The 5 Questions you Need Answered Before You Start Straight Shaving At Home

No. 1 Why did you want to start?

We recognize that there are a lot of reasons one might get into straight razor shaving. Some of us enjoy it as a practice, as something we can always improve in. Others enjoy it as a zero-waste shaving method and a way to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Straight razors have an undeniable aesthetic, so many of us simply enjoy it for the cool-factor! Whatever your reasons for starting, remembering your own “why” will help you persevere during the initial learning curve.

No. 2 Do you have time for this?

Shaving with a straight razor isn’t something you’d want to rush, and that’s a good thing! Many of us live fast-paced digital lifestyles driven by instant gratification and tight deadlines, and a traditional straight shave is a welcome counterpoint to that. Shaving is an opportunity to relax and take time for yourself, to slow down, be present in your body, be mindful, and enjoy developing a new skill. And if you don’t have time, don’t sweat it; your new razor will always be there for you when you’ve found the time.

No. 3 Do you have everything you need?

All you need to get started wet shaving is a razor you love, a strop to keep it sharp, a quality shave soap, and a brush to lather it with. Starting with quality tools and supplies will ease the learning process and make your shave more enjoyable to begin with. If you need help choosing your first razor, check out our “No Such Thing as a Beginner Razor” article. As your technique improves, it may be worthwhile to start adding other products to elevate the experience. Pre-shave conditioners and aftershave treatments all help protect your skin and make the shaving process more enjoyable,  but they aren’t necessary at the get-go.

No. 4 How do you keep your razor sharp?

Strop your razor before every shave, and have it honed once or twice a year and when it gets damaged. This will keep your razor shaving comfortably and increase its useful life! Since the blade is non-disposable, extra care should be taken not to damage it: close it before setting it down or handing it to someone, only use it for shaving hair, and keep it in its own case separate from other items.

No. 5 Where can you get more information?

We appreciate that there’s always something more to learn or explore when it comes to straight shaving. We address our most frequently asked questions on our company blog and tutorials, but don’t hesitate to reach out if you can’t find the answers you seek!

If you are a seasoned straight shaver reading this, please leave some words of encouragement for the recent adopters below. At Portland Razor Co. we believe “what one person can do, another person can do.”

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 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.

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!

How to Grip Your Straight Razor

In this article, we’ll cover the basic grips used for shaving with a straight razor. This is a starting point for developing your own comfort and style in handling your new razor, and is not an exhaustive list.

Keep our Anatomy of a Straight Razor graphic handy if you need help keeping your tangs and spines sorted.

Safety

Remember that the tang and spine are the safest place to grip the razor. Never hold a razor by the scales! The pivot can always come loose and holding only the scales may cause the razor to swing open or shut unexpectedly. Finally, always close the razor before setting it down. This protects the razor from incidental damage, and nobody needs an open razor blade lying around.

In all of the grips described below, your pressure should be relaxed but firm like a handshake. Keep your wrist straight (straight lines are stable lines) and avoid unnecessary movements. Relax, and initiate movements with your shoulder, following through with the wrist. Do not push or move the razor with your fingers.

1. Basic Grip

This is the starting point for most straight shavers. With the razor’s scales opened 270 degrees and the edge down, grip the tang with two fingers in front of the scales, two behind, and your thumb underneath. This allows you to apply pressure on the tang but also the scales between your fingers, giving maximum control and balance.

2. Pinch Grip

From the basic grip, simply roll the razor between your fingers until the thumb and forefinger pinch the sides of the tang, rather than the top and bottom. This grip is great for upward, against-the-grain strokes on the face.

3. Reverse/Push Grip

Grip the tang with thumb on the spine. This grip is more advanced but is especially useful for barbers shaving other people, and leg shavers. Pushing the blade away from you can be difficult while you build muscle memory, but this will allow you to shave in more comfortable positions and in the direction of hair growth more easily.

Experiment with variations of these grips to suit your hands, razor, and the surface you’re shaving. Remember, this is not an exhaustive list and there is no right way to grip the razor, just whatever works for you! If you’ve tried using a straight razor before, what grips do you find useful? When do you use them? Let us know in the comments below ↓↓↓

The Myth of the "Beginner" Straight Razor

“Which straight razor would you recommend for a beginner?”

