intro & simple unanswered question

hey everyone first post here

i read this site a couple times, thought it was awesome and bought a full set up.

Went to local professional honer for my blade and got a good 2 hour tutorial on everything from storing the blades to stropping to overall shaving process.

i did my first shave (side burns and mid cheecks with both hands) no cuts or nicks

did my 2nd shave adding little bit more of the face including jawline (both hands), again no nicks or cuts

so far so good....

i do have 1 hole missing in my whole process though. What do you guys do after a couple strokes, when your blade has lather and hair on it? somehow i have yet to find information on process between strokes.

so far i have gently used a towel to knock off access lather and hair it but i am worried i will dull the blade.

while at the professional honer i bought a cheaper 2nd blade so that i would have a back up with a sharp edge in case my stropping or anything else dulls the blade

anyways all comments and hints will be extremely helpful

im sure i will have more questions as i continue perfecting this art.

thanks in advance

Welcome, sounds like it's going well for you.

There has been some debate on this one, some people wipe the blade on towels, tissue, hand, sponge etc, some people, me included, rinse under the tap (Faucet?). Whatever works for you is fine.

Welcome to SRP. I've done it both ways. I use a tissue to wipe the lather/whiskers off or just stick it under the faucet. In the latter method there have been many a blade chipped if the owner was careless and dinged it on the faucet. One fellow lays a wet sponge in the sink and uses that. Try a couple of different methods and you'll soon know which works best for you.

I wipe it with my fingers holding it so the bevel is to the roof and then wash it off my fingers. I then sometimes wash the blade under running water as well.

thanks for the quick response

just like all arts or techniques im sure there is a debate on every element. however seems like as long as im careful the towel should be ok, but i think i will experiment with just runnings some water to remove the junk

does the water on your blade screw you up at all? seems like water drops would be falling. but as long as it works for you thats awesome and ill give it a try

thanks again for the info

Welcome to SRP!! Looks like you are off to a great start. Back in the day when shaves were a major part of a barbers income the barber took the quickest and easy approach. He would just lay a rag or towell over the customer's sholder and wipe the lather on that. Some actually used a "razor towell", a small some sort of woven paper that was about 5+7 in size and disposed of it when finished. I have one of these that I have framed as it has a neat picture of a lathered face and razor on it, but I have never been able to find them to buy in quanity so I could use them. Anyway, if a rag or towell was good enough for a barber, it's fine for me. Best Regards and Happy Shaving, wildhog

I prefer to rinse the lather off. I also use hot water, as it heats up the blade and gives a warm feeling during the shave. I seem some people use cold water, so I will have to try that option.

Gentlemen, when ready to shave, I run the blade under hot water. During the shave I wipe the blade on a barber towel. After the shave I rinse off the blade, dry it , strop it, oil it, and put it away.

I bought a dozen microfiber cloths (very cheap at WalMart) and wipe the lather & whiskers on the cloth using a gentle stropping motion. Because I'm addicted to the feel of a warm blade, I sometimes also rinse it under hot water. The reason I don't rinse lather & whiskers into the sink and skip the towel is because I leave a hand towel in the sink soaking in hot water to apply to my face in between passes. I am very slow and deliberate when rinsing under the faucet to avoid hitting the razor on the faucet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LinacMan

...I am very slow and deliberate when rinsing under the faucet to avoid hitting the razor on the faucet.

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After "tinking" a brand new Dovo "en vogue" 105 on the edge of the faucet, NOW I am also slow and deliberate!!!

Rats! It was my first shave with a really good razor. I really learned a lesson.
:(

Welcome. It sounds like you got great advice from the guy you got your gear from. A second razor is plus to have also. My personal method to clear lather and whiskers off my blade is toilet paper. I let a strip hang off the shelf or counter, with something heavy enough to keep it there. I find rinsing takes a longer to do. Thats all. Best of all, when I'm done with the shave- Flush. Done. Easy. Another thing, if my razor gets wet in the pivot area- blow dryer. You'll find your own method soon enough. Best of luck.-J

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnnyCakeDC

Another thing, if my razor gets wet in the pivot area- blow dryer.

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That is one thing that I hate when rinsing my straight. I have to make sure I add a drop of oil in the pivot area to prevent rust.

hey all, thanks to everyone for their helpful responses.

i think ill just experiment a bit and find a nice method that works for me and my blade.

i heard some horror stories about people flicking their blade to knock of water and whacking their sink. sounds awful....

on a side note thanks a million for reminding me that i need to get some oil to drop on my blade as well.

just pull the plug on the sink and fill it with hot water. you will have far less risk of hitting it off of the sink or spout.

Hi and welcome to SRP
I am also a relative new comer to straight razor shaving
I simply rinse my razor under running water - carefully of coarse
then pat dry blade with a towel being careful around that sharp edge

Hope this helps

Rick

Universal Rule #17

Being careful, slow and deliberate when you rinse the blade under the faucet
just means it will take a little longer before you ding it on the faucet. It will
eventually happen so you might as well go ahead, ding it intentionally and get
the lesson over with.

I simply rinse under running water from the tap as it seems that most do here; but one thing that I do that doesn't seem to be mentioned. When I rinse it, I hold the blade Edge down so water runs down the blade, and not hitting the top directly.

I'm fairly new here as well, but there are two pieces of advice that have made sense to me:

1. rinsing under the faucet works fine - if you can trust yourself with this blade against your neck, you should be able to avoid the sink and faucet, just be careful.

2. use cold water - the logic behind this is that the cold water keeps the blade stiff. This seems to make sense, and is what I've been doing. I can't think of a way to verify that cold water is better than hot, but it makes logical sense to me, and it doesn't interfere with the nice warm lather, so I'll keep doing it.