Thread: I did what I was told not to and it worked!!!

I have been trying to shave with my new straight razor for the last week with no success whatsoever.I have been using a shavette for about six months now and I just couldn't shave with the real one since I felt it just wouldn't cut.
Desperate I had already tried to hone it myself when I became a member in SRP and the advice I was given was that the place I bought the razor from , was selling them already shave ready so I must have damaged it by stropping it wrong.But what I did while stropping was the same like the videos I 've seen and the advice I read.They also advised me to have it professionally honed cause I might have done an even bigger damage trying to hone it.But I was just not ready to give up yet.
I followed the only advice I could follow at the time , that wouldn't cost me time or money , which was to pay extra attention on my shaving angle since it is much more important with a real straight.And it was really good advice cause with the shavette I could shave easily with 30-40 degrees angle , though I would always use 30 , while the straight worked for me best with about 20 degrees for the WTG pass and almost flat on my face for the rest.But the shave was still pretty bad.
The site I bough my equipment had also given me some instructions , mainly in the form of dos and don'ts for the items I bought.For my strop it said "DON'T use the rough side" , but yesterday I suddenly had the urge to do so and so I did.I immediately felt that it had worked , it had done something that even 150 passes on the smooth side wouldn't (I say this because I had tried to use from 30 to 150 passes in order to see if I could get any results). After 20-30 full passes on the rough side , I did 40-50 full passes on the smooth side and knew it had worked.Till then the smooth side had no pull on the razor whatsoever and even though it was doing something to the edge (I knew that cause I had tested the razor before and after stropping on the smooth side with tests other than shaving) it was not nearly enough for me to shave.
So here I am today having successfully shaved with my new razor for the first time and even though it was not as good as I am used to with my shavette , it was something I can call a shave , it was a start.
Now I know that I definitely want to try linen , since the rough side worked so well and my strop hasn't got one.

I'm glad it worked for you. Congrats on the good shave!

Stick with it.

Michael

All that matters is that you have your first successful shave under your belt, congratulations.

As your experiences grow you will understand a lot of the "advice" given here, it is only meant to assist and simplify your journey of learning to use a straight razor. That advice may not necessarily be a fact as it's based upon the experiences of the person giving the advice, but it is given in good faith.

My recommendation or "advice" to you is to add where you are from like the city/state so people with experience can see what region of the world you live in so you can find an experienced shaver within driving distance. If you are in my neck of the woods, I'd be more than happy to show you the ropes...I'm actually a pretty good teacher.
Scott

GO with whatever works! I used to finish hone on a glass bottle (only because that is what grampa used to do), and it seened to work.... Now that I have joined this site and used other hones and strops, I don't find the bottle very good anymore.. I think you use what works and then as you get better you will have the confidence to try other things... "Perfect the art" if you will..

Finish hone with a glass bottle? Hear of sharpening scissors with a bottle. How do you finish hone a razor with one?

Originally Posted by Johnus

Finish hone with a glass bottle? Hear of sharpening scissors with a bottle. How do you finish hone a razor with one?

Veery Interesting...............

Originally Posted by shooter74743

My recommendation or "advice" to you is to add where you are from like the city/state so people with experience can see what region of the world you live in so you can find an experienced shaver within driving distance. If you are in my neck of the woods, I'd be more than happy to show you the ropes...I'm actually a pretty good teacher.
Scott

I think Greece is a long long distance for most members of SRP .There is a Greek site for traditional shaving , like DE razor and straight razor shaving , but none of the members live in the same city (Patra) as far as I know.My best hope would be to meet one of the more experienced members on a trip to the capital or meet a barber that continues to use a real straight and not a shavette.Thank you very much for the offer.

Man, we have folks literally all over the world here, so there is a chance...ya never know!