Thread: First Real Shave

Congrats on your first str8 shave!! The tugging and pulling can also be caused by tenative strokes, when I first started(about 3 months ago), I had the same problem. Luckily I new it wasnt the razor because I got it sharpened at SRD and did my first shave without stropping, actually I did my first two shaves without stropping cause I was so worried about destroying the edge. But even with that sharp razor it tugged and pulled until I made my shaving strokes with a purpose, you need some momentum to easily cut the whiskers. The not so close shave was probably caused by the angle, to steep and it feels as though it is ripping the whiskers instead of popping them off. It should be a somewhat subtle sound, not like the sound of velcro getting pulled apart. If the angle is too shallow the razor will pass over the whiskers without cutting. Even with the DE experience you have the str8s are different enough you will have a learning curve to go through. I am sure that you have your prep down(one thing that does carry over from DE's) and IIRC you said you had SRD hone your razor, so that should take care of the shave ready razor, provided you havent rolled the edge stropping. So that leaves stropping, pressure, angle, stretching and mapping, work on those and the close comfortable shave will follow. I think you could wait on a pasted strop, I have about 15+ shaves on the two razors I rotate and they both still seem as sharp as the day they came in the mail, you would most definitely want to wait until your strop technique is improved before using paste any way. When you strop pay attention to the spine( if anything does lose contact with the strop, make sure it is the edge and not the spine), and go slow. I never have nicked my strop but it did take about 2 months before I really got it down to where I could use a little speed, interestingly enough that was also the first day I had a BBS shave. It just takes practice and you will be wondering why you didnt start shaving with a str8 sooner,imo. Good luck and enjoy.