Thread: Journal of discovery, learning to use a straight razor

I'm most likely going to get a 3" strop down the road. Right now I'm using a 2" Latigo from Vintage Blades. I only slightly cut the far sides of it when I first started to strop.

About your odd sound on the up stroke; maybe you are slightly dropping your hand and causing the razor to sit unevenly.

I don't think the strop should be wavy while hanging. Are you storing it in the bathroom? Many members here do that but I hear it's really bad due to the humidity. I store my razor and strop in the bedroom.
I have had many leather items in the past get wet and they usually start to warp, perhaps this is your issue?

I hear there is a nice product called "Neatsfoot" that you can rub in to your strop to help break it in and keep it lasting.

Originally Posted by KarmaPolice

About your odd sound on the up stroke; maybe you are slightly dropping your hand and causing the razor to sit unevenly.

I don't think the strop should be wavy while hanging. Are you storing it in the bathroom? Many members here do that but I hear it's really bad due to the humidity. I store my razor and strop in the bedroom.
I have had many leather items in the past get wet and they usually start to warp, perhaps this is your issue?

I hear there is a nice product called "Neatsfoot" that you can rub in to your strop to help break it in and keep it lasting.

I do think its the angle on the up stroke. Today before I shaved (more on that later ) I raised the strop higher so that the top was about shoulder height, and the bottom maybe a foot below. More of a 30 degree angle below horizon rather than 45. This seemed to help me out, and I was getting better contact on the up stroke because of it. I don't think its something I want to stick with though, I think the real issue is my grip. I'd rather be able to strop at any angle with good grip rather than be stuck at a high angle in order to accommodate a less than ideal grip.

I don't store my strop in the bathroom either. For one, there is no room. My bathroom is very tiny, and the only spot to store it where it wouldn't get wet is an very impractical spot. Instead I store it by my living room window, and when I strop it move it to the deadbolt on my front door. (Think very small apt).

I think I will look into strop conditioners though. I was hoping to not spend too much more money (that hasn't gotten in the way of my RAS though), but I think it may be necessary. Depending on the price though, I may just end up getting a better strop.

So I decided to up my shaving frequency to every other day, so here I am with shave #5.

Here is the tl;dr version.
*Better Shave than last time, could be to a variety of reasons.
*Focused on strop technique to try and get a better edge than last time
*Beard prep: lathered in shower with badger brush and re-lathered just before the shave.
*Really focused on skin tight and touch light during shave to great success.
*Nicked off a pimple on my chin. First nick since my first shave.
*Shaved the back of my neck with little mirror assistance.
*Aftershave still stings like a mofo.

Reader's Digest version:
Again I went for the Dovo After my last shave, I wanted to focus on my stropping technique to try and get it to shave better than last time. Since it was the one I used last, I had to use it again to see if better stropping would make a difference. I feel kind of bad leaving my John Williams aside so I think I'll have to make it a point to use him next time.

All and all, this was a better shave. Here are the things I did different; I really focused on stropping technique, and getting proper contact between the edge and the strop. I did 100 hand strokes on the strop to give it a bit of oil and warm it up. I also held the strop higher which helped a lot on my up stroke. I find that while stropping, after 10-12 strokes, my fingers have slid on the tang a little and my grip is not where it should be. I notice this when I reach the top of my up stroke and when I do my roll, my wrist is getting involved. At this point I stop and adjust and start over again. In addition, sometimes when I do my roll, the blade slaps down on the leather too, which I'm sure is not proper. In any case, I did 30 on the linen and 60 on the leather, taking my time and focusing on the basics. I'm thinking about starting up my butter knife practice again to help get my muscle memory stronger. I figure once in the morning and once in the evening will really help my stropping coordination.

Ok, so beard prep. Turns out my gf left the nice conditioner at her mom's place, so I tried something a bit different. I used the badger brush and my regular soap to do a facial lathering in the shower. My reasoning was that one of the main effects of the badger brush is to clean around the base of the hairs getting both dirt and debris off, and also to strip the oils off the hair so they absorb more water. I figured if I do it in shower, then all that stuff washes away with that first lather instead of having it be a part lather I use to shave. Before the shower I filled my Tabasco cup with boiling water to let it sit and warm up while I shower.

Ok, shower done time to shave . I've still got some MWF soap in my bowl, so I go ahead and use that. It really does make a nice creamy lather that lasts a long long time, and it simply feels soft on my face. I can easily see why its a favorite among shavers. I get a great lather going and really work it into my face for a couple of minutes. So so smooth.

Shave time! Seems like my stropping made a difference. While I really focused on keeping that touch light and the skin tight, I feel the razor was still sharper than last time. Things went quite smoothly, and I worked on getting skin tighter in different way. I figure, there must be a way to get the skin tighter with each stroke, so I started adjusting my stretching hand with every stroke. I also shortened my stroke, so instead of making large sweeps down my sideburns and cheeks, I did the top half, readjusted my stretching hand, and then did the bottom half. I also got better stretching on my jawline and around my ears, which before I was only stretching with head positions. I also got better at keeping the touch as light as possible.

