WetShaving
This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
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https://gem.wetshaving.social/ - a nice modern interface
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🪒 Community Rules
Rule 1 - Behaviour and Etiquette
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Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
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Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
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Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Rule 2 - Content Guidelines
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Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
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Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
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Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Rule 3 - Reviews and Disclosure
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Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
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Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
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Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Rule 4 - Advertising
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Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
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Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
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Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
Rule 5 - Inappropriate Content
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All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
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Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Rule 10 - Moderator Discretion
- The rules may not apply perfectly to every situation. The mods have final discretion.
view the rest of the comments
January 3rd, 2026
Rough shave, but as you'll read below "the fault lies not in the razor, but in the unskilful use of it". That's two rough shaves in a row, both with vegan Tabac. Not enough science to blame the Tabac, but I'm just saying...
I honed this razor yesterday and had SUCH high hopes for it. It seemed extremely easy to hone and tested fantastically well on the packing peanut. Even the first few strokes seemed excellent. The shave devolved into a tuggy mess, though.
The tang of this razors says "Worcester Razor Co.", but online research basically only mentions the Torrey Razor Co. being based in Worcester, Massachusetts. Sure enough, this razor has a paper insert in the box that mentions "The J. R. Torrey Razor Co., Worcester, Mass., U.S.A."
The paper insert is interesting to me. Here's what it says:
"How to choose and care for a razor
In selecting a razor for use, adaptation to the beard is a very important consideration. For a heavy, coarse beard a too thin-ground blade should not be used unless one is somewhat of an expert in handling a razor; on the other hand, a light, wiry beard and tender skin require a thin-ground blade, which will lay flat on the face.
To use a razor, let it lie nearly flat on the face, and draw it with an easy diagonal motion against the beard from point to heel. Do not scrape with the razor or hold it almost at right angles to the face, as you will only spoil the edge, irritate the skin, and cause the best razor to fail. Persons who are not adepts in the handling of razors are apt to complain that their razors do not shave well, and are liable to condemn a good one, when the fault lies not in the razor, but in the unskilfil use of it
It is important that the beard be thoroughly softened with hot water and soap, and the razor dipped in hot water before using, as this will add much to the comfort of shaving.
After shaving carefully wipe the blade dry, and give it a few strokes on the strop to remove all moisture from the edge and prevent rust."
Major red flag right there 👀
This reads for me like: our product is shite, but do not blame us!
Haha, yeah maybe. I wonder what it was like being a straight razor maker in those days. The customer service department must have had to work overtime.
This razor is really super nice looking. It's a very hollow grind with a very slight belly. Not nearly the belly of the Koraat Piggy Bank, but it's just barely detectable with the naked eye.
It felt amazing on the stones last night, but I'm not a good judge of steel. I've yet to fully learn how to completely remove burrs on the razors I hone, and this one sort of felt like maybe it had one. Nasty stuff.
I found the bit about which type of razor to pick for which type of beard interesting. Mine isn't the coarsest or the finest, but I certainly have some thick whiskers in places. I have a near-wedge razor which I love and find thinner grinds (like this one) to be more difficult to use, but my thinner grind razors are also wider. So many variables and I don't have the experience to know what's what.
I also found this interesting. I’ve only used hollow grind razors, and would love to try other grinds at some point.
I have to say I’m skeptical about the grind needing to be different for different types of facial hair though. I’d assume that as long as a razor is sharp it’ll shave well with good technique. I’ve definitely been wrong before though!
I agree. I think as your technique improves, you learn to adapt to different razors. If the average beard hair diameter is 100 microns (Gillette) then only the first 0.5 mm of the edge matters in cutting (I’m making assumptions about 3-sigma).