Thread: Few questions before first shave

Originally Posted by Grazor

First question would be "Did you strop before shave?". If not, then I would say, lather possibly still too thin, and, or razor angle too steep. Try making your lather too thick, and then thin it out till it is almost like whipped cream. Keep an eye on your angle next shave. Just do one cheek with your dominant hand, with no pressure, gentle short strokes, and check results. It is a bit hard to get past the first few steps, but worth the effort. Best of luck.

I did not strop before this first shave, following the advice that because this came professionally honed by SRD that it was not 100% necessary and now when I strop before the next shave I may be able to tell if I messed up the edge by stropping. Was only working on my dominate side, tried my check and some of my neck.

Think I may have ended up making the lather a bit to thin. Was able to see some skin tone though it most of the time and now looking back at videos there's looks thicker, dunno if its just the camera tho.

Originally Posted by Dave851

I did not strop before this first shave, following the advice that because this came professionally honed by SRD that it was not 100% necessary and now when I strop before the next shave I may be able to tell if I messed up the edge by stropping. Was only working on my dominate side, tried my check and some of my neck.

Think I may have ended up making the lather a bit to thin. Was able to see some skin tone though it most of the time and now looking back at videos there's looks thicker, dunno if its just the camera tho.

Ok, try waiting 2 days before next shave. Practice making a lather, soap is relatively cheap, and I find it easier to make it too thick and then thin it out from there. It doesn't take much water, just add a couple of drops at a time. Also a good idea I picked up here is practice stropping with a blunt butter knife, or something similar. Helps get your technique right. The razor should be good for another shave at least before you attempt stropping it. With 2 days growth, you should be able to see whiskers in lather. Start with blade near flat on cheek, and adjust angle slightly till you feel it working, should be no more than 30 degrees. Hope this helps, hang in there.

Well I still have plenty of whiskers right now. Before the shave attempt it was 3-4 days growth. Don't use the electric every day because it irritates me quiet badly. Used cartridges, till I say how absurd the cost of heads will be, in the trash that went.

Think what happened was in the beginning I wasn't using enough water and then I was just putting to much water thinking more water would allow it to glide better. Soap isn't much at all, and it seems like I didn't even put a dent in it. Either way next thing on the list is that SRD sample pack. Using unscented right now because I don't have the slightest idea what any of the others smell like.

. . . Start with blade near flat on cheek, and adjust angle slightly till you feel it working, should be no more than 30 degrees.

+1.

When the razor starts to cut, you'll know it. Each hair, as it's cut, will vibrate your razor hand.

The razor might be not quite sharp, but it sounds like you're having trouble building a good lather. If the soap is something that SRD sells, it's probably your "fault". If not, it may just be poor-quality soap.

These things take time to learn.

. Charles

Alright, attempt number two went much better. Pretty sure my lathering still needs some work but I managed to shave most of the side of my face that my dominate hand is on. Did a few different, not exactly sure what helped and what didn't but at least its getting better. First thing is I gently ran my thumb over the edge before I started and I don't exactly how to explain it but it just felt a lot different then how it did when I first received it even tho the only things it ever touched was my face and a soft towel just to dry it off. So I went ahead and stropped it. after that it felt much closer to how it did when I first received it. Also during the shave think I managed to finally find the right angle as well. Wasn't able to get that angle the entire time but when I did it would just stop tugging entirely while still shaving. Now I just need to keep working on my lather.

ill throw one more thing out there ,,, stretching the skin ,, takes some time to get that down , but your whiskers will pop better as your skin is stretched, and when your blade is right it doesn't take any effort ,, but right now , 99% of it is technique, you wont get this down for even the first 30 shaves ,,, but you,ll get better on everyone .. good luck tc

Hiya Dave 851,

Welcome to the club, with the soap I found it useful to put it in scolding water from the tap, the soap softens up for you that way.

Make sure that your brush is soaked (5 - 10 min) depending on what it is made from, you will notice the bristles Bloom (become hydrated).

When you put brush to soap you are looking for a white gluggy consistency in the brush (almost sticky) and then you know that it is loaded.

When making lather I look for a slightly sticky sensation in the bowl, if it is too sticky I put some more water in, if it is too slippery I know that there is too much water. Eventually you will just know how much water is needed and get it down to adding one or two glugs.

With the angle, the sweet spot is usually one and a half to two spine widths off your skin. Take stropping slowly, I usually strop after use. Use the micro fibre towel or some toilet paper to rub excess moisture from your razor. Then strop for about 15 - 20 passes, this will first remove large cooties from the edge so they do not get on your strop and then stropping drys out and straightens the edge after shaving.

There is a fair bit on how the edge can rust on a microscopic level without basic care after shaving. If you have not then don't freak out just make sure you do not too often. You can leave the blade open after stropping to make sure it dries out but I rarely do this unless I am watching the razor (I do not want my wife to hurt herself or the razor).

Have fun.....

Yea I forgot where I read that but what I have been doing is just pass the soap under hot water so the surface is just wet, the put the brush in my mug full of hot water to soak while I strop. Works out pretty well, then I can load up the brush without lather starting to form on the soap, never gets past that thick paste consistency(unless I didn't shake out my brush enough). I have actually been stropping before and after shaves. Might be overkill but the extra practice is paying off, only got some tiny nicks on the edges near the ends of the strop, can't even see them from a distance. Overall I feel that my stropping has improved to the point where I will not dull razors and my lathering is almost there. I just have to remember to check/add water in between passes.

Definitely getting better. Not there yet but can at least do with the grain and cross the grain on all but my chin, that's still being stubborn can't figure out how to stretch the skin properly yet. Also picked up some Nivea aftershave at walgreens, works well to to ease the razor burn I end up with sometimes on my neck and failed chin attempts. Next on the list is that 11 soap SRD sample pack, because I have absolutely no idea what any of the scents listed even remotely smell like(other then orange and lime).

Holding off on getting the sample pack for now because this unscented soap doesn't bother me and from the looks of it I haven't even put a dent in it. Figuring next order from them I will pick up a set of hones with the sample pack, by that time I will have most likely already used my one free honing. They have the stones I was looking to get for cheaper then anywhere else I have seen so far. Already have a DMT coarse diamond plate from other uses that still in good shape. Just going to for a Norton 4/8k and a Naniwa 12k for a finisher. Don't think i'll need lower then 4k, but then again what do I know I haven't learned how to hone yet. I'm thinking I'll be sending out the razor for that free hone after I get my technique figured out for the most part, when I first started my technique was pretty bad so I'm not to sure I even have a good benchmark of how sharp it should be since I wasn't really able to complete a pass and find that magic angle until my 2/3 shave, at which point I had already stropped the razor and possibly dulled it. Still not sure if its my technique that's causing the large amount of pull when I try to shave my chin making it impossible or if I actually dulled the razor when on the first/second time on the strop. Going to keep working on my technique anyways before sending it out. Want to be good enough so that I know I'm not going to dull it right away on the strop and get a good benchmark for when I have to hone it myself down the road.