Thread: Feeling Stoked! First shave exclusively with SR!

LOOK OUT !! IT'S A TRAP !!!

Just kidding (hee hee hee hee hee, ya right)

Welcome to the forum.



There is no escape, resistance is futile.

Congradulations! Its the little improvements you make, as your learning curve improves, that make this art all worth while. Try to think about the little improvments, as more a milestone/s. Any improvement is huge. The walmart stuff, is better than the can crap. If you don't mind me saying, try some walmart glycerine oil, a few drops on the wet shaving soap, can make all the difference. You can also use it as an inexpensive pre-shave oil as well. I like pre-shave oils, the glycerine doesn't have the vitimin E, olive, or castor oils, as in that the premium shave oils do, but it works. A 6oz. bottle is about $4.00 as opposed to $10, $15, or even $20 bottles of 2oz. pre-shave oils. Keep up the good work! Also have you tried hot toweling, even after a shower? You can hot towel again after you have already lather up. This can help your pre-shave prep. When you acquire some shave cream, if you wish you, can make a ultra uber-lather. You can contact me, or find it {uber-lather} in shave creames and soap forum as well as the wiki. Welcome to the brotherhood. Take care. STRAIGHT RAZOR 13.

Thanks Jimmy, for the wiki article. I think I understand the concept a little better now but I unfortunately have the stubble even after going against the grain sometimes. I agree that it was all the little changes I make that give me a better shave each time. After my first month its hard to know if my straight is as sharp as it should be. Hi_bud_gl has offered to let me send my razor back to him to see if I have maybe damaged (or just dulled the blade) with my stropping and re-set the edge. I’m definitely going to take him up on it! Those “milestones” have been great especially getting to the point of not having to use my old razor. And I will definitely check out uber-lather…sounds pretty nice, thanks straightrazor13!

hi_bud_gl (the member I purchased my razor from) read my post and realized that I must be having some problems with my razor. He offered to take it back, look at it and hone the blade for me. After receiving it, he said that there were small chips in the blade. He suggested that maybe I was using a hard strop, stropping wrong or using too much pressure on the blade. Well, since I had been learning to strop I can confidently answer yes to all those mistakes. He also explained how delicate the blade is and that the slightest touch could damage the blade.

It made me look back on the last couple of months of learning to shave and strop and realize that the blade was getting damaged at every mis-step. I just assumed that the blade was dulling from use when it was actually damaged.

Sham sent my blade back and instructed me to not go ATG but ony WTG while barely holding the razor against the skin while trying to use the scything stroke. Man, I took that razor and it felt like rubbing butter on my face slicing off hairs with no effort at all! It was the best shave I had yet!!! Even my chin and mustache were much easier to deal with. I wonder how many frustrated newbies don't realize that their razor has simply lost the edge from practicing.

Although now I also have some more questions. I wanted to follow Sham's advice to the letter and so only shaved WTG. It went well but still not BBS leaving some rough patches. I have never been an easy shave even with my old triple blade razor. So my questions are: Should I just continue to work and practice going WTG? Should I move on toward also going XTG? Should I never try to go AGT even after I get my face down to a few stubble patches? How do I know when my strop is soft enough to use for stropping? (the strop is a lot softer than it was when I started so I assume that the damage was done when the strop was still new. since then I buffed out nicks with a pumice stone.)

Don't worry about going against the grain on your mustache area. That is a dense area of hair on most of us and there is little space to work with. I make an initial pass with the grain and do a 2nd with the grain with a little higher blade angle to get the best WTG shave that I can. On my next pass, XTG, I go XTG from both sides of the mustache, and then when I do my last pass ATG on the rest of my face, I leave the mustache for last and but go ATG in this area only. Between the curves and the dense hair that is the only way I can go.

As for the chin and neck problem areas, don't sweat it right now. Once you get comfortable with your technique you will figure out the right angles to come at those spots from and how to hold your blade.

Give it some time, probably take a month or two before you get into a routine.

Enjoy,
Marc

Originally Posted by pstrjp

I am ashamed to admit that I still use a Walmart brush and shave soap but with a little work I can get a pretty good lather...

Hey, whatever works for you is a good thing. I still use Williams quite often. Usually when I use my DE as the lather is just not as rich as some other soaps/creams, but I love the smell of Williams and it's a permanent member in my rotation...

Nothing wrong wih $2 soap...