Almost Two Weeks into the Grind

[GeorgeyBoy]

Monday will be my second week wet shaving with a straight. I acquired all of my supplies before finding SRP. I came here via B&B thanks to a member. I prefer SRP, because it is oriented around straights. As I said before I had all of my supplies before coming across any forums. I have a youtube member to thank for leading me here, because I asked him some honing questions. You see, I had it set in my mind if I was going to straight razor shave I would do my own honing. This is likely a bad idea for a newbie, but I am determined and methodical in all my practices.

In the infancy of my SR experience I have fallen in love. Never have I looked forward to shaving as I do now. The prep, the shave, and the post shave are a time I spend to myself. It is a practice I find therapeutic and invigorating. I walk out of my door with a slightly higher chin. Thinking, "yes.. I shave with a straight."

You may be wondering, so what supplies?
To begin: Dovo BQ 5/8 Full Hollow
Body Tools Horse Hide and Canvas Hanging Strop
Vander Hagen Shave Set (bowl, soap, badger brush, stand)
Fromm Strop Dressing
Flowery Styptic Pencil
1000x4000 Japanese combo water stone
8000 Japanese water stone (combo and 8000 from Lee Valley)
DMT D8C

I had over $300 invested before my blade reached me. There was the option of having it honed, but as stubborn as I am I decided to in jump head first. After research and study of honing videos I was near the sink lapping my hones. This first honing experience lasted about 2 hours. I worked mostly on technique and finger dexterity. I realized later that the condition my blade was in was good enough to start at the 4000 grit, but I began at the 1000 grit. What I learned most from that first experience is to count your strokes. Being I'm not at the level to determine a properly set bevel counting helps keep consistency. Where as an experienced honer can tell by looking at the bevel and other sharpness tests. I also learned not to neglect a good stropping after honing. I performed no more than 50 strokes on the canvas, and 50 on the horse hide. I should have done 100-150 strokes. To make matters worse I zoned out while focusing on technique and did an uneven amount of stropping.

So I was showered, my face lathered, styptic pencil near by, and blade in hand. I began at the cheek and worked my way down. I have irregular hair growth and where one area of my face will grow straight down it very quickly makes a 90 degree angle or swirls out. This made shaving ATG difficult. I didn't give up though and I went through the entire face. The neck was the most difficult. I got a nick where I am prone to razor burn on the neck. I have no cuts to speak of yet other than nicks that result from shaving over bumps.

Since then I have honed 2 more times. This last time was the most successful. I began with the 4000 grit and worked in about 200 strokes, because I messed up once and sandwiched the blade during one of my sweeping x patterns. I did a hanging hair test, and arm test before moving on to the 8000 grit. I did about 100 strokes on the 8000 grit, once it looked mirror finished I decided that was enough. I then did a total of 100 strokes on my strop, 100 on the canvas, and 100 on the horse hide. The feel was amazing compared to the first week. I'm beginning to contemplate a good razor. Except since I will be investing nearly as much on the new razor as I did on my entire shave set I will have it honed by a honemeister so I can compare a truly shave ready edge to the honing I have done.

The first two are my first shave experience, the third is my shave set, and the last one is today having shaved the night before.