The upper lip went smoother than ever, and so did the lower lip. The chinny chin chin still was a pain in the butt, but I got improved strokes around the flatter portions which left me with just the pointed area to struggle with. I also sliced off a pimple, giving my first nick since I started. I don't think I re-lathered as much as before, probably because I was better at shaving the flatter portions. I still did 3 or 4 lathers for the chin though.

The neck went well too. The shorter strokes and better skin tightness really pay off. I still love nice long strokes that take off bushels of hair, but it seems shorter and tighter gives me a better shave.

My left hand is improving with every shave. The left side felt more comfortable than ever and I even incorporated a few angle adjustments around my jawline that I hadn't tried before.

The biggest thing I did today, however, was shave the back of my neck. I haven't shaved it since I stopped using the mach 3 and it was getting really fuzzy. I inquired in another thread, and decided to give it a go. It turns out that shaving by feel wasn't that hard at all. The area is so flat and easy to stretch out that shaving it blind went a lot easier than I thought. I did find I had to rinse of my razor with every stroke though, because I pulled off such long hairs and loads of lather with every swipe.

Interestingly, I found that rinsing the clean side of the blade seemed to pull the shaving gunk off better than trying to rinse the built up side of the blade. Give this a shot and you'll be surprised. With the water flowing spine to edge, it pulls all the stuff off the back side much faster than trying to rinse the gunk straight off the back side.

So shave complete, one pass WTG, neck included. I used the remaining lather to give my face a good wash and rinsed with cold water. Splashed on the bay rum (OUCH!) and then cleaned the razor and gave it a quick post shave strop to get any gunk off the edge. I really want to get the conditioner back though. I know conditioner opens the cuticles of the hair up, making easier cuts.

In conclusion, I've still got lots of progress to make with everything. I focusing on better stropping grips, and finding better ways to tighten my skin, my touch is getting lighter, and combined with the tight skin and a well stropped razor, I'm getting good shaves still.

I know my plan has been to shave every other day, but I had a nice shin dig to go to tonight and wanted a decent shave to go to so I decided to give my cheeks and neck a quick swipe with the razor. Besides the lip and chin taking the most time, I developed a patch of zits and white heads on my chin last night. Not sure what this is about, but I'm pretty sure its related to shaving.

I decided last time to use my John Williams, which has been nice and stropped for quite some time from my practicing.

Beard Prep: In shower, lather with badger brush and regular soap.
After shower lather with Mitchell's Wool Fat for a few minutes. I really like the smoothness of this soap.

The shave: I am using shorter and shorter strokes. I find this allows me to readjust the stretching grip on my face more frequently, resulting in better shave. I lessened the angle a bit too. I think I've been attacking at more of a 30-45 degree angle, so I lowered it down a bit. Kept my touch light.

I did a few XTG passes on my cheeks, and found that using a pulling motion with the opposite hand gave me better control than using the same hand as the cheek.

Left hand side is still not as good as the right, but definitely building more coordination and comfort. Like I said above, I found using my left hand to do XTG on my right cheek better than using the right, and vice versa. I really cannot imagine not being able to use both hands to shave with, it would be so incredibly limiting.

Totally skipped the lips and chin. Those always take the longest, and I didn't have a lot of time, nor was I about to rush.

All and all a decent shave (on the parts I did anyway). I'm finding better ways to get my skin pulled tighter and working on angles.

Congrats Mark!
You are officially ahead of me by 1 shave :-) I just had my 5th shave a few hours ago. It went great! I went grocery shopping last night and picked up some Nivea For Men Q10 Aftershave Balm. It works great for after the shave AND DURRING! I mixed a dimesize dab of it with my Taylor's Lavender shave-soap and it had a great effect. The smell was outstanding combined with the TOBS Lavender scent.

If you are breaking out with pimples on your chin, try using alcohol on just your chin area immediatelly after the shave; if your skin can take the abuse.

The aftershave I use is 55% alcohol, so I'm already getting that. I think I'm pressing too hard on the chin. I notice that I use more pressure on the more difficult areas. Need to work on keeping that light touch no matter what.

I really like reading your post and it so reminds me of my first endeavors at using a straight. The left hand will become very easy to use and eventually becomes second nature.

If I might suggest. Using the toe of the razor gives you more control with the pressure of the razor so that when you are doing your upper lip it is easier to do with the toe.

For after shave stuff, try "Nivea Extreme Comfort post shave Balm" it is fairly cheap at about $6. Even today I use it when I get a really close shave and it does help with skin repair if it is needed. I carry one in my glove box of my work truck because it really works very well.


Keep at it,
Richard