Thread: First shave! Issues with shave?

Hi all. I got my Dovo Special 1516 from SRD shave ready to go a couple days ago (awesome service!).

Well I received all of my other goodies today and just got done with a shower and shave.

I have a Dovo strop and decided to give it a few laps lightly before my shave. I had a good lather and started on my left cheek. I have a very coarse beard and it was grown in fairly well (2 days). I was having issues with the blade not going down the cheek smoothly. It kept hanging up on the hair. Maybe I was going to lightly, not sure? It took me a multiple times going on the down stroke to finally get the beard down. Then I re lathered and started on the up stroke, against the grain. Same thing. The blade did not want to seem to cut smoothly, kept getting stuck and hung up on the beard. I was keeping the blade at around a 30 degree angle. It just seemed like I had to go over the same spot many, many times to get it close. The skin right below my eyes (cheek bone area) feels like it is on fire right now, but the rest of my face is feeling OK with some burn. I have some rough areas on my face still and it is not BBS (some parts are BBS). Although it feels like I did a quick job with my fusion so I am not complaining. Didn't cut or nick myself at all which is good!!

Can someone with a tough as nails beard maybe shed some light on this? Am I doing something wrong? Is the blade not sharp enough? I have watched every video possible and have read Wiki and other related articles on the subject. All the shave videos I have watched, it seems like the razor just glides over the face very smoothly, not catching up on the beard. Not the case with me.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Here is a list of what I am using:

Dovo Special 1516 Tortoise 5/8"

Dove leather strop - Russian leather

Vulfix #2197 Pure Badger Shaving Brush

Menthol soap from Classic Shaving in a wood bowl

Sound like you have some great gear!

Was your razor honed and provided in shave-ready condition? Razor manufacturers claim shave-ready condition but that is rarely, rarely, rarely... did I say RARELY the case.

Your razor must be honed by a professional. Check out our honemeisters.

Even when it is shave-ready, it must be stropped. The conventional wisdom is that the razor requires at least 60 passes before shaving. Be careful when stropping to only use the weight of the razor. Otherwise, if you apply pressure, you may roll the edge of your blade and it will need to be touched up by a honemeister again.

The razor was honed by Straight Razor Designs. So it was ready for me out of the box.

I didn't do 60 passes on the strop, maybe 20 or so just to get the hang of it. I was going light just the weight of the blade. I had the strop good and tight too.

For the first shave you shouldn't really expect much. Over the coming weeks as you continue to gain the necessary skill to do this you will slowly find that each shave gets better. But some pointers I could give you. Try an across the grain pass between the wtg and atg. If the atg is too much for your skin just stop after the across the grain pass.
As for having a tough beard, all you need is more prep. This is the fun part. You can experiment with different oils, hot towels and some people use hair conditioner to soften the hair. After some experimentation you will find the process that works best for you.
And just keep at it. It will get better. Slowly.

Any advise on why it seems to get caught up or stuck and doesn't travel smoothly? Could my lather be the problem? Should I use more pressure?

The feeling of getting stuck/caught up is like going against the grain with a good beard with a fusion cartridge. But it is doing it on the first pass going down.

congrats on your first shave !!!

I had a similiar problem when i first started, I tried pre-shave oils, different soaps, bought new razors, etc... to try to get a better shave.

for me I found that Mama bears EO soaps were very slippery, and lathered very easily which helped a lot, but I also learned that a lot of the catching was due to my poor angles and lack of stretching the skin.

once I started stretching my skin more, and focusing on my angles the shaves continued to get better and better.

just be patient, and the more shaves you get in , the easier it will get

Blade angle. lack of skin stretching, poor beard prep, poor lather and a good number of things could be the problem. Also when you do the stroke add a slight scything motion, not quite straight up and down. It does take practice, but try not to go over the same spot too many times or razor burn will be the result. Have fun and good luck.

Thank guys for the tips. I appreciate it!

I will try to build a better lather. Maybe it wasn't thick enough or maybe I didn't work it into the skin enough.

I will also try to stretch the skin more and play with the angles. I'll also try less passes so it doesn't burn my face. So it doesn't sound like there is a problem with the blade?

From a relative newby. I have been at str8s for about2 months. My very first shaves were not very good. In my experience I think a lot of the initial learning curve involves CONFIDENCE in the razor. What I mean by that is knowing that the razor is not going to kill you. I wood imagine that most 1st time str8 shavers are scared as hell. I was. I had also done the videos and the reading and until you actually put the blade on your skin and try to shave you have no idea what it is going to be like. IT WILL GET BETTER. Guaranteed. You will get more confidence in how you hold the razor, you will FEEL the blade better as it passes over your skin, you will learn what light pressure is. Yah you will still get cut but your shaves will get better. Razor angle IMHO is a matter of experience. You will need to make some adjustments for your beard type and skin type as well as your experience level. If you didn't cut your ear off or slice your nose you did a good job. It takes time. Try just shaving 1 inch of your cheek wtg. If you get that down then do 2 inches and proceed from there. This may be an exageration but I think the point is, go slow. There is no rush. You got the rest of your life to get it right.

Very good post! I have added to your rep.