Thread: Help Needed In North Carolina

I'm not sure if what I am about to say constitutes a reply, per se, but here goes. I purchased a DOVO from The Art of Shaving about three years ago as I was so impressed with the information regarding the straight shave from those converted from cartridge shaving. I even had the "master barber" shave me with MY blade - they don't to that now by the way. The barber cut me straight away above the left lip but all in all, it was a decent shave although I thought it felt rougher than necessary. I have NEVER been able to get used to shaving with my straight razor as I am awkward with my nondominant hand and cannot master the chin, lower and upper lip. Multiple passes tend to make it worse.
I have used only a silver tip badger brush and the Art of Shaving shaving cream recommended with preshave oil - which I actually think makes my skin sticky.
Today, I tried again. I stropped my blade about 30 times on the linen and 30 times on the leather, cleaned it off and started my shave on my warmed up face and three day old whiskers. Help. Me. GOD! I finished up with only one small "scrape" but tonight after work, I showered and my Lord! I felt like the chickens had had a party scraping my face it hurt so bad!!!
No! I have never had the blade honed after purchase - I know that is a common and reasonable question. I don't know WHO to send it to or how to do it myself. I am STILL excited about the prospect of using my nice straight razor. I have SEVERAL hundred dollars already invested just in equipment.
I know there is a steep learning curve but, what else?
Feeling raw in NC.
Robb

Welcome aboard,,,,,,,,

Your post was moved here to give you better exposure & the responses will be just for your situation. Give the guys some time, as its late here & very early across the pond.

Thank you for your help. I do not know how to do what you have done to start a thread. I need some help for sure.
By the way, I am 59 years old and did not even start shaving MYSELF until I was 21. I started shaving OTHERS in hospital preoperatively with an old Weck straight razor with a guard. Amazing what i had to shave! I had no facial hair though until I was about 21 and I have always used some kind of cartridge razor.
Robb

Well, welcome to the journey of shaving bliss.

I wasn't sure by reading your first post. You said you bought the razor three years ago, have you been using it for three years? If that's the case, sending your razor off to be honed is probably past due.

You could try a few things to see if they help, like skipping the preshave oil. Some people get much better lather & shaves without the oil. Your mileage may vary.

I think the best thing to do right now is to find someone in your area that can help you troubleshoot the issues & get you steered in the right direction.

Edit: here is a link to the member search page. It'll help you find members in your area.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/memberlist.php?do=search

Hi and welcome. Yeah you definitely need to send it for a hone. As Ken said if you can find a local mentor that would help tremendously. Hopefully you can find someone local as they could probably help with honing also. Good luck

Welcome to SRP!!
There'a a ton of great folks and info here. I agree send it out to get professionally honed. This will make your shaves a great experience.
Also here's a link to a great beginners guide in the library here Beginners guide
Enjoy and have fun!

Hello rls002 and welcome to SRP!

You need to get your razor looked at right away.
I was mentoring a guy that had bought a new AOS razor. They told him that the razor was shave ready when he bought it. After his first attempt to shave, his face looked like he had been attacked by a mad cat. When I looked at his razor, it was about as far from shave ready as if gets. The edge was absolutely horrible. Lesson learned, they don't know how to hone at the mall and will give you a line of b.s. just to make the sale. I honed his razor for him while he watched and he immediately shaved with it only to find the difference was stunning.
Find someone with a good reputation and get the razor honed properly. Our founder, Lynn, at SRD is the best of the best and you would be well served to send it to him.
Anyway, good luck on your shaving journey. Watch Lynn's video and others, practice strokes that you think might work for you with a butter knife and stay in your comfort zone. A little practice and some patience will reap great rewards.

Good luck!

Pete <:-}

Everyone covered the honing angle, so I'm not going to address that.

I'm extremely awkward when using my non-dominant hand, so I use my dominant hand for the entire shave. I know people here recommend getting used to switching, but it didn't work for me. It takes practice, but so does using a straight in general. I'm sure the switchers would feel awkward using only their dominant hand, as they've developed their skill with switching. Try sticking with your dominant hand and see if that makes things easier for you. Lynn has a video on YouTube where he shaves with just his dominant hand, that's where I learned how to hold the razor for the other side of my face.

There are plenty of folks here who only use the dominant hand. IIRC Glen only uses one hand. I couldn't use my left to start with and just used the right. After learning how to shave and getting some technique going I tried again just on the check and found it a bit easier as I already knew what I was doing. Slowly I expanded till I can now use both hands. The right is still better but for some it does make it easier being able to use the left