Thread: The Noob Chronicle - My Straight Razor Experience

The Straight Road - Part 48: Leaving Las Vegas
Whew! After what was a hectic week, with travel to Sin City and a 4-day conference, then returning for a day of work before starting my holidays, I was beat. I shaved with my DE while on vacation, which ended up leaving me with some pretty good ingrown hairs on the right side of my throat. I shaved Wednesday, then skipped shaving Thursday and Friday in the hopes of getting things back under control and healing up the neck irritation, which went alright. I usually have my shipments arrive at the office, which ensures I don't miss the delivery, so I had a bit of an early Christmas on Friday, with a big, heavy W&B 7/8 near wedge and another Bow Razor for my collection. Beside them was a box from Sham with my first coticule and finally a testament to the great community we have here at SRP. A while back, in this thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...roo-strop.html I had commented that I'd like to try a 'roo strop some day. Shortly thereafter, I received a PM from episaacs, who graciously offered to send me one of his strops FOR FREE! I insisted on paying the shipping to Canada and he threw in one of his latigo strops for me to check out, as well. I must say, it was a very nice gesture by him and brought home the great vibe we have here in this community.

Here are some shots of the latest fruits of SGAD:

The razors and stone:


The strops:


Friday, after leaving work, I also made a stop at Lee Valley to pick up some restoration supplies, which should keep me busy over the holidays. I have kept busy the Friday and Saturday with applying my newly acquired Tung oil to my bocote scales project, as well as soaking some old horn scales in Neatsfoot oil in hopes of bringing them back to their former glory. On Saturday, I was planning a shave in the early evening, as I had to go to one of the ubiquitous gatherings that seem to crop up at this time of year, so out came the straight.

The Anticipation
This one was a long time coming. The DE shave is still nice, but it gives me more ingrowns on the neck than the straight shave, which has been the best so far. I'm not even going to mention what the other methods do to my skin. Maxi had given me an Arko stick to try out while on the road, which worked well with my Omega 10005 for face lathering to give me a decent lather for my Merkur 38c/Feather combo, but that was all behind me now-it was straight razor time again!

The Prep
This was a special one for me, as it felt like I hadn't had one in a long time, both a shave in general and a straight shave in particular. I decided to pick my favourite lineup for this, so I went with the Manhattan Cutlery, my Omega Pro 49 and MWF. For finishing up, I picked out my Marlborough AS and Cologne, which has risen to the top of my list of favourite scents. I pulled the anointed products down from the shelf and opened the razor for my introduction to the 'roo strop. Kangaroo leather has many unique properties, one of which is its incredibly high tensile strength while remaining very thin. This strop is only a couple of millimetres thick, but the leather is tough and does not stretch or distort when I pull it taut with the d-ring. The feel of it is magnificent, so much so that it could very easily supplant my other strops as the mainstay of my now-budding collection (and here I thought I was somewhat immune to StAD). The feedback on the thin leather is quite nice and the draw is about exactly how I like it. Not too fast, but not sticky, either. All in all, I give Ed (episaacs) an A+ on his 'Roo Strop.

Once the stropping was done, I filled my Robert Becker scuttle and popped it in the microwave for two minutes while I waited for the shower to heat up, which seems to take a while since winter started. That done, I dunked the Omega and hopped in for a nice, leisurely, hot shower, paying special attention to scrubbing my neck with Real Shaving Exfoliating Scrub. As I emerged, clean, warm and relaxed, I began to fall into the rhythm and concentration of my shaving ritual, which really does have some sort of a meditative quality. It was time to put brush to soap.

The Lather
My love affair with Mitchell's Wool Fat Shaving Soap continues unabated. I can't get enough and if I were to turn monogamous in my lather selection, I would have a difficult time committing to any other soap than this one. The scent, the ability to lather in a bowl or on the face and the excellent moisturizing qualities just simply make this one a winner in my books. I am always left with very soft skin once I am done and the lather, now that I have the hang of it, rarely fails to perform. Saturday was no exception as "The Fat", whipped to perfection by the truly impressive Omega Pro 49-in this man's opinion, the best-spent $10 in all of shaving-produced moisturizing, cushiony and slick lather in abundance, sufficient for three full passes and touch-ups.

