After several years of DE shaves I saw the light and decided to move to straights. I spent a few weeks reading the various posts on here to make sure I started off on the right foot. I followed the advice and bought a shave ready Wapi honed by a SRP member and a Dovo strop. The idea being I had a benchmark against which to judge future sharpness and give myself a chance of getting a decent shave.

Like all newbies the first few shaves were a mixture of nerves and excitement but I was making progress. After a few weeks I was doing well and bought a few razors off e-bay and some hones to practice my honing. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get those e-bay razors shave sharp. So I sent one of them to a honemeister and the result was outstanding.

After 5 weeks of shaving I thought my Wapi was holding its edge well. However, after comparing it to my newly honed e-bay razor, I realised what sharp really was. My Wapi did start off super sharp but 5 weeks of wear and tear, newbie abuse and perhaps some less than perfect stropping had taken its toll on the edge. It was still shaveable but not a patch on a freshly honed razor.

Yes the Wapi did set the benchmark but with everything else to try and learn, I forgot just how sharp the bench mark was. For this reason, I would strongly suggest that after a while of shaving with a razor, newbies should consider getting it honed again to remind themselves what a shave with a properly honed razor feels like and to start a second time with a perfect edge.