My Razor arrived and I shaved!

I ordered the Dovo 5/8 silver steel with ebony scales (wet shave set) off of Straight Razor Designs and after what seemed like an eternity (one week, with which I was impressed as I live on Vancouver Island) my package arrived! The pictures of the straight do not do it justice! She is a beauty. My first shave went really well. Long really hot shower, and towel, followed by lathering. (I did not strop as I did not want to ruin the honed, shave ready blade, I did however remove the oil) Safe to say almost 45 minutes, and one single little cut, later I finished and my face has not felt this smooth since my facial hair began! Styptic Pencil burned like nobody's business but because of that aftershave no longer does! BONUS!

The tutorial video I watched on the weekend and just before shaving was this one

Straight Razor Shaving Technique - YouTube

I do have a couple of questions:

1. during my shave I removed the soap and hair off of the blade by pulling it on a towel with the spine leading. good or bad? and if bad any suggestions?

2. After I was done shaving I rinsed my blade with hot water, careful not to get the scales wet, and dried the blade and scales with paper towel. She is now resting open air drying to make sure there is no water left. Is this a proper drying procedure?

Don't see anything wrong with what your doing. I use a damp sponge to wipe my blades off and a towel at times, there's more than one way... I rinse my blade in much the same manner, then strop it, and douse it with some rubbing alcohol, and wipe dry with a tissue. Then I close it up and place it back in my rack.

I don't feel it is as important to not get the scales wet as it is to get the area between the scales and around the pivot pin dry. I understand you have wood scales, I had the same razor and treated it the same way as described above with no issue.

Congratulations both for your achievement and for having started using a straight razor! As this is your first time with a straight razor, I think you did a great job, in particular for having got just one single little cut. Welcome to the art of fine shaves!
As for your question, it generally is fine to remove soap from the blade by using a towel, even though this could dull the razor's edge if case you use too much pressure. It is safer to rinse it few seconds under running water.
As for cleaning and drying the razor, you are doing it right. Also in this case be careful not to leave water in the edge, as this could bring rust and ruin the blade. It is a good practice to strop the razor after you wiped and dried it in order to remove any water from the edge. Then you can leave it to open air for some hours.
Also remember strop and stropping is very important and fundamental both for the quality of shave and for your razor's life. Learn how to properly strop and make sure you always do it right. Stropping is very important and you should not take this lightly.
One final advice: with straight razors pressure is always bad. This is true for everything concerning straight razors and shaving with them, from honing to cleaning.
Enjoy your new razor and have fun!

I do what Lynn does in this video (use water to gently rinse the lather off the blade and at the end wipe with a towel):
Straight Razor Maintenance - YouTube

After I am done, I make sure that my razor is dry and put my razor in an open space to let it dry off completely.

Wow! Thanks for the speed replies! I just thought of two more questions one regarding soaps and the other my strop.

1. right now I am using the unscented soap from SRD and what I have done is cut quarter out of the tub and placed it in the mug. my question is how does this soap compare to other ie. Williams mug soap?

2. my strop is the basic 2" red latigo with the matched webbing. I am guessing that for now this is sufficient. here my question(s) is the matched webbing really all that great and personal preference --- wooden or "belt" strop?

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Originally Posted by Brightblade

Wow! Thanks for the speed replies! I just thought of two more questions one regarding soaps and the other my strop.

1. right now I am using the unscented soap from SRD and what I have done is cut quarter out of the tub and placed it in the mug. my question is how does this soap compare to other ie. Williams mug soap?

2. my strop is the basic 2" red latigo with the matched webbing. I am guessing that for now this is sufficient. here my question(s) is the matched webbing really all that great and personal preference --- wooden or "belt" strop?

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Never used SRD soap, but I'll bet it's way better than Williams mug soap :). Nothing wrong with a 2" strop, I started with a 2.5" then 3" and found I prefer the 2", as far as the webbing I don't care for it, if you look at SRD strop shop I'm pretty sure they have options for that part of your strop, so you could replace it. But they all perform the same function.