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Thread: New to straight razors. Looking for advice.

  1. #1
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    Default 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.

  2. #2
    Senior Member AlienEdge's Avatar
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    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 ! Just kidding ......just kidding . Soap seriously ......neck NOT

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    Incidere in dimidium Cangooner's Avatar
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    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.

    It was in original condition, faded red, well-worn, but nice.
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    Incidere in dimidium Cangooner's Avatar
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    niftyshaving likes this.

    It was in original condition, faded red, well-worn, but nice.
    This was and still is my favorite combination; beautiful, original, and worn.
    -Neil Young

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    Senior Member Mafuzul's Avatar
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    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.
    "Everybody owes, everybody pays. Because that's how you stand up against the rising of the tide."

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    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.

  8. #7
    Senior Member blabbermouth tcrideshd's Avatar
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    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
    Razorfeld likes this.
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    Moderator Razorfeld's Avatar
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    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.)
    DeObfuscate likes this.
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    Does anyone have any recommendation for a good honer?

  11. #10
    Senior Member blabbermouth tcrideshd's Avatar
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    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
    “ I,m getting the impression that everyone thinks I have TIME to fix their bikes”

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