Straight Razor Care and Maintenance Tips for Barbers and Stylists

Our Pro Line consists of products we recommend for performing top-notch services in barber shops and salons. We received a question this week regarding our Pro Line which we feel might be helpful to other barbers and stylists using our straight razors. With Sydney’s permission, we have included her original email below:

“I am a barber and I recently purchased a straight razor from you guys. I am absolutely in love with it, however, I couldn’t find definitive after care instructions on your site. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Best,
Sydney

 

First, we love this question and what it says about Sydney’s professionalism. Not only has she invested in quality, sustainable tools for the trade, she's taking the initiative in learning to care for those tools and protect her investment! For those seeking a competent barber near Simi Valley, look no further. You can book an appointment here: @syd.scissorhands

straight razor shaving in the Portland Shave Shop Barber Shop in Portland, OR

Straight Razor Care, Between Services

Fortunately, caring for your Cascade Steel straight razor between shaves is super easy and can be broken down into the three S’s:

Strop! — Sanitize! — Store!

Strop

Stropping keeps your razor keen, clean, and ready to shave effortlessly. After sanitation and skin prep, having a sharp blade is the most important factor in providing a quality shave service, so don’t skip it! The more often you strop, the less time it takes each stropping to restore the edge to shaving sharp. At a minimum, strop your razor at the beginning and end of every shift, but ideally before every service. While this may seem like a cumbersome chore--especially at first while you’re getting the technique down--just remember how much time is wasted changing blades in your shavette. It also gets a lot faster the more you practice. Skipping the strop or doing so improperly will result in lost time waiting for the razor to be sharpened down the road. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our in-depth stropping tutorial.

Sanitize

Between services, rinse the entire razor and immerse in an approved disinfectant. This isn’t just because it’s required by health authorities (which we’ve written about extensively in a previous post); keeping your razor clean will keep it looking and performing its absolute best. Since you’re using our Cascade Steel razors, the entire razor is safe to immerse in water and high-level disinfectants for worry-free sanitation and compliance.

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Store

Once your razor is properly stropped and sanitized, close and store it somewhere safe. Ideally, your razor should have its own sheath or box; don’t just toss it in your kit, since other tools can slide between the razor’s scales and damage the edge inadvertently. A toothbrush travel holder is an easy-to-clean and widely available storage solution for your cutthroat razor!

We hope you found this helpful! If you have any other questions, please send them to us!



Shear and Clipper Sharpening Services

The day-to-day reality of tool maintenance is not glamorous, but we believe it is necessary and something to take pride in. At Portland Razor Co. we work hard to keep grinders lubricated, laser lenses clean, and saw blades sharp! By lapping our hones between sharpenings, we guarantee that each blade will be as sharp as the one before it. Our work would be impossible without these tools, and we honor them and the work they perform by committing time to caring for them.

Just as our tools are essential to crafting a quality razor, so are a barber’s in crafting a quality haircut, shave, or beard trim. Sharp tools work effortlessly, allowing you to focus on the important things: creating a work of art and building relationships with the person in the chair before you.

In an effort to better support our professional clients, we now offer scissor (aka beauty shear) and clipper sharpening services in addition to our very popular straight razor honing service. You can bring your tools to Portland Shave Shop to be sharpened while you wait, or you can mail them in to us, similar to our razor honing service. Barbershops and Salons in the Portland, OR area may also schedule mobile sharpening services to be performed by a Portland Razor Co. bladesmith at your shop!

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Tools We Hone

Straight razors
Japanese-style convex edge scissors
German-style beveled scissors
Texturizing scissors
Clipper blades

All tools in good condition and made by a reputable manufacturer can be sharpened. If it cannot be sharpened for any reason, we will not charge for the service.

How We Hone

All honing services are performed by hand on traditional Japanese waterstones. This process results in the finest possible edge with the least amount of wear and tear on your blades, meaning your tools are safer to use, more functional, and longer-lasting than if they were sharpened with mechanized sharpeners.

We do our best to research and match the honing practices of the original manufacturer. Please be familiar with your manufacturer's warranty and repairs policy before honing with us.

House Calls

We know barbers and stylists carry full schedules. If you are a barber or stylist in the Portland Area who would like to avoid the hassle associated with mailing or dropping off your tools for sharpening, we’ll come to you! To schedule a House Call at your barber shop or salon, call us or email us with your location and availability. We are usually available Wed-Fri afternoons for House Calls. There is no minimum to schedule a House Call and no added fee. We look forward to helping you soon!

