Thread: Discouraged and disappointed

Originally Posted by ursus

With all due respect, could you elaborate a little with what experience you evaluated onimaru's honing? Your other posts hint of previous experience in wetshaving, but your account is quite fresh.

With all the problems beginners have with technique and prep, I'm sure you understand my concern of a senior member being blamed...

Originally Posted by MistressNomad

ursus - If I'm reading correctly, I believe he meant that he received the razor from elsewhere, was told it was shave ready, and did not believe this to be the case. So he sent it to Onimaru for honing.

^ Correct, thanks Mistress.
Sorry if there was any confusion.

Ok. Fair enough. Thanks for clearing that up =) I found that text a bit misleading since Onimaru was the only person mentioned and I know some members are on multiple forums.

I hope you get your blade soon and have nice shaves with that =)

Originally Posted by PaulM

This is shit.

lol.

When I first started I felt the same... quite discouraged as well. You have alot going on, so try to reduce the variables one by one. This style of shaving does have a learning curve.

First off ... forget the hone for right now. Seriously. Learn how to shave with the blade first. That's the biggest step.

Second is the strop. I think Obie is right... too much humidity and not enough conditioning. Believe it or not, leather is pliable. I remember reading about some strop maintenance a while back. Some members (unfortunately I cannot remember who ) use a bottle or something of the like to flatten their strop by pushing the strop over the bottle ... or draping the strop over a bottle. Maybe this will work for you. Also, proper strop/leather care is a good idea. Neatsfoot oil might be a good idea. Remember that after the leather has a good semi-liberal amount of neatsfoot applied, the leather does become pliable and can be stretched. Use it wisely, grasshopper.

But, in the beginning ... why not use a newspaper to strop? I know, you have the leather strop, right ? Well, newspaper can be used as a strop. Just put the newspaper on a table and carefully strop. One or two sheets will do. Make sure the section of newspaper you are stropping on has black ink and not color. Not only will this get you shaving, but it gives your leather strop some time to get back in shape.

I dont think your blade is too bad off, to be honest. Some good stropping can bring back the edge. As is the edge is probably good enough to shave with. Just focus on the actual use of the blade at first. Technique is very important. Also a very light touch is the best defence against razor burn. Everything else will fall into place, piece by piece.

Good luck !

welcome to srp

contact the vendor you purchased the razor from and work it out with them.
the razor needs to close properly between the scales, having to push it to the side is no good, not on a brand new razor.

you've already been messing with the strop, so at this point I think it's yours to keep, if the leather is good, should be fixable to functional strop.

the best advice i can give you is to stop the improvisations and before attempting to fix a perceived problem find out if it is a problem, how severe it is, and what is the best way to go about fixing it. there is a lot of expertise on this forum and many friendly members willing to help.

Originally Posted by Obie

Hello, Paul:


Many of us have had rough starts using a straight razor. I know I did. On top of that, I have a banged up left hand. Yet I kept on, because this is what I really wanted to do.

The advice offered in these posts by the SRP ladies and gentlemen is sound. As you know by now, SRP's Wiki has mounds of information for you, too.

Take a step back and analyze your situation. Then proceed to find solutions. These pages offer mounds of good advice. Of extreme importance are these: Be patient. Don't rush. Develop your skill. Try to enjoy the learning process.

Regards,

Obie

Hi,

Like everyone else, I'm sorry for the bad experience. But there is the wisdom of Solomon in the reply from Obie above. Patience is a must here. You cannot win this game without it - your razor will beat you every time.

This is a developed skill. You do not need to do you whole face right now. Just pick an easy area like your right cheek, and get used to it. That's all you need to encourage yourself to keep going.

Look, here are all the areas people spend a lot of time mastering.
1. Face Prep
2. Making lather
3. Applying Lather
4. Stropping
5. Shaving
6. After Shave Treatment
7. Honing

Pick one to get good at and get good at it. If you don't, all of these areas will be interacting with one another and you will chase your tail trying to bring them all into alignment at once. I would recommend stropping first. If you can't get that razor sharp - ain't nothin else gonna matter. Honing should be last.

Good luck to you - you can do this, many have. And good Lord have fun!

David

Welcome to SRP and don't give up. It is a steep learning curve but well worth the task. The SRP Wiki here has a lot of good stuff to go with while you are waiting to get your razor problems worked out.

PaulM,

This ain't quite as easy as peeling potatoes, you know. You'll need a mix of patience, proper equipment, and practice. A lot of good, sympathetic advice has been tendered here; hopefully you can work it into your shaves.

best of luck,

sorry about your luck...but seriously step back take a breather and aproach it again and DONT GET IN A HURY & DONT GIVE UP

Originally Posted by Bruce

PaulM,

This ain't quite as easy as peeling potatoes, you know. You'll need a mix of patience, proper equipment, and practice. A lot of good, sympathetic advice has been tendered here; hopefully you can work it into your shaves.

best of luck,

+10. For some perspective, as a cart shave for 25 years, it took me over 3 months to get very good results with a traditional safety razor. I expect a straight to take about as long. Although I'm hoping my DE experience gives me some RPL (recognition of prior learning).

I think a lot of people see some cool vids of guys straight shaving on youtube and think "That looks easy and cool, I'll do that."

Tiger Woods makes Golf look easy. Roger Federer makes Tennis look easy. Sorry to invoke Gillette's poster boys for illustration...