Thread: First post, 2 shaves in

Hi everyone,

I recently got my hands on a Ralph Aust 5/8 full hollow from SRD along with the 3" leather and pressed felt strops. Also got some Chrom Ox spray for the felt for later use.

I've been a DE user for almost a year (after switching from the mach 3s) and loved it. I never thought it would lead to this straight razor path so soon... if ever.

Anyhow, after doing a ton of research (read lurking) on these forums, I finally bit the bullet and went for it. The razor arrived very fast (Great service with replying to emails and questions). After reviewing Lynn's videos on stropping for the 20th time, I gave it a shot (no nicks on the leather yet) and the razor popped the hairs from my arm. But I'm figuring that has more to do with Lynn's honing than anything . Well after prepping my face, which is no different than the routine I use for my DE, I started with just the sides as per the conventional forum advice. First few strokes I had to find the angle, but finally, success! Against better judgement, I figure I would just dive into a full shave. What's the worse that could happen?

Well, I'll be happy to report that I manage complete a full shave with no cuts, blood or anything on my first attempt. Was shave perfect? No, but wasn't that much worse than my DE. My second attempt was slightly better and again, no nicks or cuts of any sort.

Just curious if this is typical for beginners or if this is just beginner's luck and that karma will rear it's ugly head eventually. Also, I think I'm doing the stropping correctly as the shaves are relatively effortless (once i get the right angle) and as mentioned before, I'm able to just pop the hairs on my arm off. At what point will a brand new razor give me feedback if the stropping has been done incorrectly. Or would i know right away?

Anyhow, this is a great forum. Thanks for the knowledge!

Sounds like you had a better start than i i did, well done. Just don't get over confident, they can bite better than any DE. With correct stropping, you can get alot of shaves, and you will feel the razor when it isn't right.

Hell of a lot better than my first couple shaves...I transitioned from a mach 3 and brought all the pressure with me, so I had razor burn worse than I'd ever had it... my face looked like it was wind burnt every day for at least a week. I've had friends who were already using a DE and used a straight without much problems. I wouldn't worry about cuts... It'll fix itself.

I can definitely tell a difference in a blade that was just honed or shaved with and then after stropping. It'll cut armhair midway differently and the HHT will pop it differently. When I started, I barely used any pressure when stropping until I went to a meet and gssixgun told me to use some pressure. I wasn't damaging it, I just wasn't helping it out. You can take a razor that you just shaved with, perform some sort of test (AHT, HHT...etc) strop it and test every 10 laps until you don't think you're improving the edge any longer. I noticed different blades needed more or less than others for the same effect and my Roo strop requires me to do 20 or so more laps and use a little more pressure than I do with a thicker strop that has more draw.

If my razor doesn't glide down my cheek, cutting hair effortlessly right away and I've done a really good pre-shave prep, I'll check my angle then strop it over again, relather and test. If it's still pulling a little and I have time, I'll do about 7 laps on the CrO3 on the back of my strop, restrop and shave. Because I rehone at least one of my razors daily for practice, I haven't ever had that not work.

Congrats. You're a step ahead with the lathering process with the DE so that's a good thing.
As far as sharpness, I've learned (as everyone has said) that you need to use the shave as a real test. I have a razor I'm trying to hone that's giving me trouble. It'll pop hairs but doesn't shave that well at all yet.
Good luck - sounds like you're in full swing!

That is one of the best starts I have ever read. Congratulations! My first couple of shaves went quite well (not quite as well as yours though I think) but then I became overconfident and got a couple of really good cuts in the beginning. Invariably they were from not paying full and complete attention and paying attention to pressure and angle so all user error. Make sure you focus completely on what you are doing always and don't get too confident! A straight can bite a veteran just as deeply as a newb if one is not paying compete attention to what they are doing!

All the best and enjoy! It only gets better.