Thread: First shave, question about strops

Well guys i had my first sraight shave today... wife bought me a dovo mammoth ivory blade and i already had a dovo tortouise one (which i never used) for x-mas so i jumped in with both feet.
I hadnt shaved for 2 weeks so had a lot of growth and after shaving for about 30 or so minutes managed to get it all off.... not a great shave, got a little bit of stubble on my chin/tash and cut myself 3-4 times. However i'm semi happy with it. Problem i think i had is the razors wern't as sharp as they should have been... blade dragged and caught quite a bit. so i'm trying to strop sharpen them up a bit.
I bought a dovo wide leather strop... Dovo Wide Leather Hanging Strop one sided i believe (no canvas), however (and i'm going to look like an idiot asking) i'm not sure which side to strop on.... theres a dark side with bumpy leather and a very light side (almost white) that is very smooth. I used a stone on the dark side to try and develop a smooth surface however its still a bit bumpy then tryed stroping the razors... it looks like its worked and they seem sharp and i can cut a loose hair on the blades now but i'm still concerned i'm doing it wrong. My shaving technique sucks as well however i'll get that with time.

All advice is appreciated.

Richard

Go with the smooth side.

okay will do, i did put a small amount of green strop paste onto that side to try out... which didnt seem to do anything... was that a bad idea?

Yes. Now that strop can no longer be used for daily stropping.That is an abrasive but a mild one. The pulling may have to do with your angles. Did you keep your skin stretched? Also you just skim the blade next to the skin even lighter than a DE. Can you take a pic of the strop and let us see it? Maybe it can be salvaged. It doesn't mean the strop is junk though as you'll need a pasted strop eventually anyway. Were the blades professionally sharpened?

Yes it was a bad idea...

SRP is the most informative Straight Razor forum on the planet, but just like shaving you have to do your part... There is a Wiki that has probably 50% of it dedicated to teaching beginners what to do and what not to do..
This section that we are in is filled with so much info for beginners that it could be overwelming...
You really should take some time now after your shave before you put paste on an everyday strop and do some reading on here and Please feel free to ask questions first, our Members, Mentors, and Mods, are more than happy to help a Newb in fact that is exactly what this whole forum is about..

Welcome to SRP now go forth and learn my friend

What kind of Green paste BTW???

Dovo or Chromium

i put a small amount of dovo green onto the top part of the strop (about 3 inch square), however i hadnt run a pumice stone over that side which i've done now which hopefully has taken some of the green off... also i have just put leather cream on that side as well and rubbed it in well. Hopefully i've attached the picture correctly.

"but just like shaving you have to do your part", of course your right... however there seems to be so much info out there hard not to get confused... hopefully it will be my last mistake.

Its not a bad mistake because you will still need one just not yet I don't think. Did you stretch your skin while shaving and use the lightest touch possible even when the hairs were pulling? Were the razors sharpened for you? You can still use the strop just don't run over the green until you can get another and then put an even coating all over that one.

Originally Posted by shivarussell

i put a small amount of dovo green onto the top part of the strop (about 3 inch square), however i hadnt run a pumice stone over that side which i've done now which hopefully has taken some of the green off... also i have just put leather cream on that side as well and rubbed it in well. Hopefully i've attached the picture correctly.

"but just like shaving you have to do your part", of course your right... however there seems to be so much info out there hard not to get confused... hopefully it will be my last mistake.

HA !!!! man if that is your last mistake while learning to SR shave you will be ahead of every other person on this Forum

Use either Saddle Soap or a cream leather cleaner on an old rough terry cloth rag and rub that out a hand cleaner like Goop (NO pumice) might actually work the best on the Dovo paste......

If the razors were pro-honed before you got them then trust in the Honemeister and work your technique slowly and patiently over the next week,, take small steps, work the cheeks first... the easy parts, finish with your old razor on the hard parts.. Slowly expand on the face area as you get better...

NOW if after one week you still can't get the cheeks smooth and comfortable then you MIGHT and I mean MIGHT have a sharpness issue...

Good Luck and ask as many questions as needed...

Yeah stretched the skin, had most of my problems with the chin/tash area though... It tugged through most of the shave however i didnt strop the razors before hand since the mammoth came fully sharpened from the supplyer, however i did strop and sharpen both after i shaved and they both seem sharp now (tryed the hair over the blade test which they both passed).
Next shave will hopefully be better. I'm still reading throughout the forums referance pasting strops, there does seem to be a lot of people doing it.

When you say "until you can get another and then put an even coating all over that one" do you mean put green paste evenly over the new strop, if so surely i would be making the same mistake again.... or am i wrong again?

Is there anyway i can remove the green paste already on the strop? i have rubbed it with a dry pumice stone to remove the outer nap and develope a smooth surface as the strop instructions say and also rubbed in some leather cream, it seems to be okay and the razors seem to sharpen up ok.

In answer to the above my cheeks are smooth, but that maybe due to going against the grain so to speak (shaving up rather than down), i seem to be more comfortable shaving them that way.

I'm annoyed with myself over the strop, my daughter bought it for me for x-mas and i seem to have ruined it already..

No not the new strop. Leave the new strop new and finish pasting the one you started on. A pasted strop just gives a razor that little bit extra it takes to make it perfect. When the razor first starts to pull you can give 10 or so laps maybe more if needed to bring the edge back.