Thread: Beginners try

Hey guys,
Just bought my first straight razor a few days ago, shaved twice with it.
It came presharpened, but i chucked it on the hone first just to make sure, left it 20 mins then stroped it. With both things i did my best to keep the spine on the stone and the strop in order to achieve consistency.
Got a decent shave, and a couple battle wounds from it to haha
Im quick to recognise the learning curve, especially because I can feel like the razor is pulling at the hairs instead.
I have absolutly no doubt that with practise will come more results.
Anybody got any advice for this newbie to make sure im practicing the right things

Cheers

Welcome.
What brand of razor? Where purchased? Where are you located?
Have it professionally honed so you know how it should shave.
Pictures, pictures, pictures!!I

Nice Mackey96, we're in the same boat. Together we can do this hahah!

Cal

if it's seems to be pulling hairs, it's not sharp enough.
As Bouschie said, send it out to be professionally honed.

When you say the razor came pre sharpened do you mean with the factory edge or with an edge that someone did before sending it to you? If it was not a factory edge but one done by a honemeister where you bought the razor then your first mistakes were to put it on a hone and stropping it. A shave ready edge from a honemeister is just that shave ready. If you have never honed a razor before or stropped a razor before you may have dulled the edge on a shave ready razor.

Then there is the question of is your lather good enough. If you have never used a brush and shave soap before it may not have been good enough.

Lastly there is the matter of shaving technique which generally in not very good first time out the gate. Even if you did not dull the razor honing and stropping it and your lather was good, poor shaving technique could still make a perfectly fine edge feel like it is pulling.

There are so many variables that it would be difficult to say any tips to improve your shave. Not to worry most of us start out this way and made it through.

Bob

Welcome to SRP. What you've done is like what I used to do when I'd get some table, or whatever, that had to be assembled. I'd go ahead and get at it without reading the instructions. Sometimes that worked, and other times it didn't. We have a lot of 'sticky' threads for beginning shaving, stropping, and honing. Videos and what have you. I always made out better when I read the instructions before I got started.

IME it is best to have at least one, if not two, pro honed razors to shave with. Buy used razors in excellent or better condition to practice honing and stropping. Here is a PDF excerpt on honing and stropping from the SRP Library. It is from a 1961 barber manual and helped me when I was starting out.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...t_-_Honing.pdf

Originally Posted by bouschie

Welcome.
What brand of razor? Where purchased? Where are you located?
Have it professionally honed so you know how it should shave.
Pictures, pictures, pictures!!I

Hi mate
Its a wahl razor, bought from a place called the shaver shop, and im from Bligh Park outside of sydney.


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Originally Posted by BobH

When you say the razor came pre sharpened do you mean with the factory edge or with an edge that someone did before sending it to you? If it was not a factory edge but one done by a honemeister where you bought the razor then your first mistakes were to put it on a hone and stropping it. A shave ready edge from a honemeister is just that shave ready. If you have never honed a razor before or stropped a razor before you may have dulled the edge on a shave ready razor.

Then there is the question of is your lather good enough. If you have never used a brush and shave soap before it may not have been good enough.

Lastly there is the matter of shaving technique which generally in not very good first time out the gate. Even if you did not dull the razor honing and stropping it and your lather was good, poor shaving technique could still make a perfectly fine edge feel like it is pulling.

There are so many variables that it would be difficult to say any tips to improve your shave. Not to worry most of us start out this way and made it through.

Bob

Hi there,
I bought it from a place called the shaver shop, and it was advertised as “shave ready from the factory”, but hadent been honed by any body.
Cheers for the tip on the lather, ill try to get more of one going next time.
Do you have any advice for making sure im stropping and honing correctly, as i tried it by just pulling some hairs taught on my chest and it was able to cut through them without even the slightest problem, so im moderatly confident its sharp.

Cheers for any help mate


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I looked up Wahl and all I saw was a shavette. Is this what you have?

Originally Posted by Mackey96

Hi there,
I bought it from a place called the shaver shop, and it was advertised as “shave ready from the factory”, but hadent been honed by any body.
Cheers for the tip on the lather, ill try to get more of one going next time.
Do you have any advice for making sure im stropping and honing correctly, as i tried it by just pulling some hairs taught on my chest and it was able to cut through them without even the slightest problem, so im moderatly confident its sharp.

Cheers for any help mate


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I'd not put too much trust in "shave ready from the factory" as the experience from member here is that it can be hit and miss. Some are, some aren't and some are almost shave ready from the factory. There members from OZ on the forum that if you PM one of them they may be able to properly hone it for you. That way you will start off with a shave ready razor. You could try PMing member "johnmrson" for a start. You might find others here Down under . There may even be a member in Sydney who can give you some one on one instruction which is the best way to learn.

There is a ton of info here Shave Library

To get you started with lathering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4zESTQWDuw

Bob