New to straight razors. Looking for advice.

Hi all,

My name is Damien and I am from the Mississippi gulf coast. I have just wet shaved for the first time with my new razor. I bought this razor to learn shaving stropping and honing on. It not a expensive one but from what ive read its a decent begginners razor.

Its a Gold Dollar razor that was shave ready. Here are some pics of my post shave experience of my first shave

http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y.../photo%205.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y.../photo%203.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y.../photo%204.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y.../photo%202.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y...nmckeown/4.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y...nmckeown/3.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y...nmckeown/5.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y...nmckeown/1.jpg

Shave was taken after a hot shower. Stropped the blade the best I know how to. I tried to whip up and lather on some soap with the blades grim smolder but it seemed too watery. It took multiple shaves to get the results maybe 5-10 times a area and it still wasn't cutting the best. most of the trouble came around my jaw line and neck but to be honest the whole shave was trouble.

Any advice, comments, questions, or concerns for a better and more thorough shave would be greatly appreciated.

Soap will kind of thicken if you whip and let it stand while you hot towel your face. As far the trouble with the shave I use a lot of pressure up :& down the neck area ! :rofl2: Just kidding ......just kidding . Soap seriously ......neck NOT :rofl2:

First off, hi Damien and welcome to SRP!

Try not to worry too much at this point. You have just introduced your skin to an entirely new process that you yourself haven't fully learned yet, so irritation, a less than satisfactory shave etc., should not be unexpected. So hang in there as it definitely gets better with time and practice.

That having been said, remember that going over your skin once or twice when new to straight shaving is likely to cause some irritation. Going over it 5x that often will likely cause 5x the irritation.

A common suggestion is to start with just one part of the shave, whatever the easiest, most straight-forward part is. For most guys this is to go with the grain on your cheeks between the sideburn and jaw. Going against the grain will cause more irritation at this point. Going into the trickier areas will likely cause more problems (irritation and/or cuts). Now, if you add those together with going over an area 5-10 times... well, you get the picture.

So one very important consideration at this point is to take your time. Rushing things will not help anything and can make starting with a straight downright miserable. I know - that's what I did.

As AlienEdge (kind of!) hinted at, keep your pressure light. Think of it as wiping the lather off. Also, blade angle is very important. There are different ways to think of angle, but generally 2 spine widths or 30 degrees should be about right for a starting point. When you do go against the grain, you'll want to lower that angle further.

And of course the edge itself is crucial. One vendor's definition of 'shave-ready' will vary from another. So depending on where you purchased the razor, it may or may not actually be "shave-ready". And that can make all the difference. It is also very easy when starting out to mess up the edge when learning to strop.

Did you stretch your skin? When I started I always failed to stretch my skin and had terrible results. That can make a big difference.

Sorry to throw a bunch of variables at you at once. I know that there seems to be a hundred things to think of at once when starting. So my main advice for now is to slow down, focus on the easy bits until you get the process and muscle memory built to a comfortable level, RELAX, and enjoy the process. It will get better, and it will become an enjoyable process with time. :)

I forgot to add these links that you might find helpful:

Beginner's guide to straight razor shaving - Straight Razor Place Library

First straight razor shave - Straight Razor Place Library

The Shave Ready Razor - Straight Razor Place Library

first: Welcome to SRP

Second: and most importantly, Its my turn to finally get to say this!!!!!!!!

Gold dollar razors are not recommend here! If budget is of concern try the classifieds here, pretty good deals. I bought my first razor here from the classifieds. some people that are good with tools and can make gold dollar razor shaveable. I am not one of the them. but they are generally not recommend for beginners.

happy shaves.

well this is all great advice. Thank you so much. yes I did fail to stretch the skin as flat as possible and I know my angle is fair from perfect for sure as of now. I was very impressed though because I didn't get one single nick or cut/ blood loss.

Does anyone have any recommendations for pre shaving besides keeping the hair hot and moist? maybe a way to protect from skin irrication or making the blade glide smoother? Or about post shaves. what do yall prefer? Id like to have some type of moisturizer for irritation and soothing but I'm not to keen on after shaves with alchohol and synthetic chemicals. just something natural and fresh.

I guess I'm just gunna have to make this gold dollar work as best I can till I find a good replacement.

Then the best advise if you choose to hear it us to send it to a pro honer who shaves with a straight , not some knife guy, if you can find someone good who will mess with a gold dollar, then you will have a better chance at a good shave , plus read the beginners section and don't try to shave all at once till you learn the angles and touch. Also after you get your razor honed( cause I'm sure it needs it) learn to strop, and there is lots of advise in the beginners section on it, probably the most important thing for you to learn. Good idea is read Razorfelds. November tips on the main page , then you will get this art down a little quicker , but it still takes time 100 shaves or more is a benchmark , Good luck. Tc

Here's one thing to ponder on. I do not know how many centuries man has been shaving. What I do know is the fact that hot water in the house is a relatively modern concept. The norm for all those previous centuries has been to shave with what ever the water temperature was at the moment of shaving. That could be anything from room temperature to the temperature of the well water or stream water. Many, many shavers today are what we call cold water shavers. that can be cold water from the tap, lukewarm water from the tap or ice cold refrigerated water. One of the main benefits is that despite present shaving skills cold water shaving helps reduce the irritation level. I would suggest that you use lukewarm or cold tap water to build your lather and for your shave with a cold water rinse after. Later, when your skills are producing darn good shaves experiment with very warm and/or hot water and decide for yourself what suits you best.