The Shave
Aided by the luxurious lather, the Manhattan Cutlery glided its way through three days of growth with very little effort, making the first pass with aplomb. The large, heavy blade is still teaching me, so I was certain to be extra careful, especially around the chin and moustache area, where it has reprimanded me in the past. I escaped the second pass with the tiniest of nicks in the soul patch area, but again, the sailing was predominantly smooth with an almost effortless gliding over the cheeks, neck and chin area. The delicate work under the nostrils came off well, with no discomfort or nicks there, so I lathered up for the third and final pass with a great sense of calm and enjoyment. The Manhattan did not disappoint, even on the tricky south to north XTG on my neck, leaving me with one or two areas to touch up along the jawline and the usual point of the chin. It wasn't my best straight shave, but after a week off, it came pretty close and felt great.

The Post
With the touch-ups out of the way, I rinsed the scuttle, dried it quickly and stowed it in its place of honour on the shelf. The Omega Pro 49 soon followed, nestling in amongst its bristly siblings and taking up its place at the back of the rotation line, though it usually has and invite to jump the line regularly. Cold water came next, splashing my neck and face, refreshing and bracing as it rinsed the remnants of "The Fat" from my skin. I followed that with the alum block, which stung hardly at all, then some Witch Hazel, which continued the soothing efforts started by the cold water. That done, I allowed the witch hazel a few moments to dry a bit while I stropped the Manhattan on the kangaroo hide again, which was delightful. Then, before my face dried completely, I applied a generous amount of DR Harris Marlborough aftershave, which stung a bit, but whose cooling menthol helped to sooth and soften even more. Again, I gave the aftershave a moment to settle while I finished tidying the sink area, then applied Trumper's Unscented moisturizer, which makes a great balm to mix with any splash, to help protect my skin against the dry sub-zero air here in Toronto. The finishing touches were applied with the Marlborough cologne, then it was out to the bedroom to dress for my night out.

The Verdict
Everything felt...right. That's the best word I can use to describe it. From start to finish, the shave felt like a symphony of blade, lather and scent, which left me relaxed, refreshed and ready for action. My face was excellently smooth, helped by both the MWF and the Trumper's. My scent was the great cedarwood with hints of sandalwood that only DR Harris Marlborough delivers and overall I felt like I had returned to my path. My friend of nearly twenty years, who was hosting the party, asked me what was up with this "shaving stuff" that my wife had commented to him about, then he touched my face and said "wow that's smooth". After that, he asked me if he could try one of my razors, so I think I may be working on a convert. On top of that, I am planning on giving my younger brother some wet-shaving gear and perhaps a Gillette Fat Boy for Christmas, so the message is starting to spread. My personal comeback to straight shaving felt great and to see traditional shaving making a comeback amongst my friends and family is even better.

After all, it's much more fun to walk The Straight Road with company!

My holidays are here! I have a few project restorations that I want to finish, as well as taking some time to fool around with the coticule I just acquired. I get the feeling that I will have a busy time of it over the next few weeks. Family, of course, comes first and I will have many events, visits and parties to attend in the next while, as well. My plan is to give a few days before my next shave to see if I can get all of the small irritated spots on my neck to heal completely in hopes of eliminating my ingrown hairs. That would be a grand achievement as it is an issue that has plagued me for as long as I've been shaving. I am also looking forward to getting my Henckells Friodur back from Maxi, who did me the amazing favour of finishing the scales we started on our first workshop day. If you want a sense of how badly I want to get my hands on that razor again and give it a shave, check out the photos he posted here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...8-friodur.html

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack