I recommend most warmly to try straight razor shaving. It takes some time to get the technique (about a month), but once you get the hang of it, you get an incredibly comfortable shave. This type of shaving gives me much less irritation to the skin, and I can go over the same area several times without creating razor burn. I normally take three passes. 1: down with the grain, 2: side- to side, 3: up against the grain. Many believe one should not shave upwards against the hair growth (against the grain), but my experience is that it is only this that give a real smooth shave.
Preparation and lathering is done in the same way as when using a regular razor, except that a straight razor tend to “like” a little wetter lather and razors “likes” a little drier lather. If you want to learn more about different straight razors, I recommend spending some time on forums like straightrazorplace.com, badgerandblade.com, shavemyface.com, artisanshaving.org, and if you are Norwegian (like me): barbershop.no
A quality knife will last a lifetime if treated nicely. When it loses the “bite” you can hone it up yourself, or send it in to be honed by a professional. And of course – you have to use a strop before each shave.
When I started out honing my own straight razors, I used a Norton waterstone with 4000 grit on one side and 8000 grit on the other, but lately i tend to only use natural stonel, such as Ardennes Coticule, Welsh Dragons tounge, and Japanese Nakayame . I think these stones give the smoothest edge.
In these pictures I use the Norton on my Bismarck (the one with the black handle) and a couple of others. Note: If you intend to try this yourself, I suggest you first go to You Tube and do a search on “straight razor sharpening” and “straight razor stropping”. There are lots of videos on this subject.
You can start with this video by Lynn Abrams, where he uses a “circle technique” on a Norton 4000/8000:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPYmfyw-5WU?wmode=transparent
Veldig nyttig nisjestoff. Anbefaler alle å etterfølge bloggens gode råd om å barbere seg med kniv. Da får du din mykeste klem noengang.