Few questions before first shave

Well USPS finally decided to show up so my new kit from SRD is here(YAY). Just got a few questions I didn't think about before now

1. This kit came with Razor oil. Is this something that needs to be applied before its put away at the end of a shave, or is it more for if the razor is not going to be used for a few days or more?

2. I've heard that for the first shave with a properly honed razor you should just shave and not strop until the second use, is there merit in this?

3. For the strop, I normally use neatsfoot oil to condition the other leather goods I work with, will this oil interfere with the razor during stropping or is it safe to use every once and awhile to keep the strop in good shape?

I don't have razor oil so I can't answer question 1 (although I will watch to see what others say).

2. If your razor was properly honed by SRD, then I'd use it once before stropping so you get a feel for what the blade should feel like. You'll mess up stropping at first, then get it honed again once you have it down.

3. I use neatsfoot oil on my strop and it never caused a problem. I just heard you should let it dry completely before stropping again.

Welcome to the group!

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Originally Posted by Dave851

Well USPS finally decided to show up so my new kit from SRD is here(YAY). Just got a few questions I didn't think about before now

1. This kit came with Razor oil. Is this something that needs to be applied before its put away at the end of a shave, or is it more for if the razor is not going to be used for a few days or more?

2. I've heard that for the first shave with a properly honed razor you should just shave and not strop until the second use, is there merit in this?

3. For the strop, I normally use neatsfoot oil to condition the other leather goods I work with, will this oil interfere with the razor during stropping or is it safe to use every once and awhile to keep the strop in good shape?

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1. If you live or store the razors in a high humidity area a thin, thin coat applied after each use will keep them in shape. When you run out of the 'razor oil' use mineral oil (probably the same thing) and a hell of a lot cheaper.

2. If the razor came from a source that absolutely hones all razors before they are mailed out then, by all means, DO NOT strop before first use. That way you will know, for certain, what a razor should feel and shave like. Then, if your stropping technique is good, you should be able to maintain the razor for months to come.

3. I, and many others are purists when it comes to new strops. With a daily rubbing of the strop with your hand, after running your hand over your face and forehead, you need no other or further kind of maintenance. Neatsfoot and other conditioning oils are best used for reviving vintage strops that haven't been used in a long, long time.

Good luck and enjoy your straight razor shave.

Pretty much as above
1. Use the oil for storage and maybe a drop on the hinge pin once a week.

2. Do not strop that razor before you use it. SRP sends them out ready to shave with.

3. The SRP strops do not need to be immediately conditioned. Palm condition it every time you shave and you can go for months without the conditioning oils, but neatsfoot is a good choice.

I know that you are excited, but remember to breathe and take it slow. :)

Thanks for the information everyone. I wasn't planning on using the neatsfoot oil on a schedule, only if/when the leather started to dry out. Didn't think of using people oil however, but it makes sense to me, the leather goods that I make that are handled by people more often tend to not need as much conditioning. Wouldn't consider update new york in the winter a humid environment, all the moisture turns into snow around here.

Going to wait till Friday evening for the first shave, hopefully next time I post its not in the cut of the day. Now I'm just going to carefully clean up the oil, its been getting a little everywhere since I took the razor out and moved it into the small cloth pouch. Good thing its not like some oils that just do not want to ever come off a surface and leave the area oily for days/weeks/ever.

Great advice from the guys. If you got one of the silicone cloth razor pouches from SRD then you shouldn't need to use the oil as the pouch acts as the protectant

Good luck with your first shave. Just relax and take your time to enjoy it.

Bob

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Originally Posted by Razorfeld

1. If you live or store the razors in a high humidity area a thin, thin coat applied after each use will keep them in shape. When you run out of the 'razor oil' use mineral oil (probably the same thing) and a hell of a lot cheaper.

2. If the razor came from a source that absolutely hones all razors before they are mailed out then, by all means, DO NOT strop before first use. That way you will know, for certain, what a razor should feel and shave like. Then, if your stropping technique is good, you should be able to maintain the razor for months to come.

3. I, and many others are purists when it comes to new strops. With a daily rubbing of the strop with your hand, after running your hand over your face and forehead, you need no other or further kind of maintenance. Neatsfoot and other conditioning oils are best used for reviving vintage strops that haven't been used in a long, long time.

Good luck and enjoy your straight razor shave.

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Quoted for agreement.

Well, little good new little bad news. Good thing is that I stayed out of the cut of the day and I would consider the shave overall productive for a first try. But I would not call it successful. Here's how it went.

Tried to go build up a lather. Put a little bit of water on the soap as I soaked the brush for a little bit. Had some trouble getting some soap of the puck, so when I transferred to the mug I just didn't end up having enough. Played around with adding water anyways to at least see if I could get a decent lather, ending up adding to much water and wow is it clear when you do that. All the lather basically turned to soup and ran out of the brush.

So dumped and cleaned the brush and mug to start again. Second time I left more of a thin layer of water on the soap as oppose to some water drops across the surface. Had a much better time getting soap off the puck. Worked up what I though was an OK lather and went for it. Was not comfortable at all. I believe it was 'tugging', tried playing with the angle a bit with no luck. If I used a very light touch, the blade would not glide for me and felt "sticky" at a higher angle, and with a lower angle did not appear to shave at all and just removed some lather. Went back to the lather again because I know that's suppose to help with things like this. Was able to add a fair amount of water without turning in into soup again. Was better, but still wasn't comfortable and was still sticking/tugging. I ended up stopping because partly I ran out of sections on my face to use, and well I wasn't exactly getting all that far. No lasting irritation might I add, little cold water splash and it felt much better. Time to go read up on lather (again).

Now for the questions.
In regards to the angle, is it possible that I just simply didn't notice that it was actually shaving? What type of feedback from the razor should I expect when I have the right angle?
How much downward force is normally needed to push the razor? I was under the assumption it should be very little.
I did not strop the razor this time, and did not bang it around, after I was done I just wiped it off with a microfiber cloth i had around. Is there anything I could have done to end up dulling the razor making it tug?

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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+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.