Just Starting in NE Oklahoma

I've been a DE/SE shaver for quite a while now without too much of an acquisition disorder, but I've always been straight razor curious. As of today I've officially shaved twice with the straight. I'm saving the straight razor for weekends and days off for now due to the amount of time required to insure I don't lop off an ear or my nose. Currently shaving with a Whipped Dog sight unseen... Since I don't really have a frame of reference, I can't compare it to anything but the DEs. First shave was nowhere as smooth as I could get with the DEs or the Micromatic OC, but second shave was much better. Looking forward to improving my technique.

Robb

Aside from patience and practice, the two most important aspects of beginning straight shaving are

1. Blade angle relative to the face--the spine has to be quite close to the face. The spine should be no more than one spine width away from the skin.

2. Stropping--A good edge will quickly go bad after a few shaves if it is not stropped. It will go bad even more rapidly if it is improperly stropped.

Welcome to an Older but Better Way of Shaving,

You have received some good advice from a good member. Too high of an angle and you're 'scraping' the whiskers off.

Good stropping will maintain your edge for quite sometime. As mentioned poor stropping will destroy your edge.

As said, it takes time and patients. Which equals into 'practice'.

Have fun and enjoy the ride! It's a long strange trip, but well worth the journey :tu

Hi Robb & welcome aboard. You might just need to stop the razor. The above posts are right. You need to have that technique down right or you may end up with a duller blade than when you got it. You might want to start in the Library with the Beginners Guide & go from there. There is a read called "Anticipation" & also another good one is "Your first Straight Razor Shave". Just go through everything you can. You can also practice stropping with a butter knife so you don't accidentally cut your strop. If that happens you can either sand it down or glue it back down with super glue (CA) or some rubber cement which is what I like because it isn't hard like (CA). You will also learn the angle you shave is different & a certain angle will give you your best results which is in the Library here. There is so much wealth, I spent all yesterday & part of today on one thread alone I had not seen before.
Any questions, just ask. You will get many replies.
Good luck my friend.

Welcome and hello :chapeau

Hi and welcome. Good luck with your shaves.

Take your time and hang in there... Just like with DE/SE there is a bit of a learning curve but will all fall together for you. :)

Welcome to SRP!!