First and 2nd shave (because I was too lazy to post the first)

So I finally got in my Hinckeles blade from my previous post (from here) and I'm very satisfied with the results. I had my first shave yesterday that went fairly well, less me dulling the blade a little from improper stropping. Because of this the razor pulled a little but I still managed to shave with the grain, a 2nd time across the grain, and because I like to jump into everything I do and hit the ground running I went for a third one against the grain. I only walked away with a couple really minor nicks and had a couple of problems with my technique shaving against the grain on the neck. Overall it was a great shave and I knew I would be hooked when I started doing it myself.

Tonight I shaved again going with the grain and across the grain, but I figured I'd give my face a little break and not go against. I managed to restrop the blade properly (all be it very slowly,) and had a much much better shave. I didn't end up having any spots where the blade pulled at all, which allowed me to do some longer strokes. I only ended up with about two tiny nicks that were areas that I had a bump on my skin anyway (so screw them for trying to make it difficult, they got what they deserved:).)

I'm very happy with how it went all together and the main thing I need to work on is getting my grips down. Oh and buying another blade for when I need to send this sucker off for honing as I absolutely refuse to use my mach 3 anymore. :mace:

Thanks to everyone on here for all the great info that helped me start down this slippery slippery slope where I know I'll end up with a ton of straight razors. :)

congrtulations, sounds like a good start.

Congrats! It sounds like you're hooked :).

Did you go ATG in the neck/throat area in your first shave? Impressive!!

Sounds like you're off to a good start. No need to rush it. As to what you mentioned was slow stropping, technique is far more important than speed. Speed will come in time. If you try to focus on speed as a new shaver you are likely going to nick your strop and/or damage (roll or worse) your edge. And unless you damage your edge (banging it against the faucet, etc...) you will have no need to send it out to re-hone. A pasted strop and a polishing hone (barbers hone, etc.) to refresh the edge will set you up for a very long time.

Weclome to the world of shaving the right way!! :)

Thank you for the update. Glad you're making excellent progress. Only thing you may want to change is stropping slowly, as it will make the blade deteriorate over time. Maybe use the back of a regular knife to learn the mechanics. The videos in Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki should give you an idea of what good stropping speed is.

Best regards,
Robin

Congrats. it sounds like you will be another satisfied str8 user. Take your time and learn all you can from these threads and the wiki. The problem areas will come along in time just as I am learning too.

Patience, persistence, experience, and furthering your knowledge is the way to travel up the learning curve at warp speed and that was me.

Start out in sections and certain strokes and continue to build upon it. You will find out what works well for you and the time it takes to shave will decrease while you continue to get better results.

Don't get over confident as that seems to lead to most cuts.:rant:

Pabster

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