Thread: Best few shaves!

Hey all,

I've only had my straight razor for a few days although I've been reading all the materials for beginners. I've been going slow like the first shave article recommends, and these have really been the best shaves of my life!

Thanks to the community for all the good advice and support! It's so much fun to learn about this.

Welcome aboard, and when it comes down to it, your shaves can only get better!

Great start. I think you will find the whole experience very addicting. The shaves only get better with more experience.

I'm moving on to the chin area, and I'm finding the razor to be pulling uncomfortably. Does this have to do with blade sharpness? I tried the hanging hair test, and it cuts the hair about 75% of the time, but this may have to do with the way I'm swiping.

I bought a "shave ready" razor from someone on the SRP classifieds, so my guess it has to do with my stropping technique if it is a sharpness issue. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by rafeblank

I'm moving on to the chin area, and I'm finding the razor to be pulling uncomfortably. Does this have to do with blade sharpness? I tried the hanging hair test, and it cuts the hair about 75% of the time, but this may have to do with the way I'm swiping.

I bought a "shave ready" razor from someone on the SRP classifieds, so my guess it has to do with my stropping technique if it is a sharpness issue. Any ideas?

Yes, I bet it is a stropping issue, as I had the same difficulties. I cured my problem by placing my strop on a table (or in my case the headboard on my bed) and using it while lying flat. It is possible that you rolled the edge slightly, I did. But I use a wool/leather strop. I stropped it 50 times on the wool followed by 100 times on the leather. It made a difference for me too. Afterwards it stopped dragging.

I leave my strop hanging until I need it, take it down, lay it flat and strop away. I found I nicked it a lot more trying to strop while it was hanging than laying down.

Just a suggestion!! Continue on with the battle!!! Good luck, etc..

M

Welcome to SRP! With practice the shaves only get better from here.

Originally Posted by mjhammer

Yes, I bet it is a stropping issue, as I had the same difficulties. I cured my problem by placing my strop on a table (or in my case the headboard on my bed) and using it while lying flat. It is possible that you rolled the edge slightly, I did. But I use a wool/leather strop. I stropped it 50 times on the wool followed by 100 times on the leather. It made a difference for me too. Afterwards it stopped dragging.

I leave my strop hanging until I need it, take it down, lay it flat and strop away. I found I nicked it a lot more trying to strop while it was hanging than laying down.

Just a suggestion!! Continue on with the battle!!! Good luck, etc..

M

Thanks, that sounds like a great idea! I'm not sure I really understand the concept of a rolled edge - I read about it in the wiki but it doesn't quite make sense to me. It's when you apply too much pressure on the razor's edge to the strop? You're only supposed to apply very light pressure, if I'm not mistaken.

I am also having other strop issues that may be solved by lying it flat. When I pull on the strop from the bottom, the top curves slightly to the right. This creates a slight twist that makes stropping difficult.