Thread: Cautiously wading in.

Pretty new to wet shaving with a DE, and the straights are mesmerizing me. They are beautiful. I'm just here to learn as much as I can before diving in headlong.

They are beautiful and very much worth learning to use. As long as you approach this step with caution and patiently you will be fine. That is really the only way to do it successfully.

It takes skill development through experience just like riding a bicycle, eating with chop sticks, golfing, or playing a musical instrument.

You must learn to shave 1st which requires that you understand pressure, angle, skin stretching, and stroking in relationship to hair growth direction. It is best to start with a truly shave ready edge.

At the same time you are learning to shave, you will have to learn how to strop well which is actually harder than it appears. One must pay attention to strop surface condition and cleanliness, razor pressure against the strop, evenness of pressure across the length and width of the blade, and flipping the razor to change direction without nicking the strop. Stropping skills are key because the razor's fresh shave ready edge must be stropped after each shave to keep its shave ready condition. Inept stropping will dull a razor.

At some point, the razor will need a touch-up on a finishing hone or pasted strop. These are used to restore shave readiness when daily stropping on an unpasted strop seems to be losing its effectiveness.

Finally, razors will need rehoning when touch-ups start losing effectiveness. Developing honing skill can be postponed as a shave ready razor can be maintained for a long time with good stropping and touch-ups. Some straight razor users do not bother with honing and send their razors out for a pro rehoning once or twice a year.

All these skills are somewhat interrelated. The more shave ready the the razor, the better one can learn what shaving techniques are working out and which are not working so well. The better one can shave, the better one is able to assess the condition of a razor's edge and determine what stropping and refreshing steps are working to restore it. Until one develops all these skill sets, there is uncertainty whether a less than stellar shave is being caused by a less than stellar razor edge, or a need for better shaving technique, or both. It is hard at first to learn what will work for you under these conditions, but you will begin to learn faster as things start progressing.

Go slow and enjoy the journey. it will take time.

HTH

Having a de means all you need is a razor and strop. You can start out using the straight in the easy spots and finish with de. Slowly do more and more with the straight till the de isn't needed anymore. This is actually the best way to learn

Check out this link to see if there have been any Razor Meets in your area.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...0&daysprune=-1

Click on "Settings" above and enter your location in your profile.

Thanks for the help friends. I'm going to absorb as much information as I can here and keep my eye out for a nice entry level 5/8 razor (Dovo looks nice!) that appeals to my eye and budget.

Throw that caution to the wind and just jump on in...The water's fine!


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

Throw that caution to the wind and just jump on in...The water's fine!


Mick

You've been watching "O Brother where art thou?" again haven't ya

Originally Posted by Grazor

You've been watching "O Brother where art thou?" again haven't ya

No, but it's a good movie all the same. I have the DVD and the soundtrack CD...Might have to put them on tomorrow now...


Mick

Welcome to the forum, from what I have seen, all the advice is good, in my opinion if you enjoy the aesthetics of a razor you will be more inclined to want to use it. If your pocket allows for the razor you would like then as Mick says, jump on in...
It is worth saying that you should get your razor from a reputable source who will ensure it is properly honed. I have no idea of comparative costs etc but even if a shave ready example of the razor you want is slightly more expensive from such a seller it will be worth the extra (if indeed it is more expensive).
Once you have your razor I am sure you will have more questions, which our friendly membership will, I am sure oblige you by answering.
All the best
Ed.