Thread: a little piece of advice from shaving masters

Quote:
On the second pass I actually had to THINK about not being over confident as I've read that it is how you get cut, so that kept me in check! Haha!

Loving this wet shaving thing so far!



As a newbie also, I had a couple days of getting cuts and realized that I was being overconfident and using too much pressure. Once I realized that, things got better immediately.
Your last sentence is why I use a straight. Shaving went from a dreaded chore to a pleasure.

I'm not any bit of a shaving master, but I think the other night I had a shaving eureka moment. For the past several months I have been worrying about all the mechanics of shaving and focusing on all of the imperfect moments during my shave. Then all of a sudden I thought to myself "Just shave". I just quit worrying about how I need to stretch my skin and what is perfect angle of my blade, and just thought to myself stretch and shave and enjoy the moment. I think many a times we get so stuck in how to have the perfect shave instead of just enjoying each stroke. When I did that, I seem to have enjoyed it a lot more.

Hi everyone!
It's been 4 months since I started this thread and jumped into the SR world!
I can't express how much help this forum has been from the beginning. Such a wonderful source of information!

As far as progress goes, only 1 tinny nick once from an ingrown hair I didn't spot before it was too late. So I can't really complain!
I think I've got the WTG and XTG (have not tried ATG yet). 2 passes every 2 days has been a great routine so far.
I still need to work on my lather, but I just went back into the wiki pages of this forum and I think I'm just making it too dry (will give it a try with more water tomorrow).
I've been really happy with my TI Le Dandy 5/8 but I've used my trip to France to get a new TI (you know, getting a French Razor while in France, found it neat) and got myself a 6/8 Spartacus with red stamina scale.



Can't stop looking at it!
First shave with it was a bit rough (just out of the factory, I will send it to Lynn as soon as I get back to the US) but still pleasant. I just passed it a 100 times on the leather paddle I brought with me so next shave should be a bit smoother hopefully.
Which brings me to my question today!
I think I've been doing a decent job stropping as a beginner. It's been 4 months using my Le Dandy and I'm just thinking about sending it back for my free honing (and ask in the process how good of a job I did maintaining the edge).
This is what I've been using to strop:
classic edge strop
I am now about to get a real hanging strop with lather and canvas and some chromium oxide in the hope to keep my razor shave ready even longer before sending it for honing.
SO:

Should I then use my old paddle strop for the green paste or get a balsa paddle?

Hope I'm not opening a can of worm with this question!

Cheers.

To my personal experience i went whit whipped dog straight and poor man strop. The razor was $23 dollars and the poor man strop was $25 and the balsa strope whit green an red oxide was include. The instructions where also very complete, it was IMO a good way to start. I found it kind of hard when i started but now i get BBS shave after few months. Has for the addiction YES i'm adicted i've got 4 straights and 2 mores hare comming for me, the thing is i still have my first straight and it's a keeper. IMO maybe you should start whit a 5/8 rouded or square muted point and after you get the use to it you'll be able to choose what you want. Take you time dont be in a rush whatch the curves of your face(neck) and the direction of the growth, and also learned proper stropping that's also really important. Improper stropping will give you bad shaving experience take the time to watch videos to read and if needed just take a kitchen(butter knive) to practice. Have great shaves

Originally Posted by LeNoun

Should I then use my old paddle strop for the green paste or get a balsa paddle?

Hope I'm not opening a can of worm with this question!

Either way. If you paste a piece of balsa you can use your paddle strop for traveling if you need it, which some people prefer instead of packing a hanging strop.

Most important is that you're doing well with stropping and shaving since you've gotten several months with stropping on the leather only and not having to touch up the razor. Extending that further by adding light abrasive to the maintenance shouldn't cause you any difficulty.

Originally Posted by gugi

Either way. If you paste a piece of balsa you can use your paddle strop for traveling if you need it, which some people prefer instead of packing a hanging strop.

Most important is that you're doing well with stropping and shaving since you've gotten several months with stropping on the leather only and not having to touch up the razor. Extending that further by adding light abrasive to the maintenance shouldn't cause you any difficulty.

Great! That's what I was thinking. The small paddle is indeed great for traveling so I will just get a balsa paddle to apply green paste to it.
Thanks a bunch!

A viable alternative to balsa, one that I prefer, is the inside of a cereal box.