“Our recommendation is to start with a quality straight razor which is guaranteed shave-ready...”

This is perhaps the most frequently asked question we receive, and one we address by saying: there’s no such thing as a “beginner razor”.
This answer reflects the goal set for all of our customers: we want to help you find the last razor you will ever need. Our recommendation is to start with a quality straight razor which is guaranteed shave-ready that will last a lifetime. All other considerations including point shape, size, and length, and on and on for 10,000 forum pages are secondary. A straight razor is a lifetime investment, so go with your gut and get the one that looks and feels right to you. That razor is the only one with which you will enjoy practicing your shaving skills and take pride in using day after day. Because straight shaving is a skill you will need to practice, you should choose the straight razor that you’ll be excited about using! Making the investment for a quality razor as someone who is new to straight shaving is safer, shortens the learning curve, and saves you money in the long term. After that, it’s just about enjoying your shave.

Safety

Buying quality assures that your razor will be sharper, and therefore safer to use. A sharp blade cuts through hair smoothly, predictably, and reliably with little effort. A dull blade might pull, tug, snag, or require additional pressure to cut hair. Imagine applying more pressure to your face with a dull blade, snagging on tough hair. You push a little harder and the razor suddenly snaps free… Hopefully it’s traveling in a safe direction when you overcorrect out of reflex. Need we say more?

The Learning Curve

Straight shaving can seem awfully complicated. One way to learn a new, complicated skill more effectively is to break it down into smaller, simpler, more manageable tasks. Crawl, then walk, then run.

Buying a quality razor from a reputable manufacturer allows you to feel what “shave-ready” really means from the start. It also spares you the uncertainty of manufacturer defect and leaves fewer variables to consider when a shave doesn’t go well. For example, if your razor is sharp but you’re still experiencing pulling/irritation, then we know you should look at your shave prep: has the hair had enough time with moisture to soften? Is your shave lather too dry? If your razor was shave-ready but suddenly isn’t, you might have damaged the edge with improper stropping or hitting it on the faucet.

These are all problems that can be figured out. To fix manufacturing defects like faulty grinds and bevel angles, which are hard to notice much less fix, you’ll need special tools and skills. Improper heat treatment or a ruined temper is practically invisible until you attempt to hone the razor, and cannot be repaired at all. Buying quality allows you to focus on the things you can control, like prep and shaving technique.

Save Money

“Buying a quality razor from a reputable manufacturer allows you to feel what “shave-ready” really means from the start”

Simply put, quality razors are easier to use, they shave better, the edges are sharper and last longer thanks to proper heat treatment and handling, and they last forever. They cost more upfront, however. The price tag can be hard to swallow, but what you are paying for is craftsmanship and materials. Cutting corners on production costs to make a razor more affordable typically result in something that won’t shave at all.

If you are the type of person who likes to “test the waters” by trying the cheapest version of something before investing in a more quality option, understand that your experience with a cheaply-made razor will not be comparable to one made by skilled craftspeople. Sooner rather than later you’ll have to pay for it to be sharpened, or replaced with a better razor because it couldn’t be sharpened to begin with. In the long run, the more expensive razor will require less maintenance, be easier to fix when something goes wrong, and will last longer than a cheaper alternative.

Story time: I learned to drive in a beat-up manual transmission vehicle that was barely road-worthy and had all kinds of problems. But (and this is the important part) it was cheap! A “perfect first car”, according to my dad. And since I didn’t have anything to compare it to… well, I honestly thought I was just a bad driver. It wasn’t until years later, when I had the opportunity to drive a stick shift in decent condition, that I realized it might not have been my fault driving that clunker was such a pain. Learning to drive on a broken-down piece of junk had also taught me a lot of bad habits which then had to be unlearned when I was finally able to upgrade. All this to say: it would have spared us all a lot of time, money, and inconvenience if we’d been willing to spend a little more on the front end.

