Thread: My first shave; experienced trouble. :c

Hello, Straightrazorplace. My name is Suff. I recently purchased the beginners pack from Dovo, as I thought it would be more wise to start off with a pack and work my way up depending on how I liked it and such. I'm 18, so I do not have a "beard"; I prefer to keep myself shaven, but these safety-razors are killing my face.. My face is always red, full of cuts, etc, so I thought perhaps I would try straight-razor shaving.

Well.. I am disappointed, but perhaps it is my fault. Below is the razor that arrived with the pack.

Dovo Best Quality, Half Hollow Carbon Steel, 5/8" | RoyalShave
After some hesitation, (and removing hair from my leg), I began shaving the left side of my face.
I held the blade at the proper angle, and tried to allow the blade to do the work, but it was difficult. It felt like it was tugging. I now have little cuts all over my cheek, I assumed that perhaps I stropped incorrectly or perhaps the blade wasn't as honed as it should be. I tried to shave upwards, against the grain; but it simply would not cut it. It feels a little smoother I suppose, but I am still able to feel hair as I feel my cheek. It isn't the "babysoft experience" I was expecting. :/.

Is it possible that the blade isn't sufficiently honed? If so; who should I contact to have it properly honed?
Is it possible that I didn't strop it properly? I performed thirty full around's.
Is it the blade itself?

Sincerely,
Suff

Thanks!

link to the pack.
http://www.royalshave.com/p/407-070/

Suff,
Welcome to this wonderful world of straight razor shaving!
A few comments on your post. First off, it is not uncommon to have a less than a wonderful first experience; so very common. Get yourself over to the Beginners Guide and review the info - it is very helpful. Second, new blades may say "Shave Ready" but they are not. Allow me to recommend Lynn Abrams for your honing needs. As you wait for your blade to return, really get into stropping techniques as it is so important to keeping a newly honed razor in tip top condition, and conversely can ruin a blade rather quickly if not done correctly.
While I believe all your needs and questions will be covered in the Beginners Section, pay special attention to Pre Shave Preparation. As you did not mention that in your post, you may need to understand the hows and whys of this important shaving step.
Lastly, do not get discouraged. Patience is so important to have when you get into this stuff. But to really understand if straight razor shaving is for you, you must make sure you are taking all the correct steps to make it successful.
Have fun. Ask questions and review as much new user info on the site as you can. You will see improvements with each and every shave.

According to the royalshave website, their razors are sold shave ready. Mind you, they also say that your razor should not need even a touch up honing before 1000 shaves. I find that a little hard to believe. That would be 3 years of daily use.

Assuming your razor really was sent to you shave ready, your less than stellar shave is most likely due to your being a novice. Take your time, don't go against the grain of your beard till you've had more experience and pay careful attention to the grips and angles that work best for you.

AndyPic is absolutely right in telling you to concentrate on building proper stropping technique and a good preshave. For some that means hot towels, others shave after a shower when their beard has softened somewhat. Still other seem to have either tougher skin or softer beards and just need to wet their face. Find out what works well for you and use it. there is really no right or wrong in shaving and preshave technique, but there is definitely a right way and a wrong way to strop. Once you understand the mechanics of stropping, just go slow. I've said it before...you can do 50 laps on your strop in less than 3 minutes going real slow. That's a whole lot better for your face and your wallet than rushing things and having to send your razor out for honing after cutting yourself because it was not sharp enough to shave properly.

A dull razor is 10 times more dangerous than a sharp one.

Most of all, just stick with it and watch as your proficiency grows and you start getting great shaves.

Regardless of what pop culture tells you, my experience has shown that freshly shaved guys that smell good are absolute chick magnets

Welcome Suff! You did a VERY smart thing by coming here for help. Andypic and joebehar gave you very good tips. Mr. Lynn Abrams honed my razor very recently and did a marvelous job. Look for his ad in the classifieds section here on SRP.
I follow the 3 "P's" for cutthroat shaving:
Patience
Practice
Preparation
You can never have enough of any of them.

Originally Posted by Suff

Is it possible that the blade isn't sufficiently honed? If so; who should I contact to have it properly honed?
Is it possible that I didn't strop it properly? I performed thirty full around's.
Is it the blade itself?

-most likely. go to member services in the Classifieds section to find someone to hone your razor for you. AndyPic's recommendation of Lynn is a good one. Get it honed then shave with that razor before you strop it.

