Thread: First Shave with a Straight

Hi all! Just had my first shave with a straight yesterday and I still here to write about it so I guess that is good. I had been doing my research and watching videos for about a month and decided to give it a go yesterday. I used a Dovo silver steel that was shave ready. Sounds like I'm in the same boat as all the other newbies but I had a lot of pulling (which doesnt' happen with my disposables) and I couldn't get a good lather from my soap. I think I was coming at a good angle of less than 30 degrees but still had a lot of pulling on my 2 days worth of stubble. I shaved everything but my mustache and chin with the straight and finished the rest with my dispoable. Managed to do it without cutting myself. I know I'll have to work on the soap and it will eventually come but should I have stropped the razor before the first shave even though it was shave ready? Thanks

Yes*.

Post shave stropping is to clean and dry the edge.

Pre shave stropping is to remove oxidation and further polish the edge.

*But for some honemeisters now send out an oiled edge so that the newb doesn't ruin the work before he feels a good edge. One simply and carefully wipes away the ol in that case, or just shave it away.

Proper stropping is everything, nearly. Well, improper stropping can undo everything!

"shave ready" also doesn't always turn out to be such.

For a long time I mistook 'resistance' for 'pulling'. The feel of a straight, even a super-sharp straight, is different than a disposable or even a DE safety razor. It's hard to know if it just wasn't sharp enough or if you weren't pulling the skin tight enough or if it really was just resistance.

Where did you buy the razor?

Where did you get the "shave ready" razor from? Some are, some are not. If it was truly shave ready and you did not strop b4 shaving, it should not have pulled. My first new dovo was shave ready from the factory but I purchased online and Lynn made it truly shave ready for me. Great shaver.

Thanks for the replies. I got if from SRD. Could be from multiple things. I didn't really prep first. I just splashed some water and tried to build a lather. The bad lather probably didn't help, kept drying up, probably becasue I was too slow. I think until I really get the hang of using the razor I'm going to do a full prep with a shower and a pre-shave to loosen up.

SRD should be shave ready. Don't give up, it takes time. Technique is definitely a big part of it. You might try a lower angle with the blade. Part of the fun is learning everything.

I remember at first I couldn't get a good lather from my soap either, Lo I even had a post about it "Problems With Lather" but I kept working on it and in a few days I was able to get a good lather on my face. I found for me wetting the brush a light shake a few swirls on the soap just enough to coat the tips and then just working up the lather on my face works best for me.