t be easier to use! The top of the Magnetic StropBox^TM is covered with a vinyl magnet, similar to the kind you might find on your refrigerator.  Just apply an 8.25” X 2.5” Magnetic StropTop^TM available in fine stropping leather and 100% hard wool felt, to the top of the box and you are ready to strop.  And since each Magnetic StropTop^TM also comes adhered to a flexible magnet, changing from one Magnetic StropTopTM to another is as easy as putting a magnet on your refrigerator door (in fact, it’s a handy place to keep them)! Hard wool felt is the PERFECT surface to use with abrasive pastes and sprays, so buy one leather Magnetic StropTop^TM for final finishing and several hard wool felt Magnetic StropTops^TM pasted with different abrasives, for a COMPLETE system to keep your straight razors, knives and tools at their best.  You can apply these abrasives yourself or we can do it for you.  It is the IDEAL system for touching up that razor that seems a bit dull.

FREE OFFER: FOR A LIMITED TIME, WE ARE OFFERING OUR CLIENTS FREE PASTING OR SPRAYING OF THE STROPTOPS^TM IN DEGREES OF ABRASIVENESS FROM 2 MICRON TO .25 MICRON.  JUST PLACE YOUR ORDER AND SEND US AN EMAIL AS ASSISTANCE@VINTAGESHAVINGSHOPPE.COM INDICATING THE STROPTOPS^TM YOU WANT TREATED AND WHAT GRIT YOU WISH US TO USE.  WE HAVE 2 MICRON, 1.5 MICRON, 1 MICRON, .50 MICRON AND .25 MICRON DIAMOND SPRAY.

TWO WAYS TO BUY:

• If you want to buy our Magnetic StropBox^TM and Magnetic StropTops^TM “a la carte.” click HERE!
• Our package deals save you money!   Click HERE to view our packages!

A LIMITED QUANTITY HAVE BEEN MADE. PRIOR CLIENTS HAVE FIRST PRIORITY. BUY TODAY!

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to email us at assistance@vintageshavingshoppe.com

 

The "Little Stropper" Is Coming To Town!

Another of those "looks" from the wife again.

Those of you gentlemen who are married or have similar long-term entanglements, are familiar with the glare that only people together for many years can share. In my case, this particular look is reserved for those days when the postman brings another brown box to our doorstep.  She knows that it is even money that the box contains some manner of sharpening device - a hone, a strop, stropping paste, hard wool felt, strop conditioner, balsa wool (yes, you can sharpen on this too), a slurry stone, diamond spray or something even more exotic.   And it's always the same question: "Aren't those damn razors sharp enough for you yet?"  My stock answer, "not if I can get an even BETTER shave out of them." It never seems to satisfy her.

If you are a true connoisseur of the straight razor shave, you understand exactly what I'm talking about.  You also probably know that it isn't all that difficult to get a hair-cutting edge on your razor - this can be done with honing stones (although the cost of purchasing all of the required hones can be prohibitive for the average gentleman.  But a sharp edge doesn't guarantee you a comfortable shave - for that you need to properly strop your razor.  To most people, a strop is just a leather strap hanging in their bathrooms; from a hook, towel bar, or whatever else is handy.  But there is more to stropping than running your razor over that piece of hanging leather.  And it was from this simple idea that Little Stropper was born.  Little Stropper products:

• Ensure you get a closer, more comfortable shave;
• Travel wherever you can take a straight razor - no hooks or towel bars required;
• Extend the life of your razor.  This means longer intervals between trips to the "honemeister;"
• Have been designed by me for my own personal use, and have also been put to the test making hundreds of razors shave-ready for our customers all over the world;

All Little Stropper products are completely made or finished BY HAND right here in Pennsylvania.  For the time being, I am handling the manufacture and finishing myself to ensure that they meet my personal specifications.  These items will be numbered and signed by me. 

Little Stropper is an exclusive brand of Vintage Shaving Shoppe, LLC.  We will not be selling Little Stropper products anywhere except from our dedicated website, littlestropper.com, or from vintageshavingshoppe.com.   The dedicated website is already up and running.  However, products are not yet available for sale there yet, but you can expect them to be available in the next week or two.  You can check the littlestropper.com  website periodically.  You will also be notified automatically when products are available if you are a Follower on our blog or a Fan on our Facebook page.