And astc says, ge the darn thing pro honed and search for a good vintage razor (SRP classifieds are a good place.)

Does anyone have any recommendation for a good honer?

Our classifieds have some advertisements , in the vendors section , I,m sending a pm to you but not sure if my guy will mess with them but you can try, but there are a few guys here who can give you a great edge, tc

Anyone advertising honing services in the Classifieds is a good choice.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Damienqwerty

Hi all,

My name is Damien and I am from the Mississippi gulf coast. I have just wet shaved for the first time with my new razor.
.....
Shave was taken after a hot shower. Stropped the blade the best I know how to. I tried to whip up and lather on some soap with the blades grim smolder but it seemed too watery. It took multiple shaves to get the results maybe 5-10 times a area and it still wasn't cutting the best. most of the trouble came around my jaw line and neck but to be honest the whole shave was trouble.

Any advice, comments, questions, or concerns for a better and more thorough shave would be greatly appreciated.

---

My favorite topic is "latherin".
It is key to a quality shave even when using the inexpensive yellow handled BiC disposable razors for sensitive skin.

The brush need not be expensive: Omega 10098 Professional Boar shaving Brush is a bargain at $15.
The shave cream need not be expensive: Proraso Shaving Cream is a good choice for beginners.
A shave soap should not be expensive. A pea sized touch of Proraso will allow even Williams to lather for beginners.
Van Der Hagen Shave Soap works for some. The VDH package set of brush+soap+bowl has gone up in
price but works for many and can be found at Walmart.

So along the line of "Any Advice":
Keep on wet shaving...
BiC Yellow handled razor for sensitive skin are your reference and safety net.
Work on lathering each day, make at least two batches of lather just to practice.
Keep after your gold dollar. They are difficult to hone well but some can be sharpened.
Pull the GD out once or twice a week and practice. We all have tried a GD and results are very mixed. Sometime
we translate GD to a vindictive, cuss words and occasionally to a razor brand.
I am lucky and have a GD razor.

A glance at your pictures, your razor is dull.
Try a yellow handle BiC the blade is calm and not crazy sharp.
The single blade in the BiC will condition your face for other razors.
The largish window rinses well and handles many days of whiskers better
and is kinder to skin than the multiple blade things.

Hi and Welcome,
My best tips would be to really spend time on softening the whiskers, two or three hot towels, and then lather up and rub the lather into your beard with your fingers, then put a hot towel over the lather and then re lather and shave. The softer you can get your whiskers the easier it will be. Finish off with an Alum block rubbed over your face, it will sting but it's a good indication of where you got to close, and it also helps, in my opinion, with mitigating razor rash. Leave it on for a minute or so then wash it off and put whatever balm you like on. I use pure Aloe Vera and it seems to help settle your skin down. I've only been at straight shaving for three months, shaving everyday, and it really does get a lot better as you become more familiar with your razor and your face, but go slooooow.
Good luck.

I'm a newbie too. though using a feather ss shavette currently. All I can add is use very light pressure, and short strokes. take your time. there are so many good youtube videos on straight shaving as well. stay at it!

another fellow newb here! I just finished my first atempt and it turned out better than expected. I got two nicks but no bleeders (I've had much worse and more DE shaving). It did take me at least three rimes as long as when I DE shave and of course never got as good of results BUT it was a good first attempt. I think the keys are light pressure (lighter than you imagine originally), short strokes, reapplying lather if it dries out (I took so much time I had to reapply a bunch, and switching hands are key. I'm right handed but found it much easier to do my left side with my left hand. I never got a perfect shave but I quit while I was aahead (no slices in order to gain confidence). I see most videos and write ups say to do just one cheek and stop but I like to jump in head first in most things I do so I tried the whole shave (minus adams apple and chin curve)

here are three videos i found informative

https://youtu.be/rUsE9TIUMl0 (10 tips)

https://youtu.be/mVjU1f0lye0 (stropping)

https://youtu.be/

I got a whipped dog "sight unseen" straight (whippeddog.com) and I'm more than happy with it. He sells them shave ready and he does offer honing service so I'm gonna plug him as it was the second order I did with him and he's a top notch guy in service and communication.

I had these issues in the beginning as well, turns out the problem was 3 fold, firstly my skin wasn't used to it, so it's natural to have some irritation. Secondly, I wasn't using the right angle, I was more so dragging it down my jaw, which wasn't cutting my hair but rather scraping the surface of my skin off. Lastly, I was stropping wrong and rolling the edge.

Good news is: all of these are beginner's learnings. :) You'll get it in due time!

Keep shaving!!

Another place to find a good razor is an Antique shop!. I have 3 that I've bought and shave with 2 of them. they are usually $15.00 to $30.00 some may need a little work done to them but its better than buying a $200.00 razor and then messing it up by improper stropping or honing. I have a cheap AZCO razor that I'm practicing stropping with. BTW, I'm new here also, finished my 2nd shave this morning.