Thread: First few shaves

I've had my first few shaves, and I have some questions. But first, I want to remark to Tony Miller that the #1 strop I purchased from you is a work of art. It is lovely in every detail, very well made, and I am extremely happy that I decided to go for the best from the start. I also appreciate your generosity in including the practice strop. So far, I have only used the practice strop since I haven't yet completely trained myself to flip the razor over the spine rather than the edge.

I have five razors right now; three ebay razors, a new TI, and the new shave-ready Dovo that I got from Tony. I've only used the Dovo so far. I've shaved myself with it four times.

In all cases, shaving was done after a hot shower. I used a Crabtree & Evelyn Best Badger brush every time (the $35 one). The only other brush I have is my old drugstore boar bristle brush that I don't think I'll ever use again since trying the wonderful C&E brush. In general, I have applied an oil (e.g., The Art of Shaving Lavender pre-shave oil) or a cream (Dr. Bell's Pomada de la Campana, a general cream skin conditioner) before shaving. Then I rewet my face with hot water, lather up, and shave.

Shave 1 and 2: The first two times I used the Dovo, I only shaved my cheeks, then finished up with my Atra. I didn't feel very confident holding the razor and I was a little afraid of cutting myself. I used Crabtree & Evelyn Sienna shave cream and the C&E Best Badger brush and lathered up in a small bowl. I shaved downwards, lathered up again, then cut diagonally crosswise, but still angled mostly downward. I got a very close shave on my cheeks, no cuts except a tiny little nick near my right ear. No blood, and I didn't even need the styptic pencil. It closed up with aftershave (Bay Rum, which I have found that I really like).

Shave 3: I added my neck to the shave and my upper lip, but excluded my chin. I used The Art of Shaving Lavender shave cream. I shaved my cheeks as before, then had to re-lather because the lather started to dry (I'm slow). Then I stretched my skin by pulling from the bottom and shaved either side of my neck. After the downward strokes, I tried to go sideways but could not figure out how to do it safely (very scary), so I went up. I got the same close shave on my cheeks and got a fairly smooth shave on either side of my neck, but the line of my jaw wasn't really all that close. I couldn't figure out how to navigate it without the razor hanging up on the stubble there. I did poorly on my upper lip too and decided to give up there for now. While going downward on the right side of my neck, the blade hung on some hairs and skipped and left three razor-blade length lateral chop marks, very light, on my neck below the jaw line. Oddly, there was no blood, but it stung a bit. It took a couple of days to disappear completely.

Shave 4: Between shave 3 and 4 I watched the Lynn Abrams video again. I'd only been stropping about 10 times before shaving. Lynn said 20 or 30 times on the video, so I did 30 traverses of the strop for shave 4. I decided to go for the whole face. Results were not so good. This time I used a cake soap from Classic Shaving. It was a lot drier lather than the shaving creams I'd been using, and so that may have been a contributor to the lack of closeness. I've been using cake soaps (Williams, mostly) for years, and I know my cake soap lathering technique is good, but this was the first time I'd used a cake soap with my new, softer-bristled C&E best badger. I suspect I just need to give it a bit more attention. Anyway, I did not cut myself at all (hooray!). As before, the upper lip area was hopeless, and I gave up. I did a miserable job on my chin too (a hair-grabbing navigation problem). But I couldn't even seem to get my cheeks smooth like I'd managed before. In fact, I couldn't get any part of my face as close and smooth as I did on shave #3, even though I went over my face an extra time.

I have to say that I'm really enjoying the process of shaving now. I look at it differently than I did before, and I look forward to my morning shave. But I'm wondering why shave 4 was so much worse than shave 3. Is it possible that the razor is dull already? Or could the type of soap really make that much difference?

As for stropping, I'm not sure I'm really doing that right even after watching the video. When I strop, I keep catching myself bearing down instead of just letting the blade rest with its own weight on the leather. Could I have dulled the blade? I have a 4k/8K Norton, as yet untouched, so I could try rehoning my blade, but I thought I'd see if anyone had any other suggestions for me first, before I do that.

Could be the razor is dulling.

A better bet though is that the new brush/soap combo threw you off enough that you didn't have your face nearly as wet as you are used too. I also make this mistake when I come back to a soap after a few days using a creme. I'd say try the soap again just use more water in the mix and relather more often. If I want a really close shave and am going slow to pay really close attention I have to relather after my cheeks to do my neck then again to detail cut around my beard, and this for each pass.

Soap dries more quickly on my face than does cream and if I'm not paying attention, I will mess things up. I just relather and get back to normal.

Originally Posted by rase

As for stropping, I'm not sure I'm really doing that right even after watching the video. When I strop, I keep catching myself bearing down instead of just letting the blade rest with its own weight on the leather. Could I have dulled the blade? I have a 4k/8K Norton, as yet untouched, so I could try rehoning my blade, but I thought I'd see if anyone had any other suggestions for me first, before I do that.

You certainly wouldn't be the first to do so. If your shaves continue to be problematic and you decide to go to tthe hone, remember to use even less pressure (generally) and start slow with a few 1/3 reps or perhaps a small pyramid.

X

I only have three thoughts for you based on your post.

One, you seem to connect a brand of soap/cream to its hydration level. I'd break that thought early. Your experience with Williams may not be helping. All creams and soaps have various "slipperyness" qualities depending on their ingredients but you and you alone control the amount of water you put into the mix. If it feels dry add more water by touching the brush to your sink water, about 1/2 inch into the water, and mix it up some more.

Two, the areas your having trouble with just need lots of practice.

Three, its possible the strop dulled it. Do you hold the strop taught? As long as you hold it taught a little extra pressure is ok. Just the weight of the blade probably isn't enough either, for most strops. But for a Tony Miller strop I'd say go as light as you can for now. "Bearing down" doesn't sound good. If you raise the strop a little (the hook part) you won't be able to bear down.

My suggestion is to let the blade rest for 48 hours and try again, with really, really light stropping. And add a different amount of water to each new cream you use.

I'm a little late posting today; it'll soon be time for shaving tomorrow.

I was careful about stropping the blade to ensure that I wasn't bearing down. I pulled the strop up taut and at an angle as suggested, and that seemed to make it a bit easier to strop consistently.

I used The Art of Shaving Lavender shaving cream this time, instead of the cake soap. I just wanted to set conditions back to approximately what they were for shave 3 to see if I could get that level of closeness again. I did, so that suggests that I didn't dull the blade, and the difference was more likely the wetness of the lather. It's still not close enough and I have to finish up with my Atra, but I believe I'll improve as time goes by and I get used to handling the blade. It remains somewhat awkward in my hand.

Tomorrow I'll use the cake soap again and work more diligently to achieve a good lather.

I'm shaving with my Dovo daily, spanking the leather to the Siren's call quite early each morn before the day's shave and subsequent toil. I do love the "schlick shclick" feel-sound of naked blade on dead cow armor. I'm taking care with my face; no nicks, no cuts. Well, you know, I love me. I'm enjoying the process. I am having to finish my face with my Atra each day, as I'm just not getting close enough with the vorpal blade, snicker-snack. But that's OK. I'm getting a feel for the blade in my hand, the razors edge that exfoliates my tender face. I think that all is well.