Thread: What this Newb learned his first year.

It's been just over 13 months since my first straight shave, and about the same amount of time since I honed my first razor. Well, some 360+ shaves, 300 + honings, 15 + stones, and more razors bought than I'm gonna admit to, here's about all I've learned:

1. Absolute Supreme Rule Number One. LEARN WHAT *SHARP* IS. And it ain't what you think, either. Pay to have a blade honed by a reputable honemeister, or buy yourself a 20 buck replaceable blade straight. Personally, I'd recommend doing both. When you see how sharp a replaceable Derby or Feather blade is, you'll *know* what sharp is. Do all the sharpness tests with it....carefully. You'll see the HHT for *real*. Now shave with it. Got weepers? If your blade is the epitome of *sharp*, you darn straight you do! Usually, guys will like the sharpness of a blade that is slightly less sharp than a factory replaceable blade (a Derby or a Feather). A Derby or Feather (for me, at least) hit the sharpness sweet spot after several shaves. Most regular straights (honed by mere mortals, not machines) don't quite reach the level of sharpness of a machine honed replaceable blade. And that's not necessarily a *bad* thing; too sharp just ain't comfy. It's still important that you do know what sharp is, though.

2. Stretching skin is more important than you think.

3. Cheap (seriously.... *cheap*) hair conditioner is wonderful pre-shave beard prep. I've thrown a lot of money at beard prep, and the best spent so far was three bucks on Suave hair conditioner.

4. Get a good soap/cream. Do a ton of research on this, to avoid spending huge amounts of cash trying them all. Reasearch/read/repeat. Then buy. Pssssst. Try Tabac early on.

5. Before you shave with a straight, see rule number one.

6. Before you begin honing, see rule number one.

7. The lower the blade angle to your skin, the less you're gonna feel the sting of the "newb detector", aka the alum block, which is rule number 7: get an alum block. It'll help your face adjust to a straight faster, it'll prevent bumps, treat burn, and make you over all better-lookin'.

8. Get a good webbed fabric strop and a good leather strop. I highly recommend SRD's webbed fabric/red latigo combination strop. The webbed fabric will help maintain a shaving edge for a long, long, long, time. And the added resistance of Latigo during regular stropping really helps prevent newb strop slicing. (Although I still need to order a replacement leather from Lynn.).

9. Resist the urge to begin honing your own blades.

10 See rule 9.

11. Give up

12. Re-read rule number one, make a huge pot of coffee, clear the day's schedule, and start reading the wiki about honing. Read every possible word that you can find written on the subject. Do more reading and research. Post any questions you can't find answers to.

13. NOW, you can start buying stones.

14. Good luck on *stopping* buying stones.

15. Share your experiences with us here at SRP.

16. Last, but certainly not least....Among your countless stones, be they Shaptons, Norton, King, Naniwa, or what have you...You owe it to yourself to have (at least) one Coticule. 'nuff said.

And one last "Parting Shot"...just to stir the pot that is SRP a bit... I'm a firm believer in the HHT. Yup, I said it. Out loud and afore God.

The amount of pressure it takes to move the blade through the shaft of the hair is proportional to the amount of pull felt by your nerves. Therefore, the less amount of pressure needed to move the blade through the shaft, the less amount of pull is felt. You can't get much *less* pressure than a truly-passed HHT. If a blade is so sharp that hair is literally breaking it's back over your blade with no more pressure than it's own weight, you're there. CAVEAT: sometimes this is too sharp to be comfortable for some guys. Personally, I like blades darn near as sharp as factory Derby's and Feathers, so a passing HHT on frog's hair is a requirement for me.

Well, that's it. All IMO, your mileage may vary, opinions differ, void where prohibited.

Good shaves, everyone.

Originally Posted by FloorPizza

It's been just over 13 months since my first straight shave, and about the same amount of time since I honed my first razor. Well, some 360+ shaves, 300 + honings, 15 + stones, and more razors bought than I'm gonna admit to, here's about all I've learned:

1. Absolute Supreme Rule Number One. LEARN WHAT *SHARP* IS. And it ain't what you think, either. Pay to have a blade honed by a reputable honemeister, or buy yourself a 20 buck replaceable blade straight. Personally, I'd recommend doing both. When you see how sharp a replaceable Derby or Feather blade is, you'll *know* what sharp is. Do all the sharpness tests with it....carefully. You'll see the HHT for *real*. Now shave with it. Got weepers? If your blade is the epitome of *sharp*, you darn straight you do! Usually, guys will like the sharpness of a blade that is slightly less sharp than a factory replaceable blade (a Derby or a Feather). A Derby or Feather (for me, at least) hit the sharpness sweet spot after several shaves. Most regular straights (honed by mere mortals, not machines) don't quite reach the level of sharpness of a machine honed replaceable blade. And that's not necessarily a *bad* thing; too sharp just ain't comfy. It's still important that you do know what sharp is, though.

