Thread: Going down hill fast

I hope you all had a good Easter with your family. If you have an answer to only one or a few of my questions, I will appreciate it.

So I have a Dovo Buffalo Horn 5/8" Stainless Steel purchased from SRD. I have shaved with it twice. I also have the Premium I leather strop with hard pressed wool felt from SRD. I did not strop the blade when I first got it because they are "shave ready". The first shave Friday evening worked out pretty well with only one very shallow nick about 3/4" long, just a tiny bit of blood, and some minor razor burn. Pretty good considering I just switched from a Mach III, and the only other experience I have shaving is with a knife, once, on my cheek (dumb experiment a few years ago that worked out just fine fortunately).

I didn't shave Saturday, since I shaved late Friday.

Today’s shave wasn’t as good. Razor burn. A couple of nicks. I stropped, while the shaving cream was soaking in, I used hot water and shaved with Proraso shaving cream (store brand version from bath & body works). Also used a hot towel before lather, another after lather (like in the video that came with the order from SRD), then shaved after re-lathering. I used a hot towel after shaving too, but I think it was too hot, which might explain some of the irritation. Either that, or the Nivea aftershave for Sensitive Skin. I don't usually use aftershave.

The first passes of the shave weren’t so good, as the blade was going up and over the whiskers instead of through them. Since I have razor burn, it is possible I over compensated after the first passes. I ended up doing a 4 pass shave, lathering between passes.


So I have some ideas:

1. I am going to use a double edged razor that I just picked up, and see if the lather/after-shave are part of the skin irritation problem.
2. I am wondering if I should buy a hone. I have a spyderco tri-angle sharpmaker for knife sharpening, but I am not going to use this on this razor.
3. I am wondering if I should buy a lower end razor. I currently have the Dovo Buffalo Horn 5/8” stainless. I figure with a lower end (meaning about $100 instead of $200+) razor I could have two razors to compare against. (If anybody wants to help me buy a razor from ebay without spilling the beans and causing a bidding war, send me a PM and give me some advice on a razor and maximum bid). I don't like gold on the blade if possible. I care much more about function and steel quality on the blade.
4. I was pretty careful not to put pressure on the sharp side when I was stropping, and I knew enough to drag the blade heel side first, but I didn’t do any prep on the strop after I took it out of the bag. I wonder if that might have dulled the razor (e.g., dust and/or no strop treatment).
5. I have a shaving mirror mounted to my wall that I used when I was shaving with the mach III. Worked fine there, but I think I need to lower it now that I am using a straight razor.
6. Maybe I shouldn't look so closely in the mirror when I am shaving?
7. Anybody in the Twin Cities going to have a SR meet?
8. I mixed the shaving cream in an old coffee mug. Maybe a coffee mug was too small?
9. Any other advice/tips?
10. Can you over strop a blade if you are otherwise careful?
11. How do you clean the business end of a razor while your shaving, and once you're done.

I am sure this is answered somewhere, but feel free to provide a link if you have found it useful.

Thanks guys for helping a SR noob out.