First few shaves... and a few questions

Got my new Dovo Black Ebony Bismarck wet shaving kit from SRD on Wednesday and already got two pretty good shaves in. The first I only had a few invisible nicks around the hardest areas (chin and upper lip) but still had a stubble. The second day I think I tried too hard to get a close shave and cut my right cheek twice and a few more tiny nicks around the chin area.

I've researched it and read a bunch of guides all week before my razor came so I thought I knew what I was doing and what I should expect but I feel like I'm getting kind of a pull rather than a smooth glide on the face, especially around the chin, which is why I think I'm getting cut. The blade should be honed. I'm holding at a 30 degree angle, lathering, taking a shower beforehand, and even put a hot towel over my face between the first and second runthroughs (haven't done a third because I feel my skin getting too irritated after just two right now, so I'll give it time to get used to it).

Any pointers on how I can get a better shave and why it feels like it's pulling at my hairs? Thanks for the help!

There will be more experienced shavers and mentors along with better answers than I can provide; IMO it sounds like you could be using too much pressure. Other possibilities include stropping technique, lathering or preshave use. I know that all SRD razors are honed--bythe best, so I would look for the solution elsewhere. You might consider getting Lynn's DVD too.

I hope you get better and more enjoyable shaves soon. As I said others who can help more will probably post sooner than later. As still a sort of noob myself, there are many things to figure out when you first start, but it will come together in time. GL.

Yeah I just don't have money for that DVD after dropping $250 on the whole kit, but I have looked at youtube videos and read the Art of the Straight Razor Shave thoroughly. I only apply the lightest pressure and it feels pretty fine going with the grain, but going across the grain or against the grain is where I have trouble and the razor either gets stuck in my stubble or begins to pull, so I don't want to force it with pressure. The chin though, doesn't glide well any way that I try and I end up having to finish off the job with my electric.

I don't use any preshave oils other than the shaving soap that came with it, a hot towel, and shower. Maybe I'm not stropping very well either... I barely put any pressure on the blade when I do, and I do 15 round trips on the linen and leather each.

Much like talking to girls for the first time, it requires practice. There's nothing that replaces experience with a straight razor.

Expect some tug and pull going ATG for awhile, it'll happen until the blade feels confident in your hands. Don't get your expectations too high of how the shave should turn out. It takes most of us a solid 3-6 months before we can truly get BBS whenever we want.

Practice, practice, practice!

I wouldn't suggest going for 3+ passes for awhile. It'll take a bit for your skin to get acclimated to the raw power of a straight razor.

Hey there Johnny,

As Derek mentioned above, the straight shave requires diligent practice. As you shave, try to think about how it feels, rather than "what you're doing". In this I mean, if you accidentally drop the razor below 30 degrees but it feels smooth as you cut.....then that's the angle you need to remember. The difference is that experienced shavers have this memory, and they naturally vary the angle within the first second of a stroke.

Stropping well and taking your time to learn those movements properly will also help in both the feel of the shave, and the longevity of the edge.

If you need any one to one help, just drop me a PM.

What does "the blade should be honed" mean?

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

What does "the blade should be honed" mean?

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It was sharpened by SRD.

You shouldn't be having any irritation. I would just take a day off, and forget about trying to shave your chin yet. Wait until you get a little more experience. But, getting the chin is a matter of having the highest degree of honing and mix it with the highest degree of stropping and using a very careful light touch. It's that simple. One thing that helps me is to get close to the mirror and watch what I'm doing. Just don't bump the mirror with the razor.

I prefer to tackle the chin in very, very, VERY small sections, like 2mm at a time. Going across the grain and just getting my chin (2mm worth) as flat as possible through stretching and then shaving that little patch.

If you are getting irritation it's either because you're stropping with too much pressure, or not enough pressure. You need to find the right point, which is probably very, very light. But, might not be feather light. Try experimenting a little with pressure on stropping, just a touch. Try adding more passes. Try stropping more, before and during the shave. You won't get it right away, it takes practice and knowledge.

One big, big, help unfortunately is the ability to re-hone if you screw up. Absent that you have no way of correcting really bad issues.

Strop slowly and try and feel the edge. You can add a touch, like a millimeter or two of deflection, or add a touch of pressure but ultimately you are trying to strop better.

Strangely, after you do all that it often helps to go back to using no pressure at all again. It's as if you fix the edge with stropping and then return the edge to a polish.

Thanks a lot, I'm gonna take today off but I'll go back at it again tomorrow trying your techniques. Anything I can do during the shave about the "pulling" feeling that I get mainly on the chin or should I just try stropping it better and see how it goes? Because I generally do shorter strokes on the chin than cheeks because of the pulling. Or should I just not do the chin at all for a while until I get the technique down better?

Hey Johnny,

It sounds like you're starting out shaving your whole face, instead of getting used to the str8 section by section. There's something to be said for the incremental approach.

One part sounds very familiar. You mention holding 30 deg/ WTG, and having your beard just stop the blade. That was my case also. I was holding onto the 30 deg like it was written in stone. Maxi touched on it. When my beard stopped the blade, I dropped the angle some and found it plowed forward just fine. There were 6 wks where I couldn't use my Dovo inox at all for this reason. When I got the hang of the angle, I was surprised to find it was a VERY nice shaving razor. Six months from now - this won't be an issue at all. It will become natural.

On your first nicks: don't shave over them until they are healed. If you do - they just keep getting re-opened and don't heal. Lynn once posted that a dab of neosporin on the nick seemed to help it heal faster. I've found it helps also. This is a case where the less expensive generic antibiotic ointment is NOT as good - even w/ the same amount of active ingredient. The list of inactive ingredients in neosporing is a 'who's who' of great things for skin. Let the nicks heal and try again, paying attention to the affect of blade angle on your stroke.

