Thread: Hello! Tips needed!

Hey alfborge fellow neighbour! nice to see someone from the scandinavia here

So, to keep u guys updated (rather get some feedback / expressing my joy) im making this reply.
I lost my straight razor virginity today.
I ordered my stuff yesterday, when i got back from work today i got a package leaned towards my door. Guess if i was happy?
Anyway, i got in and packed up all stuff. Filled with happiness i touched all stuff, practicing some stropping really slow trying to imitate those tutorial vids in the vidgallery.
After a few hours of mental preparation and nervousness i figured it was time to loose my virginity!
I expected to cut myself, i just hoped not to cut myself really badly. Since im a paramedic and got some stuff at home i brought out 1 litre of intra venous fluid + one vein catheter (needle) just incase i did cut my artheria going beside the adams apple or my carotis communis vein (yeah, i was kinda nervous and wanted to be cautious )


However: I tried out the razor on my arm after stropping 20 passes, hoovering 2 mm it didnt cut my armhair. I used the balsawood + red paste i bought earlier today and gave the razor roughly 50-60 passes. Stropped again and tried the hair test now on my arm, it didnt really cut much hair now either. But i figured i would try to shave as a test.
After checking the Lynn-video once again i felt confident enough to take a shower and applying my shavingsoap. Then i started, trying to do EXACTLY like mr. Lynn. It all went really smooth, felt great and close, not feeling any pain at all while doing my cheeks. The area below my cheeks ~the jawline was kinda tricky, but worked out rather good after pulling my skin a bit more. Then i went on shaving my chin, this was a really hart part in my humble opinion. I did cut myself one, leaving a really tiny piece of blood, didnt hurt actually. i kept going and it all worked out rather good.

Im writing this with a little sore cheek but with a large portion of happiness and joy!
It was really a blast, i feel so good at this very moment. I don't really know why. I just do
When touching my newly shaved areas its pretty decent, its not like a "against the grain" shave with my old mach3 around my cheek, but then. I didnt expect that kinda result either. Im surprised because the rest of my face feels like a good mach3 shave against the grain (except for my mustache which is somewhat inbetween a against the grain and along the grain with my non-straight shavings). However this actually leaves me less sore and vulnerable then after my regular shaves, the mach3 gets really close, but leaves me and my skin in a bad condition (+ alot of those inflammatored hairsacks 1-2 days after every shave).
I didn't go for 2 passes, i never shaved against the grain today.
Note that all written is with my own measurements expecting a bloodbath. When i say that it turned out really good i mean: a decent shaving without any pain.
Not perfectly shaved and a flawless technique :P

Anyone got another tips for testing if its shave ready? It turned out really good (with my measurements), but could be nice to know if i should work some more stropping with the red (or maybe the green) paste before shaving next time!

Now im just longing for my next shave, i actually want my beard to grow a couple of millimeters every hour for the next few weeks/months !
once again: GREAT THANKS TO ALL OF YOU GUYS!!!!
consider me hooked already unless i get a zillion inflammatored hairsacks the next couple of days :P

Congratulations on your successful first shave; any first shave that you survive with only minor wounds should be considered successful, actually shaving hair is a nice bonus :-)

As for sharpness, the razor should be able to cut arm hairs mid-shaft, that is, you should be able to wave the razor slowly through your arm hair a millimeter above the skin, and the hairs should either pop in two, or just tumble over onto the blade. With this level of sharpness, shaving shouldn't feel much like scraping, it should feel more like you're just wiping the lather off your face with the blade.

I'd use the pastes some more, but be careful not to use too much pressure, as that can make it difficult to achieve the very fine edge necessary for a comfortable shave. Also, you mentioned you had two pastes, are these the dovo pastes? If so, I think the green is the coarser paste at around 5-6 microns, and the red is the finer at 2 microns or so. You might want to do 10-20 light passes on the green, then wipe the blade very clean (to avoid cross contamination) and the 20 or so very light passes on the red. If that doesn't do the trick, then you may need to send the razor out for honing on an actual stone.

Aaah yes.. Thanks mparker762.. I got them both (red and green paste), i just didnt know if i was doing this armhair thing right, guess i was. I'll try out some again following ur instructions.

Btw, i got balsa atm to do these stroppings on, can i re-use it ? i mean, the place that i've contamined with paste earlier!? Need to clean it before it can be used again? I dont mean to mix those spots up (red/green), just if i can use that certain spot again or if i should buy a large amount of balsa pieces :P

No need to clean them, just be carefull when you switch between them, wipe clean your razor, to avoid cross-contamination of the pastes...

nenad

no need to reapply the pastes until they're all black and aren't sharpening anymore. A few drops should last you months before you need to reapply. Just wipe the blade off whenever you switch between them, so you don't get coarse paste smeared into your fine pastes.