I am very excited about our Little Stropper product line because I know that every one of our products will bring you a closer, more convenient and more enjoyable shaving experience.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at assistance@vintageshavingshoppe.com.

Here is a "sneak preview" of two of our products...

The StropBrick: A hefty chunk of solid wood (Rosewood, in this photo) with three 6" stropping surfaces - one plain strip of bridle leather a shade over 1" wide, and two bridle leather strips 5/8" wide each treated with with a lightly abrasive stropping paste.  It is perfect for traveling or simply keeping on the bathroom shelf. It's always ready to use and each one is a work of art.  Clear rubber "feet" keep the StropBrick level and secure if you wish to use it on a hard surface.  Personally, I prefer to hold it in my hand.

The StropBox: If you travel, or if you are simply short on space for your shaving items, you will appreciate this ingenious tonsorial item.  Part high-quality vegetable-tanned leather strop and part storage case, the StropBox will keep your cutting edge smooth and provide storage for your favorite razor and anything else you can fit inside.  A sliding panel secures the contents.  I always grab my StropBox whenever I travel overnight and keep a tube of strop paste and a small barber's hone inside. Since the sliding panel is practically invisible, it is also a great place to keep some extra cash, jewelry, etc. on your trip.The StropBox is 100% solid wood (not plywood or pressboard) which has been hand-stained and features two coats of polyurethane on the external wood surfaces to water resistance and durability.  The stropping surface is a generous 8 1/4" long by 2 1/2" wide with leather hand-selected to have the smoothness and "draw" needed to tame the edge of your razor.  You may use stropping paste with your StropBox or we can paste it for you for a small additional charge.

Tips For Successful Shaving - Another "Do" And "Don't"

DO rinse your razor frequently.   

A razors edge with lather and cut hairs on it does not cut as well as a nice clean one.  Razors with a smaller height (such as a 4/8 or 5/8) require more frequent rinsing than a 7/8 or 8/8 cleaver.  But at the beginning, just trust me and do it often.

DON’T catch a dropped razor – EVER!   

The razors that I hone will easily cut your flesh to the bone under the influence of gravity.  It might even cut into the bone itself.  I don’t care how much you spent on your razor.  The $75-$400 you will spend on a new one is nothing compared to the surgeons bill, recovery time and nerve damage you will get from a deep cut.  

You aren’t Harry Potter; this isn’t Hogwarts and Madame Pomfrey isn’t there to give you a bad tasting, but effective dose of Flesh-O-Mend potion.  So trust me and DON'T DO IT!

What Is A "Shave-Ready," "Shave-Tested" Straight Razor? A Buyer's Guide

The Vintage Shaving Shoppe was one of the earlier eBay sellers to offer "shave-ready," "shave-tested" razors.  Now there seem to be lots of folks slapping that label on their razor auctions...and not on eBay alone.  You are starting to see them almost everywhere on the Web  And you can bet your shaving nicks that if you polled each one of these sellers, they would all come back with slightly different (in some cases, radically different) definitions of the terms.  You owe it to your face and your wallet to query the folks you buy from with regards to THEIR definitions.

While I cannot speak for other sellers, in the interest of clarity, I wish to go on-record about what those terms mean to me and, by extension, if you are my customer, what they will mean when you buy a razor from me.

Shave-Ready
The term "shave-ready" is bandied about in the wet-shaving world as casually as politicians promise lower taxes.  On its face, it is pretty straightforward: it means a razor that is ready to shave with.  But what does this mean?  If you order a nice new Dovo razor off of Amazon (or off of any number of other reputable commercial sites), you probably assume that it is ready to shave with.  The little brochure inside the "coffin" (the box that holds the razor) will even say so.  So you are good to go.  Right?  WRONG!  I speak from painful experience.

When, on a cold December afternoon, I decide to start shaving with a straight razor, I went online and  purchased a nice new Dovo (a fine German brand) straight razor, a badger brush and a puck of shave soap, went through an elaborate pre-shave routine, including hot towels from the microwave (not recommended), just to make sure that my skin was ready for this new experience.

I proceeded to get one of the harshest, bloodiest shaves of my life.

