Thread: New to straight razor honing

Well it looks like i might have to have a go at refreshing the edge a bit sooner than i thought due to the following that happend last night:

The Mrs: Can i have a look, ive never seen a cut throat razor before.

Me: Yes sure.

hands over the razor.

The Mrs: Ohh its nice isnt it......is it sharp ?

At this point it all went a bit slow motion, before i could open my mouth and say anything the not so bright (but much prettier than me) Mrs brings said razor to her thumb and draws it accross like she is cutting a tomato.

Well you can have a good guess what happened.

Once we stemed the bleeding she decided that it was indeed sharp and i inspected the blade. It doesnt appear to have sustained any damage but im guessing it wont have done the edge much good.

On the plus side it gave me an excuse to watch some of Lynn's honing video's on youtube. My that chap makes it look very easy. Interesting veiwing.

Thanx again all for the advice and info

That finger, as long as the blade wasn't dropped & you wiped the blood from the blade, didn't hurt the edge a bit. Razors are on a whole new level of sharp that you haven't experienced before...a dull razor is sharper than most have encountered in a knife.

Do you have a strop?

I hope the Mrs's heals up ok, we all make silly mistakes. I had a macho friend do about the same thing...talk about putting a dent in his armor. His sentence started out along the lines of : these things are really that... (thumbs the blade)...shit!

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Do you have a strop?

Yes i bought one with the canvas back allong with the razor

So just strop as suggested and all should be good ?

Yes, you should be able to strop and shave. The skin that your blade cut is much softer than the whiskers on your face actually. I have read somewhere that the whiskers on the normal man are equivalent to a pure strand copper of the same diameter...this actually made since to me. The blades are fragile in a way, but tough in others. Remember, improper stropping will ruin the edge quicker than cutting a finger.

Well I've just sat down after my first ever shave with a straight razor and I'm hooked, I really enjoyed the ritual laying out all the gear lathering up, stroping the razor (20 strokes on the canvas and 40 on the leather) and then finally the shave itself.

Against the advice I did my whole face and just took my time, the trickiest part for me was deffinatley going round the chin to my kneck. I avoided any knics and cuts which surprised me. As far as closeness goes I would say that on the easy parts it was as close if not closer than my mach 3 but the chin and top lip need some work.

Over all what an enjoyable experience..........now where do you buy them beard growing pills so I can have another go

Strop your razor after the shave too. My routine is at least 40x on leather after the shave and 60x before the shave not counting 10-20x on linen...

Our beards actally are smarter than us men. They take enough time to grow so that our face can heal up. Give it 30 shaves & you will be amazed at how it all comes together. I'm glad you had a great experience.

After my first shave yesterday I thought all was good however today my face seems a bit sore.

It was fine after the shave in that I didn't notice any more "stinging" than normal but today my right hand side of my face (I am right handed) feels a bit tender, I would say it feels a bit like a mild sunburn.

Have I been a bit rough with the razor or is it just a case of my skin needing time to adjust to a straight razor ?

After the shave I did use an aftershave baslm and a moisturiser.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions / advice

Many of us had what could be described as a severe sunburn after our first few shaves. I think the skin does need some time to adjust to the closer shave a straight razor gives. But it could be from other things too... Blade angle has to do with it (the blade spine too far from the skin) as well as too much pressure. I also found a dull blade causes that burning. My burning went away after I got a set of stones and started honing blades myself. (Aloe vera was the best cure to get rid of the burning I found). It could also be from over shaving one area. It's hard to resist re shaving an easy area just for fun! But I think multiple passes can irritate the skin to the burn level at first until your skin adjusts.

My advice us: give yourself a day or two to heal. Make sure the razor is truly shave ready sharp. Try to keep the spine closer to your skin. Resist multiple passes unless they are necessary.

I hope this helps! Eventually it will be a very comfortable and close shave for you! I promise!

Originally Posted by countrydraftsman

My advice us: give yourself a day or two to heal. Make sure the razor is truly shave ready sharp. Try to keep the spine closer to your skin. Resist multiple passes unless they are necessary.

Good Advice, give your face about two days to heal and you will be ready for round two.

I had another go today and made a couple of adjustments as suggested.

1: I limited myself to three paSees Max on any area.
2: I tried to use as light a pressure as I could manage. I think this in particular is my biggest problem in terms of feeling like I have sunburn. After only ever shaving with a mach3 or similar its quite an adjustment to make. My natural thinking is that more pressure equals a better shave where in fact the opposite is true.

One area that I'm really struggerling to do is my upper lip (ended up with two small cuts today) I just don't seem to be able to find the angle to do it, also the hair on my upper lip is significantly tougher than any other place. Has anyone got any tips with shaving this area in particular.

Once again thank you all for the advice already given it has been very helpful