urmas said:
Bart, Thanks! It was a nice and encouraging post from you.
Perhaps it is a lot to ask but I would like to read other top coticule users stories too. I'm curious how they came to a breakthrough on their journey.
Best regards,
Urmas
I'm certainly not a "top" coticule user. But my use of the coticule stems almost entirely from the existence of this forum and due to it's unprecedented support and information led nature I have managed to get good and occasionally great edges from some of my razors. You can't overestimate the importance of the support network when trying to learn a new and alien skill on your own!
It's been a long journey over the last year or so, I believe it is quite similar to other new straight razor users. One time I went to buy Gilette Mach 3 cartridges and the price had risen ... again, and I got angry. I realised the amount of plastic I was throwing away in order to use a tiny strip of metal (or 3) and looked for another way that was more environmentally friendly and possibly cheaper over all. I bought a straight (a Dovo basic model and a strop) and scraped away with it having looked up on the internet how to shave like that.
It didn't work :-( I scraped half of my face off - tried again - same result and gave up. It took me literally 6 months to realise that the razors simply don't come shave-ready from the shops. They almost never do as far as I can see. Once I realised this I looked at loads of honing sites and watched youtube videos and bought a Norton 4k/8k stone. I had never sharpened anything in my life and when it arrived I tried to do what I had seen online. The results were a little better than I had before, but not much!
Not until I took the plunge and bought a Revisor razor, a coticule (well 2 actually!), a new strop (I had minced 2 cheap ones with nicks during the previous attempts) and lurked here for 3 months that I actually experienced a real straight shave with a nicely sharp razor! Ralfy of this parish kindly sharpened the revisor for me through the amazing coticule sharpening service offered here and it revolutionised my shaving (everyone here thinking about it should really take advantage of it).
I've gone through the same thing with soaps, after shaves etc. and it's taken ages to get to a stage where a year down the line - I can give myself as good a shave with a straight that I could with a disposable blade. But when I use the Revisor sharpened on a coticule and stropped on a Neil Miller strop with p160 duro soap, proraso balm & ogallalla after shave then I feel brilliant. But that's just me, I doubt it would work for anyone else. Add in to that the fact that my favourite soap has been discontinued, Ogallalla is no longer available to the UK and I still can't coax an edge from my original Dovo blade and it looks like a never-ending quest for the best shave.
Given that is a normal-ish journey from wanting to shave with a straight to actually doing it, it is one of the worst hobbies/activities for the starter to get in to, I'm sure most are put off before succeeding.
I would like to commend coticule.be for being such an amazing resource of sensible and understandable information for people who come across it. What's needed now is a package on a big web shop selling a shave-ready basic razor with a coticule, some electrical tape, a strop and some good soaps and balms together with a well written instruction manual based on the best information on this site and I believe people might stand a better chance of actually getting in to shaving this way when they look for it.
Unlikely - I suppose so, but a good idea nonetheless.
Cheers
Squeezy