New on SRP + Problem at first shave.

Hello,

I'm 20y old and from Germany (about 60 km near Solingen).

My SR which I ordered at ebay from "manyware" came today. Together with a Leather/Cotton(?)-Strop.
I did some stropping as dicribed in some youtube-videos and shaved.
Well...
1. my shave isnt that good... some little hairs left
2. I have skin-irritation

Whis will probably be my technique, but what do I do wrong?
Manfred (manyware) said they come sharp from the manufactury and do not require honing for about 1 year.
It was packed as if it was new and never used.
I used palmolive classic cream and a badger-thing (sorry for my bad english)

Please help me

thanks in advance

Alex

man, i forgot to say that I purchased the 4/8 3" long Dovo-Inox
might maybe help

Your English is better than most of the native speakers, congratulations! :-)

First problem: in our general experience, the Dovo from factory razors aren't really sharp enough to give a good shave. They are sharp, but not shaving sharp. The most likely effect of this is that the blade will pull on your beard, which will lead to you putting extra pressure on the blade. This will lead to razor burn, which is when you shave off a sliver of skin, and is a painful red area on your face.

A fully sharp razor needs almost no pressure at all, and should glide over your face. You will need more than one pass to remove all hairs.

A badger brush with palmolive creme is just fine.

One possibility also is that poor strop technique could dull the razor. You need to keep the hanging strop very taut, and keep the razor exactly flat on the strop with almost no pressure. But what you describe is likely to be just the result of the factory edge - see the sticky at the top of this section.

Your best option is to send your razor to one of our expert honers for checking and sharpening; that way you can be sure that it is a sharp as is can be. Both Bruno and LX_Emergency are close to you (in Europe, that is; I think both are in Belgium).

Do I REALLY have to send it away?
I mean, couldn't I strop the razor about 100 Times on the cotton-like thing and about 20 times on the leather side?

doesn't it have a "honing-effect"?

I really have no time and money to send it across the world, but thanks for this idea. (If nothing else will help I'll do that)

Maybe I couild somehow fix the problem myself.

Ideas?

thanks in advance

Alex from Germany

Certainly you can try the linen/leather stropping you described. There is some chance it will improve the edge, and it will take very little time and no money to do this.

However, if this doesn't bring the edge to sufficient sharpness for a comfortable shave then you should consider sending it off to one of the european honemeisters for a good honing.

The strop doesn't really have a honing effect, not in any significant sense. You should be stropping both ways on the leather at least 20-60 times before shaving, every time.

Belgium isn't that far. You are both in the EU, aren't you? :-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GangZda

Hello,

I'm 20y old and from Germany (about 60 km near Solingen).

My SR which I ordered at ebay from "manyware" came today. Together with a Leather/Cotton(?)-Strop.
I did some stropping as dicribed in some youtube-videos and shaved.
Well...
1. my shave isnt that good... some little hairs left
2. I have skin-irritation

Whis will probably be my technique, but what do I do wrong?
Manfred (manyware) said they come sharp from the manufactury and do not require honing for about 1 year.
It was packed as if it was new and never used.
I used palmolive classic cream and a badger-thing (sorry for my bad english)

Please help me

thanks in advance

Alex

---

If you think your shaving problems are bad check out this thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=11434

I can tell you that it gets easier. I have been shaving with a straight for 6 weeks and I am still not getting great shaves. I am now getting shaves that I can live with though and have been improving with time. today I did quite well and although it took me quite a long time It is the best I have done with a str8 Just keep at it

Well, I understand your situation very well. I just received my first razor, a 5/8 Dovo, yesterday. I've been reading up, and watched Lynn Abrams' DVD. His DVD did suggest trying the razor as received , as it may just have a good shaving edge (but not to bet on it). Well, I linen stropped ten times, and then leather stropped 30 times (and put a edge nick in my brand new strop, contact cement here I come :cry:).

After lathering my face, and fumbling around some with methods for grasping the razor to use (Laurel and Hardy would have been proud! :roflmao), I managed to try shaving. First, I cheat, I have a 3/4 beard and thin diameter hair, so I didn't have to endure trying a full face shave. The razor pulled some under the sideburn areas, but came out fairly smooth. The under the throat area beneath the beard pulled even more, and did not shave as well. The small area under my lower lip was difficult too. In the end it was not the best shave, but no cuts or real razorburn (I must have got lucky). I have a 4k/8k Norton, and tried this afternoon a first run pyramid sharpening. I hardly did a perfect job honing, but I have hopes that I have sharpened the blade's edge some, without doing too much damage to the razor edge's bevel (oh please, oh please!). Tomorrow, I'll try again.

Having been twenty, some 24 years ago, I understand funding problems (some things never really change). I came to the understanding that taking up shaving with a straight razor would take some money for at least fair quality materials (badger brush, Dovo razor, Norton 4k/8k home, Dovo strop, mug, mug soap, Lynn's DVD) and lots of time. I'm not the best with my hand skills, but part of the fun for me is trying to pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I'll go to the hone meisters if I can't get my razor shaving passably in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe an older, time experienced barber in your area might be able to help you. That option, if available, might be relatively inexpensive and allow you some hands on experience under personal supervision.

