Thread: My first time with a straight razor.....

I started off a few months ago with a DE razor. I was very impressed on how well it shaved and the results beat anything I ever used in the plastic junk realm. I moved on to a Parker shavette. The results were even better. I shaved with that for a while and finally broke down and moved to a straight razor. I received it in the mail last week with a 3" strop. I purchased a Dovo Best Quality full hollow. The place I purchased the razor from honed it prior to shipping. The next day I took the razor out of the package and wiped off the oil and started shaving. I noticed a lot of drag on the first pass. I thought for a minute I had the angle wrong and reduced it. But this didn't help. My shavette seemed a lot sharper than this. The first pass with the shavette was not this hard. So I broke out the Parker and finished the shave.

Prior to the next shave I stropped a little with the linen then with the leather. I noticed an improvement on the first pass. The second pass was much nicer. I finished the shave and the results were good. I really enjoyed the larger blade compared to the shavette. I really feel like the blade could be sharper. The first pass did not feel like I think it should of. Still some drag and a little tug. Should I strop more on the linen.... or move down to a paste? I attempted the hanging hair test. I would cut a hair but I had to increase the velocity which I struck the hair on the blade. I've seen other blades on YouTube perform much better than this. I dont feel the blade is too far from where I want it. What would you guys suggest? I like what I see in the below youtube video.

Hanging Hair test - YouTube

Originally Posted by jayb

I started off a few months ago with a DE razor. I was very impressed on how well it shaved and the results beat anything I ever used in the plastic junk realm. I moved on to a Parker shavette. The results were even better. I shaved with that for a while and finally broke down and moved to a straight razor. I received it in the mail last week with a 3" strop. I purchased a Dovo Best Quality full hollow. The place I purchased the razor from honed it prior to shipping. The next day I took the razor out of the package and wiped off the oil and started shaving. I noticed a lot of drag on the first pass. I thought for a minute I had the angle wrong and reduced it. But this didn't help. My shavette seemed a lot sharper than this. The first pass with the shavette was not this hard. So I broke out the Parker and finished the shave.

Prior to the next shave I stropped a little with the linen then with the leather. I noticed an improvement on the first pass. The second pass was much nicer. I finished the shave and the results were good. I really enjoyed the larger blade compared to the shavette. I really feel like the blade could be sharper. The first pass did not feel like I think it should of. Still some drag and a little tug. Should I strop more on the linen.... or move down to a paste? I attempted the hanging hair test. I would cut a hair but I had to increase the velocity which I struck the hair on the blade. I've seen other blades on YouTube perform much better than this. I dont feel the blade is too far from where I want it. What would you guys suggest? I like what I see in the below youtube video.

Hanging Hair test - YouTube

Where did you purchase the razor? The HHT is not a end all be all test. It can help determine a sharp blade but does not necessarily tell you if a razor is shave ready. I have never gotten the HHT to work and some of my blades have been honed by the best in the business. It could be your hair type. I would not touch it to paste at all until you find out if it is in fact the edge or if its your technique. I see a lot of posts from people transferring from the shavette with the same problem. From what I understand the angle is completely different. I would try shaving at various angles until you find one that works. Start with it flat to your face and come up just a hair then open the angle a spine width at a time until you find it. A true straight does take some time to get the hang of and technique is everything. If you bought it from SRD or Vintage Blades llc you can rest assured the razor IS shave ready.

There seems to be a couple of factors here...the first you mentioned was stropping, a little love on the strop will help a lot, most recommend 30 linen / 60 leather.
Second would be perhaps your confidence improved on the second shave as well as technique somewhat. Keep at it and see if it improves Also, as already mentioned, don't judge the sharpness by the HHT...works for some but in all honesty it's not a reliable test.

Thanks for the advise. I'm going to work on my technique and see how things improve. I'll try more stropping on the linen and leather as well. Regardless, I wish someone had shown me this way to shave 15 years ago.