so cal cut throat

Mike from Corona California. " Unfortunately, for most men, this is a chore to be endured, or at best a nuisance." Yea, that's about right. I actually hate shaving only slightly less than the feeling of hair on my face. For 14 years I shaved most days because I was military but now I shave about once a week when my bristles got to the unbearable pint. I use a Braun 360 for the past 11 years and before that I had a couple others. Braun has been the only way I can tolerate shaving because cartridge razors and DE bother filet my face.

But I always remember this on lady who used to cut my hair. She had her own barber shop in Coronado and gave 5 dollar cuts to the is squids from NAS North Island and the amphib base where the seals are. For another couple bucks she did a hot shave and it was pure heaven. This was back in 94. and it's left an impression since then.

I've made up my to go cut throat and I'm starting to realize there's a whole lot to it. Why is it that all my hobbies are so complex? Luckily places like this exist for people like me to find out if what we need to know. In addition to the wiki and discussions here, I plan to visit a local retailer for my purchase. Does anyone have anything good or bad to say about West Coast Shaving? They're an online retailer but they have a brick and mortar about half an hour from my house.. It se, s like they have an ok selection of razors with in house honing and lots of the other necessities. West Coast Shaving Home

Thanks
Mike

Welcome to the club, Mike. Glad to have you aboard. West Coast Shaving is very well thought of on this forum. They are vendor members of B&B, and you can check out any of their specials in our Vendor forum.

I've ordered from WCS several times. Always a good experience.

I don't know if they still do it, but for awhile they were buying beer for the staff on Friday afternoons. My kind of place!

Welcome to the B&B forums. WCS is a good online store and the folks there provide good customer service.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Great selection of items through West Coast and it's nice to meet you.

Welcome to B&B. You can't go wrong at WCS.

Welcome to the forum, Mike !!

Welcome aboard! WCS is a very reputable B&B vendor. I have ordered from them many times and have been happy.

Time, Patience, and good equipment are your friends when getting into this en-devour. Watch several of the videos on Youtube and good luck.

WOW! I. guess I'm lucky to live so close to WCS. I hate ordering unfamiliar items online and prefer to hold things in my own two hands before deciding. Thanks for the input.

Welcome Mike. Coronado eh? Was Dannys around back then? I grew up in Navy housing on the strand...

I hated shaving too. Once I got the hang of it and felt how much better DE shaving is, I enjoy it. I try to do it at night so it is more relaxing. Take your time with getting it down.... Yeah I am same way when it comes to stuff but it is nice to follow some people suggestions at times. It all goes down to what yourself thinks of stuff anyways.

Welcome to B&B. Keeping a straight razor sharp is a hobby itself.

Just when I though I had my sharpening equipment dialed.

Invicta said:

Welcome to B&B. Keeping a straight razor sharp is a hobby itself.

Click to expand...

Welcome aboard amigo......
WCS is a solid retailer. Great service and products. And fast shipping to the East Coast!

Welcome!
Many good folks in the Straight Razor Forum.
They are a very helpful group.
Enjoy yourself.

What they said. WCS is a good vendor. Lightyears better than AOS. If you have your heart set on a new razor rather than a vintage, I heartily recommend a Dovo Bismarck or another model that follows the Bismarck profile. This razor is very easy to hold, hone and strop, or to shave with. The ergonomics are excellent. TI and Revisor also make clones of this excellent razor.

You will want a strop, too, and WCS can hook you up with one. I suggest also getting an expendable learner "Poor Man" strop from Larry at www.whippeddog.com because nearly everyone slices and dices their strop the first few times. After a couple of weeks if you are confident, move up to your good strop and use the Poor Man for travel and backup.

Next, a brush. Here I believe you will find better deals online. Whipped Dog and others offer nice big silvertips in unfancy handles for way less than top shelf offerings. I myself favor my 30mm Virginia Sheng Silvertips from China. Great value. Artisanal quality brushes offer little extra in way of functionality but some guys enjoy the whole pride of ownership thingie. The main difference between a good user quality brush and an artsy fartsy big name luxury brrush is the handle. But beware lower priced brushes that are poorly made. Often they shed badly or have a bad smell that simply cant be cured. I have had good service from my two VS brushes. Knots vary in density, and ther is such a thing as a knot that is too dense. Obviously not dense enough is bad, too. The loft of the knot and do a degree the shape of the knot affect how the brush feels on your face and how well it picks up soap. A badger brush doesn't really need to be broken in. A boar can be nice but it does have a breakin period. Lower grades of badger, particularly Black badger, can be prickly forever while a broken in boar will eventually soften up nicely.

