Thiers-Issard 1937 Special Coiffeur

For his birthday, what do you buy a man who has DE safety razors, shavettes and shaving cream coming out of his ears? Why, you buy him a proper, old-school cut-throat razor, that's what.

I mean, bloody hell. Look at this:

And these:

I know, right? The photographs can't possibly do justice to how mind-blowingly handsome this razor is. I'm proud to say it's my first and, given the price, possibly my last. I won't say exactly how much it was, but let's just say I could have used the money to buy an awful lot of biscuits.*

I'm still getting my head round it all. I won't be shaving with the 1937 until I've prepared the strop with the required paste and had some practice perfecting the necessary stroking technique so that I can keep it at shave-ready status. In the meantime, though, I'll be taking the razor out on a daily basis and dribbling over it. What a birthday present.

My thanks to the knowledgable staff at Cutter & Grinder in Brighton for being so helpful and giving some much-needed advice when I bought it. I'm quite happy to say I'm a complete novice when it comes to straight razors and I'm looking forward to adding some new shaving skills to my growing repertoire. * I don't know why I chose biscuits as a comparison here. It makes little-to-no sense, as biscuits make terrible razors. I know because I've tried. #wetshaving #straightrazor #thiersissard