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Dropped $340 on a Japanese straight razor and I still think my $25 shears do a better job on fades
I know everyone in the shop swears by a straight razor for line work but I finally caved and bought a real one from a barber supply place in Chicago for $340, and honestly after using it on maybe 15 clients I'm not sold. The edge is nice for beard shaping, I'll give it that, but for cleaning up around the ears and neckline on a fade I keep going back to my $25 shears I got at a beauty supply store. My mentor back in the day told me the tool doesn't make the barber and I hated hearing it then but I get it now. It's not that the razor is bad, it's just that I spent almost 14 times as much and my speed and accuracy are the same or worse. Your mileage may vary depending on your hand position and how you were taught, this is just my two cents. Has anyone else spent real money on a high end tool and ended up reaching for the cheap one more often?
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the_stella1mo ago
The "tool doesn't make the barber" thing hits hard because it usually takes years to actually feel it in your hands instead of just hearing it. What you're really paying for with a $340 razor is a head start, and if you already built the skill on cheap shears, that head start is worth close to nothing for you. The razor probably also wants a different angle and grip than what your hands already know, so you're basically relearning a motion you already had down for fades. My guess is the gap closes some if you keep at it, but it won't ever beat the tool you learned on, because that one's in your muscle memory, not in the steel.
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