Final Thoughts

We may be straight razor enthusiasts to our core, but we can appreciate why they might not be for everyone. If you find yourself disinterested, don’t fret or throw the razor in the trash! You can always keep it tucked away in a drawer or proudly on display as a work of functional art until you feel the urge to try again. If you are secure in your decision to move on, consider gifting it to a friend or selling it online! A quality straight razor holds value and will be snatched up by straight shavers more eager than yourself.

Now, if you find you’ve caught the razor bug and you want to upgrade to something custom, go for it! Your old razor will be ready for you in the event you want to revisit it, or you can pass it on to another budding enthusiast when the time is right.

What is Aftershave?

We seek to provide our customers with the highest-quality products and the knowledge and skills to use them. To that end, we are proud to introduce our new Executive Aftershave Tonic & Aftershave Balm as part of our new Executive Shave Essentials line.

What is Aftershave?

Shaving can be a pretty brutal process for your skin. Even a comfortable shave removes some dermis, exposing it to the elements and leaving it vulnerable to minor skin infections that cause razor burn and razor bumps. A quality aftershave soothes the skin post-shave and protects against infection, resulting in a more comfortable shave.

AFTERSHAVE TONIC VS. AFTERSHAVE BALM

Aftershave tonics come in liquid form and are sprayed or splashed onto the skin. These can go by many names "aftershave tonic", "aftershave splash" or just "aftershave". They are typically made with a high concentration of alcohol to disinfect and create a cooling sensation as they evaporate. However, too much alcohol can be irritating and dry out your skin. For this reason, we recommend choosing an aftershave tonic with a lower concentration of alcohol and following up with an aftershave balm to moisturize.

Now let's examine how an aftershave balm differs from an aftershave tonic. Aftershave balms look and feel more like lotion. They containt ingredients to protect and moisturize the skin post-shave. A balm will have less alcohol content and therefore be gentler and less drying on the skin. Some aftershave balms can be used alone, though we recommend using them in conjunction with a traditional aftershave tonic for best results.

THE EXECUTIVE AFTERSHAVE TONIC

Our warm & invigorating Executive Aftershave Tonic tones and protects skin from razor burn and irritation. Formulated using witch hazel, natural essential oils, a minimum amount of alcohol (as an emulsifier), and aloe extract, this aftershave tonic cleanses without the burn of traditional, alcohol-based aftershaves and is gentler for sensitive skin.

To use, shake well and dispense 3-4 sprays of the tonic onto palm. Rub hands together and apply to shaved area. Allow to evaporate.

THE EXECUTIVE AFTERSHAVE BALM

Our Executive Aftershave Balm tones and protects skin from razor burn and irritation. Formulated with witch hazel, aloe vera, essential oils, and vitamin E, this post-shave balm cleanses and protects without the burn of traditional, alcohol-based aftershaves and is better for sensitive skin.

To use, dispense dime-sized amount of product onto palm. Rub hands together and apply to shaved area. Remove any excess with a moist towel. For best results, we recommend applying the Executive Aftershave Balm after using the Tonic.

EXECUTIVE AFTERSHAVE TONIC SPECS:

Citrus Bay Scent Handmade in Portland, OR 3.3 oz. Crafted from high quality, natural ingredients Formulated to warm & invigorate while soothing and protecting the skin Spray pump nozzle for easy dispensing Shatter-proof bottle Ingredients: Water, Witch Hazel, SD Alcohol, Glycerin, Essential Oil Blend, Aloe Extract

EXECUTIVE AFTERSHAVE BALM SPECS:

Citrus Bay Scent Handmade in Porltand, OR 3.3 oz. Crafted from high quality, natural ingredients Formulated to warm & invigorate while soothing and protecting the skin Easy-pour, shatter-proof bottle Ingredients: Water, Witch Hazel, Aloe Vera Liquid, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Sulfite, Avocado Oil, Rice Bran Oil, BTMS-50, Glycerin, Stearyl Alcohol, Oat Extract, DL Penthenol, Essential Oil Blend, Optiphen, Buckthorn Extract, Vitamin E

The Executive Aftershave Tonic & Aftershave Balm work together to soothe, tone, and protect skin post-shave, no matter what blade you’re using!