What do you need to do for maintenance on something like that ? Like how often / how do you sharpen it ?

Just thought I'd follow up on the safety razor thing.

I've been really pleased with the whole thing, even more so since I started using a good glycerin-based shaving cream instead of the alcohol-based stuff-in-a-can. My only complaints are the difficulty in shaving directly under my nose and the fact that the blades seem to get dull faster than I'd like.

But if you've ever been unhappy with the way shaving worked, I'd still very much encourage you to try either a single-blade razor or a better shaving cream, or both.

I also shave with a straight razor. It took a good 6 months for me to become totally comfortable with it. I'd tried every other combination of electrics and safety razors. The straight razor gives the best and most comfortable shave -- after you learn how to use it. Expect to need to use your other razor to "clean up" when you are learning, because you won't be able to get every area until you learn how to hold and maniuplate the razor. Shaving takes *very* little pressure down onto the skin (none, actually), and until you develop this sensitivity, you end up pressing the razor normal to the skin surface because you're used to doing this with every other shaving method that doesn't cut as well. This results in little cuts that aren't painful, but look kinda funny.

I learned by hunting down a copy of the American Standard Textbook of Barbering, from 1935. Its difficult to find literature on the subject now. There is a forum, formerly a Yahoo group called Straight Razor Place that has an archive of files, including scans from various barber textbooks showing shaving technique and razor preparation.

You need to strop the razor every use and sometimes halfway through a shave. In fact, I've learned that proper stropping is the most important aspect of the whole thing. For this, you need a good razor strop, horse hide on one side and canvas on the other. You use a grease on the leather side and a silicon-dioxide paste on the canvas side. Stropping only takes about 20-30 seconds.

Stropping technically is not "sharpening". The strop actually polishes the cutting edge, which is really just microscopic sharpening. The razor should be sharp enough to cut a hanging hair, or to "dig in" when you move it across the hair on your arm. Sharpening doesn't get it this sharp, that's what the strop does.

If you strop properly, you should only need to sharpen the razor on a hone every few years, potentially never if you treat the razor well. Using the hone is another skill entirely. I use a Norton Waterstone (an amazing high-tech hone) for putting the final edge on the razor, and a Belgian stone hone for heavy sharpening such as for removing a nick. Like I said, if you treat the razor well, you shouldn't need to do this very often. It's been 3 years since either of my razors has seen the hone and they both shave just fine.

Others will say they can feel deterioration of the blade after 10-15 shaves and will re-hone. That might be true, but the razor still works fine and I don't bother with sharpening (honing) until I really need to.

You can get a video called The Lost Art of Straight Razor Shaving where a master barber shows you how to properly lather, strop and hone. It has *some* information about shaving, but the video is mostly about how to hold and care for the razor.

A good glycerin-based shaving soap is another important aspect of getting a good shave. I use George F. Trumper hard soaps and glycerin-based creams. They are great. Using a badger-hair brush to work the shaving soap into the beard makes a big difference also. The brush helps pack the soap around the hair, making it stand up and allowing for a closer shave. The video shows how to hold the brush for best results. You don't just hold it by the handle, you stick your thumb and first two fingers into the bristles to make the brush somewhat stiffer.

I've found that I get vastly fewer ingrown hairs around the collar when shaving with the straight razor. I almost never experience razor burn any more. The shave is so close that I can get away with shaving every other day even though I have a pretty heavy beard. With every electric I tried, I needed a shave by 4pm. I basically look like that now on the 2nd morning after I've shaved. The next morning my beard looks about the same as it did immediately after shaving with an electric.