Introducing Portland Shave Shop

The Portland Razor Co. team often discusses the need for physical spaces where wetshavers, beard lovers, and barbers can hang out and share in our mutual engrossment with all things grooming. When we realized the lobby of our workshop was begging to be that place, we figured the extra work on the weekends and evenings would be well worth it! We are excited to announce that Portland Razor Co. is expanding into “Portland Shave Shop.” Portland Shave Shop is a retailer of fine shaving and beard care products, features a single-chair barbershop, and is conveniently located a few feet from our where we make our straight razors and strops. This means that we can manufacture, sell, and give personalized instruction on the use of our product all under one roof!

The "Work Together" Mural in the ADX Woodshop.

Better Together

The early days of Portland Razor Co. were spent in a 10x10 studio at ADX Portland where the motto is “Work Together.” There is even a mural of raccoons on the wall of the ADX wood shop that touts such a philosophy. As subscribers to this idea, we are always looking for ways to collaborate with those courageous enough to see eye to eye with a group of people who spend all day every day making straight razors! Portland Razor Co. sees the shave shop as aligned with the “work together” M.O. in that we can stock our favorite shaving goods from other companies making killer products and we can share our shop with customers and other industry pros for events and meet-ups. As we continue to densify life in the city, it is important to learn how to share and optimize a scarce commodity: space! Portland has an urban growth boundary (as do all cities in Oregon), so our fair city isn't getting much bigger, just denser! It is also important to find those moments where you can take a break from such packed-in city life. We had a friend who would drop-in to visit Portland Razor Co. in it's early days because he needed to, in his words, "Zen Out" before getting back to busy life. Portland Shave Shop makes good use of Portland Razor Co.’s extra space and offers it to you because we all need a reliable escape in which to "zen out" every once in awhile.

Portland Shave Shop

Portland Shave Shop is about giving wet shavers, barbers and beard lovers alike an inviting space to talk shop and enjoy a personalized retail experience. Located at 3207 SW 1st Ave, the shave shop is walking distance from downtown Portland and the Southwest Waterfront MAX. Customers can enjoy shopping in a classic barbershop setting, schedule a relaxing shave or haircut with our barbers, and receive instruction on how to use their new straight razor, safety razor, badger bristle brush, beard balm, etc. Portland Razor Co. straight razors and strops will be available for purchase, along with carefully-chosen products from our favorite brands.
Looking for a gift, but don’t know anything about “traditional wet shaving”? Not to worry: we are happy to give recommendations based on the giftee's existing routine and preferences. We don’t expect you to think about shaving all day every day, just know that we do and are more than happy to share in our knowledge with you. The Shave Shop carries an array of great products for wet shavers of any experience level, and is equipped with the facilities to see them in action.

Behind the barber chair at Portland Shave Shop

The Barbershop @ Portland Shave Shop

Centered around an ultra-classic 1920’s Koken barber chair, the barbershop is a throwback to slower, simpler times when the relationship between barber and client was about more than just getting your hair done right. Being a single-chair barbershop removes the stress of getting clients in and out of the chair as fast as possible, allowing both the barber and the client to relax and enjoy. You can swing by for a quick trim, or stick around and luxuriate in a hot towel shave. It’s an opportunity to unplug, enjoy some music, have a beverage with friends, and when you’re ready (and only then!), go about your day feeling clean, calm, and collected.

Portland Razor Co. Workshop

Portland Razor Co. will continue to manufacture high-quality straight razors and strops in-house, in our workshop behind Portland Shave Shop. We may eventually switch to having limited hours for shop tours, but for now all are welcome to schedule an appointment to come see us and learn how our strops and straight razors are made!
As we expand our product offerings, so too are our services! Our team is available to service your straight razors, strops, scissors, clippers, pocket knives, and other gear. Inspections are free, and our team of knowledgeable bladesmiths and makers is available to answer any questions you may have. Sharpenings, cleanings, restorations, and some repairs can be handled in-house. However, some products with warranties should be sent to the manufacturer, and we are happy to help with that process as well.

See you soon?

We’re always working on something new and exciting, and we’re constantly seeking ways to better serve our customers. Whether you seek clean-shaven perfection or bearded beau ideal, care to relax with our barber, need a gift for the hairy one in your life, or want to see how our products are made here in Portland, we are happy to accommodate your visit however we can. We’re a pretty relaxed crowd and we love making new friends. Please don’t be shy, we’d love to see you in here! If you are planning a visit, know that our building is undergoing a facelift at the time of this post. Our owners assure us that the work is progressing well and that we will soon have a whole crew of other makers and artists to keep us company! In the meantime, know that we will be here (hardhat zone or not!) on the second floor.

As always, thank you so much for reading and for your continued support of Portland Razor Co. (and affiliates!).

View of Portland Razor Co. & Portland Shave Shop building from the street entrance on SW 1st Ave.

Portland Shave Shop is open regular hours Wednesday-Sunday

3207 SW 1st Ave #204
Portland, OR 92739

Portland Shave Shop Website

Source: https://portlandshaveshop.com/