Where to buy a straight razor in Montreal?

January 29, 2008 9:17 AM

Where to buy a straight razor in Montreal? I'll admit that I haven't looked to hard on my own to find the answer for this but I was wondering if any Montreal-ers know of a good place to buy blades for a straight razor? They're for my wife who is a trained hair dresser and cuts a few peoples hair in our home (she vastly prefers razor with guard over scissors); her supply is getting dull. Thanks!
posted by royalchinook to clothing, beauty, & fashion (9 comments total)

If you don't get any answers here, I'd imagine the afficionados over at Straight Razor Place or Badger and Blade will know.
posted by Happy Dave at 9:32 AM on January 29

I would ask an old school barber that uses still straight razor. I'm thinking of Hollywood barbers on fairmount/clark or Menick on masson/chabot.
posted by racingjs at 9:48 AM on January 29

And check out Chalut, hair stylist/barber equipment distributors.
posted by racingjs at 10:14 AM on January 29

Not sure if you want a brick-and-mortar place only, but online there are:
classicshaving.com
nashvilleknifeshop.com
knifecenter.com
to name a few.

Also, if you don't mind buying from a random online weirdo (me), I have a couple straight razors I'm trying to get rid of. Email in profile.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 10:27 AM on January 29

I know that the art seems really arcane and kind of useless, but sharpening straight razors is the way of champions. With proper stropping technique, sharpening doesn't need to be done very often at all, which makes the actual sharpening a ritual you can look forward to.

It's like meditation.

I haven't found any resources on line that really really teach you how to do this right [it's more of a 'feel' thing for me, or maybe I'm just no good at learning things from words], but this page about kitchen knives
will at least be informative to read and will teach you important concepts. You could be the man behind the scenes who keeps the operation running smoothly.

Or, [to answer your question] for the purposes of not actual *shaving* shaving, there are a bunch of pakistan-made straight razors on ebay that will cut hair well enough, and they're cheap like borscht. I'd buy at least one just to see if it suits your needs, because that's the cheapest option I can think of.

Other than that, there are those straight razors with the disposable blades like the dovo shavette where the replacement blades are fairly cheap.
posted by Acari at 11:45 AM on January 29

On Ste-Catherine, north side of the street, between Metcalfe and Bishop is a big cigar shop, they have a massive collection of shaving stuff in the back and right side of the store. It looks a bit touristy on the outside but you wont be disappointed by the selection (the prices are a different story). I can't recall the name, but you'll know it's the right one if you see that it has a second floor inside.
posted by furtive at 2:02 PM on January 29

Wow, I didn't know that there was so much to know and such an avid straight razor community out there! If we keep with the old system, I'd want some disposable blades for her current holder but with all these options out there, who knows, maybe she'll want a fancy one...
posted by royalchinook at 2:09 PM on January 29

Just in case there's a really cheap and easy option... take the holder with you to the grocery store / drug store and see if the straight razor blades [sometimes they're double-sided, sometimes single sided] that they sell next to the disposable razors might happen to fit.

It's not entirely likely, but it's possible and potentially very convenient and cheap for you.
These blades, despite most frequently being used for cleaning and scraping are actually designed to fit [or maybe the other way around] the classic 'safety' razor, which is another option you /she might like looking into.

[you're thinking - *my* local store doesn't sell blades, but they do. You'll see]
posted by Acari at 6:56 PM on January 29

This is the one she wants
posted by hortense at 8:28 PM on January 29