Now I have to put at least some of the blame on my inexperience and the fact that I was shaving skin yet unused to a straight razor, but still, the razor was catching on my skin and simply not cutting hair as a straight razor should.  After querying several knowledgeable straight razor shavers, I was asked where I purchased my razor.  Next, I was asked "who made it shave-ready and was it shave-tested?"  At that time, these terms were unfamiliar to me.  I replied that I bought it through Amazon from the manufacturer and both the ad and the product insert assured me that the razor was ready for use.

I could almost see the virtual sideways head-shaking when I provided this answer.  It was time for me to get an education.  I was told that razors straight from the factory may be very, very sharp...but they will not provide a close, comfortable shave.  In order to do that, the razor's edge must be "finished" on a combination of extremely fine honing stones and strops (normally, long strips of leather which may or may not be treated with a mildly abrasive paste).  You see, the edges of ALL sharp metal objects are serrated to some degree.  While you can see the serration clearly on most knives, they can be quite literally microscopic on a straight razor.  The fact that they are very small, doesn't mean that they aren't there.  The process of hand-honing a razor on those superfine stones (My finest stone is 30,000 grit. To put that in perspective, a knife will be considered sufficiently sharpened at 1,000 grit), and then on leather, is designed to make those serrations as small as humanly possible.  A factory-honed razor leaves serrations that are way too large for a comfortable shave.  The result is that "Nighmare On Elm Street" look that you were not seeking.

So when I say that a razor I sell is shave-ready, I mean that I have honed it BY HAND on a progression of extremely fine, completely flat stones made specifically for honing razors. I then further reduce the size of the serrations by stropping the blade on diamond-pasted strops made of balsa wood (they are not always leather).  Then, I use a hard wool felt hanging strop lightly pasted with Aluminum Oxide and, finally, on a fine leather strop.

I will not use a razor on my face that has not gone through the aforementioned procedure and I would not expect you to either.

Shave-Tested
There is no machine that, to my knowledge, can shave-test a razor.  But before I get ahead of myself, let me explain what I mean when I say that a razor is "shave-tested."  It means that I have personally shaved with the razor and it has produced a close, comfortable shave.  This really isn't complicated.  You simply shave with the razor in all three directions:

• With The Grain (WTG): This means in the direction of hair growth
• Across The Grain (XTG): This means shaving at an approximate 90 degree angle to the direction of hair growth
• Against The Grain (ATG): This means shaving against the direction of hair growth

If the razor shaves closely and comfortably in all three directions on both sides of my face using both sides of the razor, it passes.  If it fails any of these tests, it goes back to the hones, not into a shipping envelope, until it passes.  All shave-tested razor are, of course, thoroughly sterilized in Barbicide before they are sent out to customers.

So what shave-tested means to me is that a knowledgable human being has actually shaved with the razor.  Trust me, there are no people at even the finest commercial razor factories that are actually shaving with every razor before they ship.

So now that you have some knowledge, you know what questions to ask the folks that want to sell you a razor.  If they react defensively or evasively, move one to another seller.  Anyone worth their salt will be pleased to show off their pre-sales preparations.

Tips For Successful Shaving - One "Do" And One "Don't"

The list of Do's and Don't is straight razor shaving can be somewhat lengthy.  At least at the beginning, straight razor shaving is a rather involved process.  So rather than throw everything at you at once, I've decided to break it up into bite-sized morsels, of which this is the first.

DO strop your razor before shaving. 

Keep in mind that you are NOT sharpening the edge, merely smoothing it out for your shave.  Remember that a stroke on the strop is NOT the same as a stroke on a hone.  You hone with the blade going towards you and you strop with the spine leading.  Strop blade first and two things are going to happen: 1) You will go online to buy another strop to replace the one you just destroyed; 2) You may be sending your razor back for a re-hone.  At the very least, you will be making premature use of your barbers hone.  Further, you want to just rest the razor flat against the strop.  Don’t press it down or you will actually bend your edge, resulting in a trip back to the hones.  Although experienced stroppers can do it rather quickly, speed usually means disaster for the beginner. So start slow and gentle.  Sound familiar guys?

