Just had my first straight razor shave.

Sweeny-Tom

Sweeny-Tom

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11
As per the title, my Gold Dollar classic, tweaked and honed by the masterful FergieBilly, arrived in the post about an hour ago. I left my lunch to go cold, whipped out the software and set to work butchering my face. The blade is definitely sharp, the three nicks I managed to give myself will back that up, and I have absolutely no complaints on the service I got from Billy.

My first attempt at stropping the razor was pretty woeful. I didn't get as much of a feedback sound as I would've liked and I managed to give the strop a small nick at the bottom when turning on the spine. I've got a block of olive oil soap that I used as a pre-treatment while I was stropping and I've got software and soap from the invisible edge. I have a feeling I didn't let the brush dry well enough before lathering up, because I was a bit on the sudsy side. I also had to reapply my soap a few times, but I was taking my time with the shave so that might be why.

In terms of the actual shave itself, I can see the technique is going to take some getting used to. I only shaved with the grain today, because I didn't want to push the boat out. Sideburns, cheeks and neck all seemed straightforward enough and I got a satisfactory shave in those areas given that I only went for one pass. The harder parts were having to use my right hand for the right side of my face and then the chin and moustaches. The upper lip will definitely take some practice, as I managed to nick myself twice there and it's also going to be a fair bit of practice before I'm comfortable with the right hand (one nick on the right cheek).

Slapping on my moisturiser after the shave felt like I might as well have thrown acid on my face, but I'm not surprised given my piss poor technique. Afterwards, gave the razor a good dry and then about 30 laps on the canvas side of the strop. I think I did a slightly better job this time as it felt more rhythmic and I was getting more consistent feedback from the strop.

All in all, really enjoyed my first straight razor shave and I'm really grateful to Billy for what seems to me like a good razor to get started on.
 
Its a Nice Shaver that Classic Range of Gold Dollars...Good as a Current Dovo in My Books and as Easy to Hone...I Reckon it Takes around 30 Shaves to become Sorta Competent with an SR & Around 100 Shaves to Master an SR....:cool:

The Learning is in the Practice...If it was Easy Everyone Would be Using One...It Takes Skill...Just Crack On...I Would Strop it for about a 100 Sets Between Shaves....You Can Do a 100 or Say 40 Sets After & 60 Before....Makes No Odds...No Hard n Fast Rules...:p

Enjoy

Billy
 
Congratulations! And welcome to the best way of shaving.

Don't over think things too much. As Billy says it will just fall into place with repetition and practice.

Regarding soap, slicker is better with straights or more accurately: the more water you can work in the better. You need to lubricate the blade more than other shaving systems.

For your stropping concentrate on feel rather than sound at first. Don't treat the strop yet. You can rub the leather with the oil from your hand at first. Treatment depends on the leather type. A hard shiny leather like the solingen strops benefit from an oil like Neetsfoot but this needs to be applied fairly sparingly. Some slower leathers just improve with use.

A broken in hanging strop will typically increase the draw when the razor is ready and paddle will loosen. You need to get to know your strop though and note what it is telling you. This will take time.

Once you have chewed up your strop with the razor you can glue any flaps back with rubber cement (burnish them back down with a warm spoon) and sand with a very fine wet n dry. I use 1k for a slower draw and 2k to 3k to create a faster texture.

In terms of number of laps on the strop it can depend on your technique. Strop on canvas after shaving. Strop on canvas followed by the leather prior to shaving. I would generally strop double the amount of laps leather to canvas. e.g. 25 canvas, 50 canvas.

The best thing you can do is learnt to love stropping. Get really good at it. Practise a lot.
 
I Stopped Using Canvas...Last 6 Months or So...I Reckon I Get a Smoother Edge..Regarding Canvas there are No Hard n Fast Rules...A Hundred or So Strokes Between Shaves Should Do Any Razor... :cool:

I Personally Paste My Razors Between Shaves before Going onto Normal Stropping...It Keeps Em Uber Sharp n Smooth...SR Paraphernalia & Sharpening Media is a Learning Curve...I Am Always Open Minded & Learning What Best Fits Me & I Am Always Open to Change...(y)

Just Enjoy the Learning Journey & the Rest Falls into Place...:p:p

Billy
 
Congrats! The 1st shave is the hardest & its out of the way now, keep going & by the end of the month you'll be getting decent shaves, 3+ months & you will have got it 100%.
Use one soap, brush etc., don't make it more difficult & take your time.
 
On stropping, I've gravitated toward Billy's method. A few laps on a lightly pasted leather paddle when done, wipe with a microfibre to make sure there's no paste residue & then a couple dozen laps on a clean leather hanging strop. But to be honest, keep it simple for now & proper stropping technique is the key not the material (newspaper works very well until you've mastered the "flip")
You'll find your own régime, the main role of the canvas is to clean the blade ready for the leather by knocking the microscopic bits of crud off hanging on after scraping your face. Keeps the leather cleaner.
Don't worry about strop balm, rub with your hand every use.
 
Ok so I just had my third shave with the straight and it was definitely my worst of the three. This time, the blade felt much less sharp and it felt like I was almost tearing the hairs out rather than cutting them. I've got quite a few tiny dots of oozing blood and my face is far more irritated.

The obvious culprit feels like it should be my stropping. Is it possible I've buggered the blade with poor stropping technique?
 
I'm worried I might've bent the blade by stropping with too much pressure. When running the blade along my thumb and parallel to it, one side shaves skin off but the other doesn't. Hmm... 6 days and I appear to have fucked it already.
 
Its Always HARD to Comment with New SR Users Cause Hell Knows what they are Doing Wrong...One Thing is for Sure that Razor Took a Superb Shaving Edge...They Can be Blunted By Bad Shaving Technique or Stropping Or Both...Send it Back to Me & I Will Refresh it for Free if it Needs it....Just Return Postage Cost a Pound or So...(y)

I Honed that Razor for Myself & Shaved with it Once & it Shaved Superbly... :p

Billy
 
My piss poor technique is absolutely no reflection on the quality the blade arrived in. The edge was superb when it arrived and I've obviously done something to make a bit of a pig's ear of it. I'll give it a good long strop, shave with it again in a few days then if it doesn't seem to be doing the business I'll take you up on the offer.
 
You can roll an edge whilst stropping. Hard to know if you have.

I would recommend getting a paddle strop if you aren't using one already. That's what I used for years. Still do when I'm traveling and quite frequently for my final laps to test an uncertain blade. The loom strops are better but no need for one of those necessarily.

Always keep your blade flat on the paddle strop and you won't roll it.

To get the stropping motion right practise with a butter knife up and down your leg. You will get the feel of the turn and how the friction builds when you are doing it correctly.

This is a good video showing correct technique :



It's worth getting a couple of paddle strops - one plain and one to use with paste.

Options for paste are :

Thiers Issard - but this is pricey
CrOx or FerOx from Shavers Delight on eBay
The small Solingen crayons in the tiny red box - available on Amazon.

With paste, less is more at first. You can strop a few laps on either the Solingen black or good quality FerOx prior to stropping on leather, but always always clean your blade before moving between strops. (N. B. Solingen Red is not the same micron size as FerOx even though they look the same)
 
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