In last article, we discussed the origins of the straight razor.  But, how does all this tie into choosing your straight razor?  Obviously, you won't be raiding a museum for your premier choice of facial cutlery.  

There are three basic considerations when choosing your straight razor: balance, width, and shape.  There are certainly quite a few more details to get into for the experienced shaver, but these are good places to start. 

It's been an unchanged morning ritual for nearly three hundred years.  Waking up in the morning, men the world over get out their blended bristle shaving brush and soap and prepare a nice warm lather.  But whether it's a replaceable single blade or the smooth snakewood scale handle of a Thiers-Issard straight razor – men have long hallowed the tradition of using a straight razor to give themselves the smoothest shave possible.

But what of this time honored tradition?  Why do so many men prefer to stand by their old-fashioned straight razor?  Maybe it's the feeling of taking a finely honed 7/8” blade up the length of one's neck?  Perhaps it's the feeling of their loved one's hand on their smooth face.  Whichever the reason, Thiers-Issard has forged impeccable polished steel since the beginning of straight razor production.  Both barbers and gentry have come to rely upon those individually crafted steel blades to survive decades upon decades of sharpening, honing, and stropping.