Thread: Writer doing research

Hi,
Thank you for reading this. I am a writer/blogger/etc. I am here to learn this fine art. I received a nice Dovo razor in the mail yesterday for my research. As of this writing I have never touched a straight to my face. I have a razor and a strop, but no brush, no soap, no cup. We shall see where this goes. Hopefully I will not desanguinate myself. Thank you for tolerating me in your midst. I shall try to be a good member. Thank you again,
Charlz9mm

Welcome to SRP! Did you purchase your Dovo with the honing option? If vendor did not note the razor as honed or shave ready your razor will need to be sharpened properly before you try a shave. Check the classified section for people that provide that service.

Reading through the WIKI on this site will help you get through the learning curve. Don't be shy about asking questions. You may be surprised by the volume or responses you receive.

Good luck!

Just curious, do you have an intended output for this research?

Straight shaving is not for everyone, but if you intend to remain with wet shaving, then the brush and soap will be your best investment.

As already noted, your razor must be "shave ready" prior to shaving, otherwise your experience will be very negative and left wondering why we love it so much. If your source did not say it was shave ready then you will need to send it to one of our honemeisters to put a good edge on it. If the vendor said it comes sharpened by the factory it isn't. You still need to send it out. Don't take it to the local knife sharpener (even if it is a neighbor or friend). Unless that person is skilled in honing straight razors you will be wasting your time.

You've already mentioned the stuff you don't have. Look though the Vendor's Corner forum below and you should find everything you are looking for. Going this route will give you better odds of getting what you need and the items are quality pieces. Another source is the classifieds. I advise against using ebay or other such sites for now since you do not have the requisite knowledge to determine what would be right or good.

Hello!
The shave ready stuff has already been mentioned by the esteemed members above, but it's also important to remember that shaving with a straight is a skill & not something that will happen in a few shaves. Make sure you give yourself the time you will need to allow these skills to develop. Take things slow at first & the speed will come as you become more adept. This applies to stropping as well as the shave itself.
Prep is vitally important. Soften the beard first & the razor is more likely to glide through the stubble. If it skips, you'll probably get cut. A brush & soap are pretty much a requirement too. Even a $1 brush & some cheap soap are better than anything in a can.
Good luck & enjoy it!

Thank you everyone for your quick response.
To answer some questions:
1) I am using the research for a review/analysis piece that will go into my video blog. It is a new quest for me since I have printed previously in print.
2) A hone master did previously hone and prep my razor for use. The razor was provided for my research.
3) I cannot just yet post the supplier or the where the piece will be seen until the research is complete. It is simply not professional.

Thank you again for all of the great feedback so far.
Charlz9mm

Hi there and welcome. There's a lot of good info available here, a lot more than was available on the net when I first started out 9 years ago.

First, let me say that there is no other reliable place on the internet to get information on razor use and care. Seriously.

Having said that, I want to say that it's very esay to overthink this. It isn't rocket science. Shaving isn't some sort of skill that requires years of practice, scads of patience, or a guru to teach it. Men have been using razors to shave themselves for quite some time now and I have never heard of someone killing themselves doing it.

By way of analogy, look at the Coffee thread on "The Finer Things" forum. There are as many ways to make a cup of coffee as there are coffee drinkers. Some like the results they get from spending huge ammounts of money and time on everything from coffee bean roasters and burr grinders and elaborate espresso machines, and some people like what they get out of their Ibrik. Like coffee, shaving can be as complicated or as simple as you like. Some people like to spend time fiddling with things, others see it as a chore, many people are somewhere in the middle. I lean more towards "chore", but I like the group here, so I stick around for the conversation

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you may as well start out with a boar bristle brush from the drug store, some Williams or Van derHagen shaving soap, and an old coffee mug to make lather in before you start dumping a bunch of money into top shelf products. Why? Because you haven't ever done it before, and you can't really know what you are personally going to want. The cheap brush you buy can go in your travel bag when you get a really good badger brush. Or not. I personally like my boar brush and see no need to drop $40 or more for one (my boar brush cost me less than $6, and it's lasted for years).

As far as honing, I'd suggest you get yourself a decent barber hone to maintain the edge. I manage to keep an edge for years without having to put my blade on anything coarser than my barber hone and strop.

My advice is this, DON'T OVERTHINK IT! Just get a shave ready razor and shave with it. DO STROP CAREFULLY! The guys you saw on the movies doing it really fast are only acting like they're stropping. Start slowly untill you get the technique down, then take the speed up a little. It doesen't have to be so fast to be effective.

Have fun with it.

Originally Posted by Charlz9mm

Hi,
Thank you for reading this. I am a writer/blogger/etc. I am here to learn this fine art. I received a nice Dovo razor in the mail yesterday for my research. As of this writing I have never touched a straight to my face. I have a razor and a strop, but no brush, no soap, no cup. We shall see where this goes. Hopefully I will not desanguinate myself. Thank you for tolerating me in your midst. I shall try to be a good member. Thank you again,
Charlz9mm

Welcome; I see i'm going to need a dictionary while reading your posts

I would suggest 2 things to help in the education department before your first shaving attempt:

1. read sections of the Wiki (which has both video and picture supplementation/tutorials)

2. Watch Mantic's (mantic59) videos on youtube...while he addresses mainly DE shaving, he has lots of useful info about wet shaving in general including creating lather & beard prep, beard reduction, etc. (and one of the videos does have a straight shave demonstration at the very end of it).

good luck with the research...I look forward to seeing the final product.

.......I just remembered another great resource: Lynn's DVD! It's only about $20 and has a ton of info on it

......and read through the forums....there will be more than enough info to keep you busy reading for a while.