2 months of blood sweat and tears

I'm kidding of course! :p except for the blood...

As you can tell it has been ~2 months since i started with my cut throat. It has not been an every day affair, but it has been a love affair and i hope my story will help out anyone just starting out.

So here is what I'm working with,

Dovo "Best Quality" 5/8" Carbon Steel (from Vintage Blades Professionally honed)
2.5" Latigo and Canvas Hanging Strop (From Straight Razor Designs)
Rooney Style 3, Size 2(medium) "super" silvertip (from Vintage Blades)
Colonel Conk - Bay Rum glycerin soap
Mountain Mike strop conditioner

I put this together over time. The Basic necessities were the Razor & Strop.

So my first shave was awesome! three passes and i was BBS without a burn or a nick. That being said I stopped at my chin and left it for the next day. To be honest it freaking took forever, but in a calming meditative way. Which was a good for a first experience because the following sessions were where i would find myself being frustrated.

My damn chin! It's a learning experience that is all i have to say.

Good stropping changes everything, Great stropping probably changes lives, but I'm not there yet :)

When my strop first came in it seemed pliable enough to me, but my blade suffered and consequently so did my face. Kneading the leather with the palm of my hand helped smooth things up. I highly recommend a conditioner or oil or something from the start, its tempting to just rip open the package and go but you may notice that the surface is not exactly flat when the strop is pulled taut. Imagine what that would do to your blades edge! It hurts!

As my stropping improved my shaving improved.

I wish I had a pet badger. I started off with an alcohol based spray can shave foam...which disintegrated within 3 minutes. Switching to a brush/puck setup increased my shave comfort 1000% The lather is priceless.

I'm going to get off topic so ill finish up. The two things i am always trying to improve upon are,

Stropping
Blade angle
Stroke angle

Did i say two? Stroke angle has been my biggest challenge, it is also something i believe to be specific to each person. While you may find your chin a "swipe and move on" area, my facial structure and hair growth pattern makes it hell for me. Over time you may find yourself drawing a mental map of your shave pattern. Each time you shave you will refine and adjust this map to further improve your results. So be patient don't rush and enjoy the luxury and nostalgia of the experience.

Best of luck,

Anthony

Welcome to the madness! Anthony, I condition my strop with the natural oils from my forehead. Just wipe my palm on my noggin and briskly rub my palm on the strap. For blade angle, and you may have read this else where already, I use about 2 spine widths on my WTG, a little less on XTG and the spine is almost touching on ATG. My chin was the toughest place to figure out also, as it has many angles and a cleft, and many different growth directions. You may find also, that on some parts of your face, you can start out with ATG, or XTG and skip the WTG. Or you may find that ATG is not necessary or comfortable on some areas. Straight shaving is kinda like learning guitar, in that you start out using the basic fundamentals , but you quickly figure out what works for you, and begin to improvise on your own routine. You may come up with some unorthodox method that will perform miracles for you, and not work for me whatsoever. Sorry, I'm getting long winded. As I said before Welcome to the Madness, and enjoy the journey.

Thanks Wayne, I haven't tried the ole noggin yet but it makes sense!

My angles have been interesting so far i start at 45 WTG and end up going completely flat against my face ATG...which now that i think about it is really not cutting it sometimes. I am positive that I've been putting more pressure on the blade than when i first started. Maybe it is time to refresh the blade after all. so the madness continues lol...Thanks again for the welcome Wayne!

Welcome to SRP, Anthony.

I have -- and started with -- the same razor and strop that you have. I didn't use any conditioner for the strop; hand rub downs made the strop smooth over time, especially after I rubbed my face with my hand -- to collect skin oil -- prior to rubbing the strop.

That 45 deg angle WTG may be too aggressive. As Wayne mentioned, using a distance of 2 spine widths from the skin is a good approach.

That chin area was a problem for me too during my first shaves. It used to take me forever to very carefully shave my chin and lower lip areas. Over time you'll get the hand of it and get it done in less time.

Stropping gets easier over time. Before you know it, you'll be doing it with your eyes closed. Well, not literally with your eyes closed... you never know where that razor might hit. ;)

Post if you need any help.

- Henry

When I read you had strop conditioner it made me cringe! When I was a newbie I ruined a very nice (and expensive strop) by overusing strop condition. It eventually made it almost impossible to draw the razor across the strop. Its easy to add the stuff, but forget about it if you're trying to get it off. A SRD strop should be good to go, just a little palm rub before each use.

Spot on about the mediative shaves, one of the best things about this process. Yep, it's pretty cool too, but somewhere beyond that is a calm shave place...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by henryconchile

Welcome to SRP, Anthony.

I have -- and started with -- the same razor and strop that you have. I didn't use any conditioner for the strop; hand rub downs made the strop smooth over time, especially after I rubbed my face with my hand -- to collect skin oil -- prior to rubbing the strop.

That 45 deg angle WTG may be too aggressive. As Wayne mentioned, using a distance of 2 spine widths from the skin is a good approach.

That chin area was a problem for me too during my first shaves. It used to take me forever to very carefully shave my chin and lower lip areas. Over time you'll get the hand of it and get it done in less time.

Stropping gets easier over time. Before you know it, you'll be doing it with your eyes closed. Well, not literally with your eyes closed... you never know where that razor might hit. ;)

Post if you need any help.

- Henry

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Hi Henry, it's good to hear that you still have the razor strop combo! I plan on hanging on to it and passing it on to my son. Unfortunately he is only 1.5 not 15. So it will be a while.

I have to agree with you on the angle, I have been getting a decent bit of pulling from the blade as of late. I'll switch my style up and see feel how it goes.

Cheers,

Anthony

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pkp1903

When I read you had strop conditioner it made me cringe! When I was a newbie I ruined a very nice (and expensive strop) by overusing strop condition. It eventually made it almost impossible to draw the razor across the strop. Its easy to add the stuff, but forget about it if you're trying to get it off. A SRD strop should be good to go, just a little palm rub before each use.

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Haha sorry to bring back any traumatizing memories, I took it easy with the stuff. The draw definitely increased, but everything is nice and smooth.