Thread: First run...

I ordered the DOVO best quality set from SRD. Holy turnaround time. I ordered it Friday at midnight and it arrived Monday morning!!!

I opened the packaging and had it all laid out for my husband when he got home from work. I only expected him to look through it. To my surprise, he got right in and out of the shower and used his straight.

I suggested a pass or two to begin. When I went in to peek on his progress, he was almost finished with his entire face! He said that the blade 'felt right' in his hand so he kept going. Only a teeny tiny nick near the cheekbone.

I'm jealous. I was going to test drive the razor first I didn't realize it would arrive so quick and used a rotten disposable this morning.

Question, do we strop before the next shave? Are you supposed to switch hands when moving to the opposite side of the face, or just change the position of your dominant hand?

Thanks in advance.

yes i find that stropping before and after each shave does a nice job of keeping the blade sharp and clean personally i do 30/30 before/after and i think it does a pretty good job. also switching to your other hand is all preference. Some people can switch hands, personally i cant so i just get used to different angles lol

Hi,
You should strop before every shave.

Regarding holding the razor, people do it both ways. I shave with both hands, that way I only need to worry about finding the "right" strokes for 1/2 of my shave, and can just replicate them with the other hand. It was actually pretty easy to learn to shave with my non-dominant hand, since the whole experience was new and my "dominant" hand didn't have much muscle memory advantage...

Good luck!

-Chief

I'VE FOUND MOST HERE SAY YES

Originally Posted by BHChieftain

Hi,

Originally Posted by BHChieftain

You should strop before every shave.

Regarding holding the razor, people do it both ways. I shave with both hands, that way I only need to worry about finding the "right" strokes for 1/2 of my shave, and can just replicate them with the other hand. It was actually pretty easy to learn to shave with my non-dominant hand, since the whole experience was new and my "dominant" hand didn't have much muscle memory advantage...

Good luck!

-Chief

sounds great!

it's better to use both hands, it certainly allows more flexibility.
yes strop between shaves, the best is to strop right before the shave, and I do it while the lather is on my face working on the whiskers.
it's not a bad idea to run it few passes after the shave just to make sure there's no moisture on the edge since that's the main cause for it getting dull.

enjoy!

sure you should strop before the next shave, I would take the advice you see on here every now and then about practising with a butter knife first though. It's a little different obviously but you greatly reduce the chance of damage and you can get into the idea of turning on the spine, or lifting and turning.

I'm a one handed shaver, I'm quite ambidextrous but that's just how I learned. Maybe I will learn to use two hands one of these days, but the muscle memory is there for me now. Certainly worth learning to use both though, it seems to be the norm.

Congratulations on getting of to a good start (and welcome to SRP!). There is lots of information for the new straight shaver in the Newbie area as well as in the Ladies forum. Of course, the Wiki has a ton of data and advice presented in a more orderly fashion. Personally I like cruising the forums and comparing different opinions on various topics.

Another great source of guidance is Lynn's DVD which you can get at SRD. It covers most of what you need to know in pretty good detail and actually seeing someone stropping, shaving or honing can be really helpful.

You should strop each time you shave. Shaving with both hands is optional, but if you can do it you will be better off. Actually, it's not that hard to do for most people. Good luck. I think it's great that you and your husband are doing this together.