Anyway, from one noob to another, good luck, and hang in there. :tu

Even if you send it off to a US honemeister like Joe or Lynn, it would still only cost about 30eur with shipping. Ironically you could get a shave-ready vintage piece in good shape for that kind of cash. For touchups get a paddle strop from Tony Miller, pasted with 0.5 micron chromium oxide. It will stretch out the time between honings until your budget gets better.

First, welcome aboard Alex!

It takes a while for your face to adjust to a straight razor, since it exfoliates (removes a thin layer of skin cells) when you shave. It may take a couple of weeks for your face to fully adjust.

With a truly sharp razor you need *NO* pressure when shaving. You can search for the famous hanging hair test here. This is a gauge for a sharp razor, but it is not the be-all end-all last word in sharpness. Beginners commonly use too much pressure, simply because we're used to using more pressure.

Plain leather has no honing effect. Rather, it aligns the cutting edge. Most guys find 20-50 round trips (up and back count as one trip) to be adequate. Strop before every shave. Some guys also strop afterward.

Most guys will find two passes are required to achieve "BBS", or baby butt smooth. The first pass is always with the grain, and serves to remove most of the whiskers. Many will do the second pass across the grain, with a third against the grain. Some guys go from with the grain to against the grain. This largely depends on your beard.

The trick for a good shave is two parts: prep & a sharp razor. Prep is the easy part. The sharp razor is the real magic.

Welcome Alex. Even a barber's hone will put an edge on your razor, and depending on the individual razor it may not actually take so long.
Manfred is a great seller, but the fact is that most razors are not sharp enough for shaving out-of-the-box from the maker.
I have made an old Kropp razor shave ready by using a barber's hone as I don't yet own a 4000/8000 waterstone. You can pick up a barber's hone for $10 to $20 on ebay, or you may find one in an antique store. A strop will not sharpen the razor, it will realign the edge of an already sharp razor in preparation for shaving.
There are some good instructional videos and threads to help with learning honing and stropping on this forum. If you don't hone and strop correctly, it will create problems with the edge. Many suggest sending the razor to a honemaster to avoid problems with learning honing technique and so you know what a sharp blade feels like during the shave.
After you have a sharp razor, actual shaving technique can be learned, but straight razor shaving is a steep learning curve and takes time.

OK...
>I have read some posts here in the Noob-forum.
May sound a bit arrogant but:

Whats the big deal with honing and stropping?

I can't say anything about honing, but with stropping:

-tight hold the strop
-little to no pressure on the blade
-right direction + turn over the back of the blade

Thats simply "doing it right" its not an art like playing yoyo or seducing women :D
It's more like driving a car.
Of course you can mess a razor up but you can as well kill yourself while driving.

And about honing:
I dont see ANY possible problems which could happen.

-You get a perfect angle because the blade lies on the stone.


where is the "artistic" part, which would require mastery?

I just can't figure it out.

Thanks for those great answers.

Alex from Germany

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GangZda

OK...
>I have read some posts here in the Noob-forum.
May sound a bit arrogant but:

Whats the big deal with honing and stropping?

I can't say anything about honing, but with stropping:

-tight hold the strop
-little to no pressure on the blade
-right direction + turn over the back of the blade

Thats simply "doing it right" its not an art like playing yoyo or seducing women :D
It's more like driving a car.
Of course you can mess a razor up but you can as well kill yourself while driving.

And about honing:
I dont see ANY possible problems which could happen.

-You get a perfect angle because the blade lies on the stone.


where is the "artistic" part, which would require mastery?

I just can't figure it out.

Thanks for those great answers.

Alex from Germany

---

Yes it all seems very simple doesn't it. Like learning to fly an airplane. You push on the yoke to go down and pull up to go up and turn and push the rudder pedals to turn. Of course when you try your first landing its not so simple. The same with straight shaving. It all seems deceptively simple but when you do it its another matter. Most people when they start wind up dulling their razor because the strop isn't held taught or they use too much pressure or don't hold the razor straight or lift it while stropping. And as to honing I won't even begin to tell you all the things that can go wrong.

No, this isn't rocket science but it does take skill and time to do it all right and guys like Lynn who are true honemeisters have a true skill which is more like an art that few will ever attain.

Unless you have a true gift with this stuff you will learn like the rest of us did.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Yes it all seems very simple doesn't it. Like learning to fly an airplane. You push on the yoke to go down and pull up to go up and turn and push the rudder pedals to turn. Of course when you try your first landing its not so simple. The same with straight shaving.

---

+1 to that! That's why its said that flying is the Second greatest thrill known to man, and Landing is the first. :gl:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GangZda

Do I REALLY have to send it away?
I mean, couldn't I strop the razor about 100 Times on the cotton-like thing and about 20 times on the leather side?

doesn't it have a "honing-effect"?

I really have no time and money to send it across the world, but thanks for this idea. (If nothing else will help I'll do that)

Maybe I couild somehow fix the problem myself.

Ideas?

thanks in advance

Alex from Germany

---

I'm also relatively new but I can assure you that sending your razor out to be honed is your best option. Save yourself the time, pain and frustration of trying to resolve this otherwise.

You'll have a truly shave-ready razor which will give you a baseline for future shaves. After receiving the razor back and using it once, you'll know exactly how the straight should feel.