Thread: First straight shave today!

My much anticipated kit arrived from Excaliber cutlery & gifts. The razor is a Solingen, made in Germany is stamped into the blade.Also there was a strop,brush,soap,stand and strop conditioner. Anyway after watching every video I could find I went at it and I barely drew any blood, just 1 nick under my nose. However I do have a question, they said it was shave ready and it shaved pretty good but it felt like it had alot of drag and I had to make 2 passes to get it really smooth. Is that just because Im using something wider than the mach 3 I usually use to or could it use some sharpening?Should I make a few passes on the strop to fine tune it?And if so should I use the canvas like side first or the leather side? This is only my second post here but ive been reading as much as possible but I cant read everything and any info. would be appreciated.Thanks and take care, Eichh

You don't need to read everything, but read this: Anticipation

Keep practicing beard preparation, stropping technique, and shaving technique!

The blade may have been shave ready but always requires stropping before shaving. I usually do about 50-60 passes on the leather side. Some use the linen side; I do not. Be careful when stroppinig; this is an easy time to do some damage to the blade. The damage is called rolling the edge and is caused by not keeping enough tension on the strop and by applying pressure on the blade while stropping. Always use only the weight of the blade when stropping to avoid this potential problem.
Concerning multiple passes: almost everyone that I know needs them usually following a with the grain, across the grain in different directions and occasionally against the grain. Check out the stickies in the newbie forum.

Congrats on your first shave and keep us posted on your progress!