2. Stretching skin is more important than you think.

3. Cheap (seriously.... *cheap*) hair conditioner is wonderful pre-shave beard prep. I've thrown a lot of money at beard prep, and the best spent so far was three bucks on Suave hair conditioner.

4. Get a good soap/cream. Do a ton of research on this, to avoid spending huge amounts of cash trying them all. Reasearch/read/repeat. Then buy. Pssssst. Try Tabac early on.

5. Before you shave with a straight, see rule number one.

6. Before you begin honing, see rule number one.

7. The lower the blade angle to your skin, the less you're gonna feel the sting of the "newb detector", aka the alum block, which is rule number 7: get an alum block. It'll help your face adjust to a straight faster, it'll prevent bumps, treat burn, and make you over all better-lookin'.

8. Get a good webbed fabric strop and a good leather strop. I highly recommend SRD's webbed fabric/red latigo combination strop. The webbed fabric will help maintain a shaving edge for a long, long, long, time. And the added resistance of Latigo during regular stropping really helps prevent newb strop slicing. (Although I still need to order a replacement leather from Lynn.).

9. Resist the urge to begin honing your own blades.

10 See rule 9.

11. Give up

12. Re-read rule number one, make a huge pot of coffee, clear the day's schedule, and start reading the wiki about honing. Read every possible word that you can find written on the subject. Do more reading and research. Post any questions you can't find answers to.

13. NOW, you can start buying stones.

14. Good luck on *stopping* buying stones.

15. Share your experiences with us here at SRP.

16. Last, but certainly not least....Among your countless stones, be they Shaptons, Norton, King, Naniwa, or what have you...You owe it to yourself to have (at least) one Coticule. 'nuff said.

And one last "Parting Shot"...just to stir the pot that is SRP a bit... I'm a firm believer in the HHT. Yup, I said it. Out loud and afore God.

The amount of pressure it takes to move the blade through the shaft of the hair is proportional to the amount of pull felt by your nerves. Therefore, the less amount of pressure needed to move the blade through the shaft, the less amount of pull is felt. You can't get much *less* pressure than a truly-passed HHT. If a blade is so sharp that hair is literally breaking it's back over your blade with no more pressure than it's own weight, you're there. CAVEAT: sometimes this is too sharp to be comfortable for some guys. Personally, I like blades darn near as sharp as factory Derby's and Feathers, so a passing HHT on frog's hair is a requirement for me.

Well, that's it. All IMO, your mileage may vary, opinions differ, void where prohibited.

Good shaves, everyone.

This would make a good sticky.

As a newbie who just had his first straight shave a couple of days ago, this comes at a very opportune time. Thanks!

here here to it all...............but I still don't know about the HHT test plus it looks cool with bald spots on your arms hahahahaha

Originally Posted by wheelz74401

here here to it all...............but I still don't know about the HHT test plus it looks cool with bald spots on your arms hahahahaha

Arms, hell. I just started learning how to hone and I've shaved my left forearm from wrist to elbow, then started on my right calf. At this point I'm going to have to either back off on restoration projects so I can grow some of this back or I'm going to have to ask my fiance to stop shaving her legs.

1. Absolute Supreme Rule Number One. LEARN WHAT *SHARP* IS. And it ain't what you think, either. Pay to have a blade honed by a reputable honemeister, or buy yourself a 20 buck replaceable blade straight. Personally, I'd recommend doing both. When you see how sharp a replaceable Derby or Feather blade is, you'll *know* what sharp is. Do all the sharpness tests with it....carefully. You'll see the HHT for *real*. Now shave with it. Got weepers? If your blade is the epitome of *sharp*, you darn straight you do! Usually, guys will like the sharpness of a blade that is slightly less sharp than a factory replaceable blade (a Derby or a Feather). A Derby or Feather (for me, at least) hit the sharpness sweet spot after several shaves. Most regular straights (honed by mere mortals, not machines) don't quite reach the level of sharpness of a machine honed replaceable blade. And that's not necessarily a *bad* thing; too sharp just ain't comfy. It's still important that you do know what sharp is, though.

New straight razor user here, where do you recommend finding the above replaceable straight? I've been having trouble using my brand new Dovo Carbon steel straight, and i want to have a basis to judge my razor on.

wonderfull thread
I agree totally this would make a good sticky

Excellent writeup.

I am at it less than a year but can still say everything I have experience with (just about all but the HHT) makes sense to me. It is nice to see it all written down like that!

Ah yeah -- I moved step 11 to just after step 14. I am now in a regroup and holding pattern on honing! Have five Naniwas (step 13) but can't get them to sharpen anything. I already have that Coticule (step 16) but am not sure what to do with it. I bought it early on when I read it could do anything -- thought I was saving some money!

Has it been a year already! Our little Floor pizza is all growed up! (sniffles as he wipes tear from eye). Great review, it needs to be wiki'd. Heres to many more years with us!

LoL, yup, we grow up so fast, don't we? And it's still just as fun as it was the first day. Few hobbies have managed to keep my interest to this degree.