It is not a bad idea to practice with a butter knife or tongue depressor to get the right stroke.  Even better would be to use a dulled razor from Pakistan – they aren’t good for much else as far as shaving goes, but they are the correct shape and weight for practice.  How long do you strop for?  Good question.  The answer is that I can’t tell you, but with practice you will be able to feel when a razor needs stropping.  You might want to start with 30 strokes (back and forth = one stroke) before shaving.  If you have received the razor from a competent honemeister, don’t strop it at all to start with – you will want to feel at least one shave with a properly prepared blade before you go and screw it up.

DON’T move your razor laterally (sideways) on your face.

Unless you really want that impressive scar and copious amounts of blood on the floor.  I’m serious about this.  Don’t do it –EVER.  Your face is not a meatloaf, but it will look like one if you move your razor left or right.

Some Valuable Insights For The First-Time Shaver

No matter how much you prepare your beard, hone your razor or spend on shave soap, you will bleed during your first few shaves.  Why?  Well for starters, you are exfoliating – not in the girly way some guys do with a scented apricot facial scrub, but with the sharpest blade you have ever held to your face.  You will shear off every bump and imperfection on your face.  Don’t let that get you down – it’s actually a good thing.  As long as you keep your face clean after you sop up the blood.

Buy yourself some styptic pencils.  One will probably do just fine, but they are cheap and if you have just one, it will almost certainly fall from your bathroom shelf and shatter on the floor at just the moment that you need it the most – when you are trying to seal that small but copiously bleeding hole in your face where that pimple used to be.  That is not the time to be groping for shards of styptic on your tile floor as you create a work of art in red that would do Jackson Pollack proud.  Your significant other will be quite upset with you.  Before using the styptic, make sure the areas is clean and as dry as possible.  Wet the pencil slightly and hold it over the bleeding area.  I have found that leaving some of the styptic powder over the wound is helpful.

Keep a towel (or a few of them) set aside for shaving.  My personal recommendation for color is red or black.  This way, if you are dumb enough to leave it there for the wife or girlfriend to find, they just may not notice that the towel is dotted or smeared with your blood.  That is, unless the blood is still fresh and they use it for a facial towel after washing their face.  In this case, do not be alarmed by their shrieks of terror when they take that one last glance back in the mirror before starting their day.

Using bits of toilet paper as a means of stopping the bleeding is a suburban legend – it may stop the bleeding while it is applied, but pull it off (as you must, because it looks really stupid) and you will find that the scab that sealed the wound is pulled off with the paper leaving you right back where you started from – except this time, you aren’t in your bathroom in your boxers, you are about to go into an important meeting wearing a white shirt.

You will find it useful to have some good manly stories of how you got all cut up.  Fights over a woman’s honor are always good (particularly if the listener is a woman).  If you are facing inquiry from one or more men, you received your injuries in combat.  Your opponents can be members of the other team’s fans, the car, a chainsaw or a swarm of angry insects.  If however, you know that the listener is a fellow wet-shaver, you can simply tell them the truth.  Trust me, they will not laugh at your – except perhaps in sympathy.

After the first several shaves, something remarkable will happen.  You will find yourself bleeding less.  More than likely, you skin will have also improved in both texture and clarity.  Your skin is being conditioned to daily exfoliation by cold, hard steel.

How do you know when your razor is dull?  That may be a tough question to answer for the fledgling wet shaver.  Why?  Because “sharp” is all relative.  A razor that you have dulled by shaving is still sharper than the sharpest kitchen knife.  A dull straight razor can cut paper like butter.  A dull razor can, and is actually more likely to cut your face than a sharp razor.  But wait, you say, how can a dull razor be more hazardous than a sharp one?  The reason is that a properly sharp razor when used at the proper angle on your face will easily cut THROUGH your facial hair.  A dull razor is more likely to CATCH on your hair rather than slice through it.  The result is either a tiny lateral (side to side) movement of the razor on your skin, or the tendency of the razor to “dive” into your skin – either can produce an impressive wound.  After some time using the razor, you will get a sense in your first stroke or two if the razor is dull.  If it is just a bit dull, it’s time to break out your trusty barbers hone.  Stropping doesn’t actually sharpen your razor but rather removes the harsh edge left by honing and use.  The barbers hone (also known as a touch up hone) is designed to refresh the edge of a razor that has become dull with use.

So get cutting and look for more postings!