WCS will have a nice variety of aftershaves, from dirt cheap to stickershock high. Soaps and creams, too. AOS only has the expensive stuff.

Welcome to B&B.

Be sure to check out the straight razor forums.

If you haven't already done so, take a look at this thread. It will answer many of your questions.

Slash McCoy said:

What they said. WCS is a good vendor. Lightyears better than AOS. If you have your heart set on a new razor rather than a vintage, I heartily recommend a Dovo Bismarck.

Click to expand...

I am set on at straight but have no preference for brand or new vs vintage. I'm afraid I'd make a bad choice with vintage though. I just don't have the discipline and patience for that sort of thing. There's this whole artistic guile to geting good deals that I've never been able to nail. I checked and WCS does not carry the Bismarck, at least not online, though my first hits showed them available for 400 to 1400 here and there. Not sure what that's about.
I was planning to just grab a dovo 6/8 straight best seller for a buck five. But they have a kit with a dovo 5/8 and maybe they'll work with me a little since I'll be in store with my secret weapon. The upgrade razor to this kit is Dovo "encina" 6/8 for an additional 50 bucks.

Slash McCoy said:

You will want a strop, too, and WCS can hook you up with one. I suggest also getting an expendable learner "Poor Man" strop from Larry at www.whippeddog.com because nearly everyone slices and dices their strop the first few times. After a couple of weeks if you are confident, move up to your good strop and use the Poor Man for travel and backup.

Click to expand...

will probably just go with the Illinois leather strop that the kit has standard unless the WCS latigo is worth another 30 bucks? I sharpen and hone my own knives and tools and have come to understand the whole blade angle and pressure relationships as well as how to strop. I know a razor issue a diferent beast but I understand that you difference, or at least I'm sure I will with ease. I have stropped but only have small bench stropes and they are pathetic so I usually just stop at extra fine on the ceramic. That's sharper than a working edge should be anyway but I like my knives D2 and above s it works out. Such good times we live in with all this ever improving super steel flooding the market and DMT/CERAMIC sharpening devices readily available to maintain it.

Slash McCoy said:

Next, a brush. Here I believe you will find better deals online. Whipped Dog and others offer nice big silvertips in unfancy handles for way less than top shelf offerings. I myself favor my 30mm Virginia Sheng Silvertips from China. Great value. Artisanal quality brushes offer little extra in way of functionality but some guys enjoy the whole pride of ownership thingie..

Click to expand...

I'm not overly invested in the idea of it has to be expensive to be nice. I prefer function above all and everything else comes after. But I won't lie, I love me a good Sig Saur or Benchmade, however I own more Glocks and Gerber than eithe of those. However, the Benchmade sees the most use and the sig doesn't collect much dust either

The kit comes with a strop, brush and sample pack. I don't like that the sample packs are all 1 scent from diferent brands. I would rather try diferent scents. So let's lay it all out and see if the kit is a good value or not.

A Dovo "natural" 5/8 bamboo, Illinois razor strop #827, WCS lantern brush pure badger and my choice of a, sample pack or a wcs soap for $219.
Upgrades:
Dovo "encina" 6/8 Spanish oak +$50, WCS STROP 3" leather and linen +$30, WCS Beacon Shave Brush Silvertip ivory y+$21 for $320.

Both prices do give me a sticker shock since my Bruan is still going strong after 11 years with zero dollars spent after 120 bucks initial purchase. But it's only tolerable and I do know that I love the feeling of a hot strait shave.

I'm open to vintage blades and Virginia Sheng brushes or anything really. I know real men shaved forever with tools that are nowhere near as fancy as we have now. And it's probably less expensive for us now when you think about it adjusted for inflation and just how much disposable income there is now.

Are the components in the kit worth their price? Can I find comparable for significantly less? I will look at the recommended resources and compare line item prices for the kit against the kit price and other resources. I do think that WCS at least has competitive prices on the straight razors themselves if not so much the kit items. They do have a decent stand and stop past for reasonable prices.

I do think I want a nice scuttle though. What I am remembering about the shaves I used to get is that the cream or soap she used was hot when applied. I'm betting it's a huge part of what made it so nice for me. That and she had real nice soft hands.

Thanks for the information. I must go to the interwebs now.

Check out Larry at Whipped Dog. Might save a few bucks.
The other great money saver is knowledge. If your willing to be patient, do a lot of reading, you can figure out where you want to prioritize spending your money.
Just some thoughts.