Razor Acquisition Disorder

Razor Acquisition Disorder or RAD

What the title says, RAD is a disorder where you feel the need to acquire more razors.

This is something that you probably think wont happen to you. I know when I first started out, the whole idea of Straight Razor Shaving was to save money and get a better shave.

The following is my brief story of RAD, which explains at least how mine started.

I started out by ordering a cheap strop, a cheap badger brush, a cheap razor and some shaving soap. I figured that would be it, no more purchases required. At that point I Hadn't found the Straight Razor Place or the wiki, so by reading this, if you haven't already made your purchases, read up a bit first and get things right from the start.

Anyway! Razor Acquisition Disorder for me, started with my first razor, it was some really bad Paki blade from what I can tell (it's un-marked). It wasn't shave ready, it was terrible. So straight away, I was looking to buy a second razor.

It started with eBay, checking eBay auctions and the classifieds on Straight Razor Place. I finally got fed up and went out and purchased a Dovo Solingen, which came as 'shave ready'

So home I went and was able to shave.

But soon I didn't want to be dependent on someone else to hone my razor, so I set out to purchase some stones, but with my in-experience, I didn't want to ruin my new Dovo! So in my logic, I decided that I would buy an antique razor, restore it and hone it, that way it wouldn't matter if I damaged it, because I still have my dovo sitting there.

So after spending money on a second razor, a set of hones, I was set to start restoring.

I didn't have any polishing compound or sanding paper, so I’d gone out and purchased that. Then after taking before and after shots of my newly restored razor, it was quite a cool thing. After all, it’s an antique as well! The razor is older than me!

So then I’d read that its best to leave your razors sit for at least 24hrs after each use, and that a lot of people actually have a 7 day set, a razor for each day of the week. So then I start justifying looking for more to purchase, up to 7, one for each day, then no more will be required.

So then I start checking eBay and the classifieds, looking for razor's to add into the set. Then I win an auction for 6 old razors, putting my total up above 7. So now i'm starting to justify that I can restore and sell them/gift them on and try and upgrade them to better quality razors.. But I can see that I’ll end up holding onto more and more..

You might think reading this that it wont happen to you, that you'll only need 1 razor and that’ll be it. But that's exactly what I thought starting out, and it's starting to get out of control.

My wife's even looking at buying display/carry cases to house them in (at least she's supportive)