1st straight razor shave to happen today!

I recently received an Ralf Aust 6/8 Spanish point from SRD along with the other necessary accouterments. According to SRD, the razor arrived shave ready; but, should I still do a pre-shave strop?

On a side note, If I take a hair in my hand (one of my wifes!), should the razor be capable of slicing it like I was slicing a banana or a carrot? Or is this an unrealistic expectation. When I try this, it does not cut. Now I'm not saying the razor is not sharp because it is. It pops arm hairs of in the middle of the hair shaft. I just wanted to get a gauge of what is shave sharp and beyond.

No, don't strop first...if SRD says it's shave-ready it is. 2d, the test of shave readiness is shaving. Go slowly, prep well, then take your time, starting with only your sideburn to chin on your dominant side (right side if right-handed). Almost no pressure is required, and it should wipe the lather (and whiskers) right off, if you've got a good angle (2 spline widths) and good technique. Slow and steady is the way to learn and improve.

Great thanks for the reply on the pre-strop. Let me ask this as well; I will do a single pass with the grain with the straight razor. Now is it better to stop there and let my beard get accustomed to straight razor shaving; or, can I use my DE for second passes to get the smooth shave I like?

I've always finished with my regular razor, partially for appearance (and time's sake) and partially as an experiment about what I'm missing with the straight. Interestingly, as time goes by, I have almost no (zero) beard that I catch with my cartridge razor that I didn't shave off with the straight. Also, I haven't perfected my mustache area with a straight, so I shave there with the regular razor. I don't think your face adapts to a straight, so much as your technique improves with a straight as you get more experience.

That's actually a good series of posts in a thread in this beginner's forum "5th save -- Frustration" that you might want to look at. There are some good tips in the reposes to the original poster. Also, if you haven't already done it, you may want to look at Lynn's post on 1st shaves. There are also some good videos that answer a lot of questions about "now what do I do here?"

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Originally Posted by Fort

I recently received an Ralf Aust 6/8 Spanish point from SRD along with the other necessary accouterments. According to SRD, the razor arrived shave ready; but, should I still do a pre-shave strop?

On a side note, If I take a hair in my hand (one of my wifes!), should the razor be capable of slicing it like I was slicing a banana or a carrot? Or is this an unrealistic expectation. When I try this, it does not cut. Now I'm not saying the razor is not sharp because it is. It pops arm hairs of in the middle of the hair shaft. I just wanted to get a gauge of what is shave sharp and beyond.

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SRD advised me to strop before shaving with the Ralf Aust I got from them. You might want to ask them.
If you slice the air in the same way that you slice a carrot then sure, it should zip through. But that requires you to put the hair on the table, hold it firmly, and then slice - which I am NOT saying to do since that would be madness. The point is that you're pulling an almost weightless, flexible hair across the blade during your test. This isn't how you slice carrots, I'm quite sure :-)
Getting hairs to cut means catching the little scales in the blade edge, which are then sharp enough to slice along the hair or through it, depending on sharpness.

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Originally Posted by Fort

..I will do a single pass with the grain with the straight razor. Now is it better to stop there...?

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Uh huh, it is.

Read the Read this before your first shave in the Beginner section.

Have fun

As for slicing hairs like carrots, I think you mean to hear about the hanging hair test or HHT. In short, it is controversial and can be deceptive.

I find it useful because I always use my girlfriend's hair and it always cuts the same way. You could say I have a calibrated HHT: I know how to interpret the results from doing it several hundreds of times. Try it with one of your own hairs and see if that works. That should also give you an idea as to how different the hair of different people will work, which is one of the reasons why it is such a controversial test.

To perform it, hold the edge of the razor upward and move a hair with the root out down upon it. You'll have to drag it slightly down for the razor to cut the hair. The amount of resistance you feel is an indicator of the sharpness. It is not an indicator of smoothness, which is the most important reason for its controversy: it will not tell you how well the razor in question will shave.

Good luck! Getting used to the HHT will take some time, but I suggest you focus on getting used to straight razor shaving instead :)

From a fellow newbie:

Don't strain and stress your brain too much over it. Just keep the good advice in mind and go for it. If it is suppose to be shave ready, and it hasn't had opportunity to get dull or rusty, then stropping or not stropping before your first shave isn't gonna make all that much difference. Unless of course you DO strop, and mess up your edge with really bogus stropping. So to be logical and cover the most bases, probably it is better to not strop before the first shave, but to definitely strop before every shave after the first one.

I just started shaving with a straight a few days ago. Before that I shaved with a shavette for a couple of weeks, and that was only shortly after being introduced to DE shaving. I am really enjoying my straight razors (I got two of them shave ready, and another that I am fixing to get honed that was my Great Grandpa's) and I have zero regrets about it. No Fear. Jump in flat footed and go for it! There is a lot of great information on this site and the old timers here are ready to help.

Basically if you REALLY want to strop before your first shave, okay, but be super careful. If you don't feel an uncontrolled urge, then wait til your second shave, is my somewhat inexperienced opinion. It's not needed, but it won't hurt nothing if you don't mess up and that's emphasis on the IF.

Thanks Laurens I follow exactly what you are saying about catching an edge on the hair..
TulaneBoy I did exactly what you said and jumped in both feet and shaved my whole face. I posted a new thread about it!