-most likely. Too much pressure is one common mistake. Try to use only the weight of the razor. This video completely changed my approach to stropping after I ruined my first sharp edge: http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ing-video.html

-Very unlikely. That is a well known, well respected brand that seems to have good consistency.


It's nice to see another young guy on the forums! Welcome! Your first couple shaves probably won't be great, just be ready for that. It took me about 5 shaves before I started to get decently sized patches of baby's butt smooth (aka BBS) with a straight razor. I'm at about shave 15 now and things just keep getting better. The more reading I did here at SRP the better they seemed to get. I'm willing to bet you haven't checked these out yet, so send out your razor to get it properly sharp and while you're waiting check these out
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ead-first.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...6-welcome.html

and when you get your razor back shaving be an entirely different experience. It won't be perfect. Not even close. But you'll start to see why so many of us are shaving this way. Post questions, read what others are saying, and give it a couple more tries. I'm sure you'll like it

I am not sure if "Royal Shave" has somebody on hand to hone the factory edges or not. I would get it honed by somebody here and ASK THEM TO STROP IT FOR YOU. This will let you know if you kill the edge by too much pressure on the strop. You would also do well to pick up a less expensive shave ready straight from the classifieds here to have as a back up for when you send a razor out for honing. Try finding a member near you as one on one face time can do wonders in this adventure. Good luck and shave smooth.

Your first shave is not about success, it's about survival. After that you learn about getting a sharp blade and how to use it. Get the blade sharpened, then you'll be on your way. This takes patience.

Hi Suff,

As you can see already, you've found the 'motherload' of good help. Some of what you describe in using the safety razor and then the str8 point to some technique items you can alter that should help.

The soreness, redness w/ the str8 and double edge (DE - safety razor) is the common razor burn. Almost always its from too much pressure of the blade against the skin. For months, I thought I was successfully using 'no pressure', only to find again and again that wasn't the case. With any tool, we're used to taking the tool to the work and applying some kind of force. In shaving - rather than taking the tool to the work (beard), it would be more effective to think of making the beard available to the razor by the ways you stretch and stroke. If the skin is taught and somewhat flat, the razor requires no pressure to do its work.

The whole 'shave ready' thing is huge. I bought a costly blade from a retailer, only to find their idea of shave ready was suitable for torture, not shaving. There's a reason my screen name is 'pinklather'. If you need a hand w/ your edges - PM me. 'Just the actual cost of return postage.

Stropping is also huge, and I ruined my edges like many others. My edges were more dull after stropping than before. The best thread I've found on the topic is grom Glen (gssixgun), where the stropping vid. from the honorable AFDavis is also linked. This one's golden.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ch-2011-a.html
Another great thread from another wonderful guy is:
Please don't nick your strop

For reference - when you nick your skin - don't keep shaving over the nick until it has healed. Doing so will keep opening the cut and make it take alot longer to heal. I believe it was Lynn (godfather of this site) who mentioned a dab of Neosporin helps nicks heal a bit faster. This is one case where the generic substitutes will not serve as well. Like most topical treatments, the 'inactive' ingredients are 90+% of the formula. The inactive ingredients in neosporin are a virtual 'who's who of great things for skin. The generics are not. It takes a few days for a nick to heal. Stay away from them until they're healed and you'll be a happier guy.

Keep posting here. The guys were very patient and kind with my ignorant questions as I learned. You'll find most of us to be very supportive.

'Hope to hear more about your shaves soon.

Hi Suff, and welcome! I'll just add my standard line about pressure--with a properly sharp blade and good technique (prep and stretching), it shouldn't take any more presure to shave barbs than it does to scrape away the lather. Aim to remove the lather and you'll get a comfortable shave. Aim to cut the barbs and you'll flirt with razor burn.As you improve your technique, keep that light touch a priority.

Definitely take Pinklather up on his honing offer! I know his edges are exquisite.

Best wishes

Hi Suff,

This place is great and as usual, there are lots of good, experienced folks to help. My first experience mirrored yours. I bought a dovo set and couldn't understand why straight razor shaving was so painful. In the end, I figured out the blade wasn't even remotely shave-ready, even though it was sold as such. I am a very stubborn diy'er and taught myself how to hone a razor, based on the awesome quantity and quality of the instruction and tips found here. What a difference that made. To my mind, a good, sharp blade is the cornerstone of all this and it sound like that is a good place to start for you, whether you do it yourself or take the probably more sensible route of have an experienced person do it.

Good luck,
Keith