That your edge might need honing is not a surprise. My early stropping DULLED my edges - making the learning even harder. If you were local, I'd gladly touch up w/ no cost but postage. The 'canuck' makes me think you're likely up North. That being the case, there's a good argument for having a 2nd blade so you can keep shaving while one razor is out for a touch up. What you can do is some special stropping. If your edge is rolled (literally rolling over the super thin edge), it'll likely have to be honed. If its just dulled from improper stropping, you might be able to bring the edge back by stropping on 2 sheets of newsprint or phone book pages stretched out and attached to a hard, flat, smooth surface such as a pc of glass plate that has square edges, a polished granite or marble tile - or something similar. Try 70 stropping strokes, then 100 linen, 200 leather. Do not try to shave straight off the newsprint - the edge can be pretty harsh.

I don't know if you're near or far from Maxi, but he's done some very nice work and helped several guys. If your travels bring you near the Portland, OR area, pls. let me know. I'd be glad to let you try my gear, show you my stropping, honing, etc.

Thanks pinklather for the tips as well. I'd like to think that the blade isn't dull already... I've only shaved twice and although I probably didn't have a great stropping technique, I did strop it only three different times, making sure to keep the blade very light and flat with the spine touching.

Thanks for the offer to sharpen it, but I actually live on the east coast, far away from Vancouver, although my barber told me yesterday that there's a guy called Mr. Edge that comes to the farmer's market downtown once a week that could hone my razor for a price. But I also have a coupon from SRD for a free honing when I do need it. I'm definitely not going to hone it myself until I really know what I'm doing and even then I'll practice first on a less expensive razor.

As for nicks and cuts, is a stylic pencil enough or should I put neosporin on it too? It's not like they hurt or anything and none of the cuts are deep at all. Just got kind of a lengthy one on my cheek when I was doing a pass against the grain and coupled with a slightly trembling hand and frustrations at the "pulling," I sliced into the skin a bit.

And yeah, you're right I did rush into the procedure and did about 90% of my face at first when I should have just done the side burns and cheeks, but going with the grain was so easy and the neck was way easier than I thought it would be - absolutely no cuts on the neck, I just didn't get a really close shave. So I'll ease back a bit and forget about doing the chin and some other problem areas until I get used to it more.

Also had an additional question about the lather, as I want to get it just right. I got one of those soaps from SRD and I have a mug, but I can't take the soap out of the plastic jar it came in and put in the mug like suggested, so what should I do? I've just been kind of making the lather in the soap jar directly and holding it so it drips in the mug, but that doesn't seem right at all.

I get resistance ATG, much more than WTG. I use a thinner lather for ATG, I find that's what's needed for me...

From one beginner to another, I suggest you to ease up on the pressure. Makes a whole lot different. In my case it was the razor burn and not the nicks. After some good guys in here suggested to put a really light pressure while shaving, I find the whole experience very different. I can even do 3-4 times ATG and still be fine. Oh, and be sure to stretch the skin, really helps with the pulling/ drag especially on the cheeks. Good luck!!

Sounds like you've gotten a great deal of good advise so far, so I'll just add one more thing to think about.

With regards to angles, as you move from WTG to XTG to ATG are you progressively lowering your angle??

I think most would agree that you need to. Personally, by the time I am shaving ATG the blade is almost laying flat on my face.

Also, rather than a straight stroke, perhaps you would manage better with a guillotine or heel/toe leading stroke. All that would do is change the angle that the blade meets the hair, so instead of trying to plow through the hair it contacts it at more of a slicing angle. Here: Shaving passes - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Hope it helps!

Matt

Thanks! I'll definitely try to stretch the skin out some more and angle the razor down more when I do XTG and ATG, because I've been keeping it at around 30 degrees the whole time.

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Originally Posted by JohnnyCanuck

Thanks! I'll definitely try to stretch the skin out some more and angle the razor down more when I do XTG and ATG, because I've been keeping it at around 30 degrees the whole time.

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Aha - that sounds like it could be the issue.
Let us know how things progress for you

Just had my third shave and yes, it was my best and closest so far. Only one nick by the chin and a lot less pulling (I angled the razor down almost to 0 degrees AGT and put a lot less pressure on it). Had to do a lot more passes for a close shave and I did eventually have to run over some trouble spots with my electric Remington to get rid of some of the remaining stubble but so far it's been working.

Thanks everyone for the tips! I can see myself getting better with just my third shave... hopefully I get the technique down after a few more practices. Basically what I believe helped the most was angling the razor below 30 degrees, putting very little pressure on it, and one of the most helpful things was getting VERY CLOSE to the mirror so I can actually see the blade cutting the hairs - this helped out the most because before that it was all "guess and check."

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Originally Posted by JohnnyCanuck

Also had an additional question about the lather, as I want to get it just right. I got one of those soaps from SRD and I have a mug, but I can't take the soap out of the plastic jar it came in and put in the mug like suggested, so what should I do? I've just been kind of making the lather in the soap jar directly and holding it so it drips in the mug, but that doesn't seem right at all.

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Hmmm... Are you building lather directly in the soap jar? If you are then you probably aren't getting your best lather. You need to load soap on your brush from the soap jar and then lather either on your face or in your mug.

The suggestion to put the soap in your mug is for face lathering only. You would then load your brush from your soap mug and face lather. Done this way the mug would just be a nicer container for your soap.

Had my 2nd shave today and my experience is closely matching yours. As far as the quality of the blade, I'm not too worried since there are areas that are shaving almost effortlessly. So I can only conclude that the blade is fine and the hard parts just need more learning and experience.