First Shave -- so so...

I received my Dovo Special and strop from SRD yesterday. I decided to give a go on my two-day old beard. Although I didn't cut myself, I am not too sure about my experience.

The razor is beautiful. I decided to strop the blade a little. I managed to leave a few nicks at the edges of my strop but I think the blade was intact. I decided to go ahead and shave. I took a shower and used my GFT violet to create a nice lather.

I have a very thick Middle Eastern beard. I tried to shave the two sides of my face and use my Mekur to finish things off. Although I have nothing to compare against, but the blade was kind of noisy against my beard though I tried to maintain a 30 degree angle. I felt it was pulling and skipping on my face. I managed to do a pass on each side WTG but it was not smooth by any stretch.

Any ideas? Am I doing something wrong? Is my experience typical?

Thanks in advance for any tips you can provide.

Definately a typical experience! :)

When you talk about the 30 degree angle it's easier to think of it in spine widths. About 1-1.5 spine widths is enough and it's easier to visualise when you're shaving.

If you lather a dry beard and go right into the shave you won't get a very good result and it'll probably be uncomfortable as well!

Try this:

- Have a shower and rub a load of conditioner into the beard.
- After the shower lather up and the then strop the razor while the lather sits.
- Put a hot towel over the lather once the razor is stropped. The towel should be as hot as you can stand. Leave this on for a minute or two.
- Relather and start the shave.

You'll find this emphasis on the pre shave prep really helps improve the quality of your shave! :)

After the shave rinse with hot water to remove any remaining lather and cold water to close the pores. Then pat your skin dry and apply your post shave balm.

Shaving heaven! :)

Good luck and keep us posted!

Welcome to SRP, and congratulations on taking the leap! I agree with Stubear, your experience was typical, and I'd also like to add, a good one. You did not cut yourself, that is the first goal achieved. My own first experience was rpretty far from your experience :)
Straight razor shaving is a skill that takes practice, and from reading the posts here many emphasize the close comfortable shaves. It is rarely like that straight from the beginning. The good news is, the close comfortable shaves are in there, just keep practicing and you'll get there soon enough. Just have fun, and keep us posted.

You definitely are not alone with your first experience! If I can add something else, in addition to what these other great members have said, remember to also:

- Stretch the skin. You can have good beard prep and a perfect blade angle, but sometimes, you need to stretch the skin to remove some of the pulling.

- Noise is normal. Depending on how hollow the blade is, some are much louder than others. It's been described almost as the sound of "buttering toast."

Keep in mind that with a straight razor, it's the art of beard REDUCTION. Each pass will reduce the beard more and more when you attack from different angles. So if you have a thick beard, you could do one pass perfectly and still notice a lot of hair remaining behind. This doesn't necessarily mean that your doing anything wrong. It's just something that would get picked up on the next pass.

One final thought: most recommend that you do NOT strop the razor prior to your first shave with a BRAND NEW razor, since these come shave ready (from SRD, at least). Stropping first could damage the already shave-ready razor, which may have happened if you nicked the strop. Now that you've broken it in, you will always strop before you use it.

Just take it slow (especially with the stropping), and it will get better. I just finished my 19th shave yesterday, and I think I FINALLY figured out a way to shave my neck closer than ever before. But I found it after 18 previous shaves over a 6 week period, so sometimes, it takes a little bit before you "get there!" Just keep it up! You have a great support system here on this forum with all of us behind ya!

Thanks for your help everyone.

Typical, absolutely!

It's all a learning experience that really does come second nature with practice.

You are right on target.

Soon you will look forward to that scraping noise.

Sounds just typical.
The other gentlemen has given good advice.
Keep at it, go slow, go light and prep well, and you will soon get the greatest shaves ever.
And that noise thing? It kinda baffled me too when I started out. Nowadays I love it, it is one of the cool things about singing blades:)
Good luck with the next shaves.