Thread: Another newbie from San Diego, CA

Howdy all,

New to SRP and realm of straights, but not new to traditional wet shaving, current DE user for sometime!

I recently got a decent starter kit from SRD, Boker king cutter and Latigo strop. I usualy buy a decent gear to start on a new venture, keeps variables under control. Tried my new razor the other day and I was getting pulling on the sideburns, I need to work on the angle, I was not around 30deg on WTG, it was more like 15deg. Watched Lynn's video and followed his advice to be vertical but I think I took it too far! After doing alot of resarch and watching videos it seems my angle was not enough, I'll give it another try tonight. Been practicing stroping with butter knife and so far I actually prefer the pencil twist method istead of the wrist twist. Other than that I have not stropped the razor yet, will do that once I can shave my cheeks with out any pulling. I have heavy middle eastern wiskers and it was not fun getting it pulled and tugged on! lol. Additionaly, I had trouble with my lather drying up and getting tacky, I think I need to add more water to it, the resduial slickness was not there and razor was not gliding. I guess this is going to take while to fine tune my routine! with DE shave no issues, I fly over my face. Hopefulluy within few months I can just do a WTG pass and no pulling.

-Amir

Welcome to SRP, Amir! It does take a bit to get into the swing of things with a straight razor. Above all else, be patient and take it slowly. If you find your lather drying out mid-shave, either lather only half of your face or re-wet the lather using water and/or fresh lather. Shave in the evening if you don't have enough time to do so in the morning.

Also, be sure to strop slowly until you develop the proper muscle memory. It's very easy to roll the fine edge of a straight razor if you're not focused and careful.

Good luck and be sure to ask any questions that pop into your mind.

Welcome to SRP!
It was a good choice to start out with known good gear.
For the with the grain pass you want the razor to be angled so that the spine is about 2 spine widths (1/4 of an inch) off of the face.

What kind of soap are you lathering with?

Thank you!

Yes, I was about 1 spine width or less, not a great feeling lol. I looked at the razor and said to myself WTF! when it was pulling. But kept going for few strokes anyways. haha

I was using Barrister and Mann, Cheshsire. Its a thirsty soap too. Have too many soaps to list and ashamed to admit :-). Will add more water with whatever soap I try. I think I will go with Saponificio Varensino tonight! that is one slick soap.

Welcome to SRP!!

You'll get it, no worries. There's a lot of great folks and info here, check out the library.
You may want to just lather small areas before you shave them. Helps with the drying out as was said.Just take it slow and remember, just shave the lather, no need for pressure.

Have fun and enjoy!

When you learn how to ride a bike, you struggle with every movement. Later, when your muscle memory is established, your body goes on a sort of auto-pilot. This is the same for shaving. Now you are struggling to find the right angle. Later, you won't even have to think about it. You will unconsciously automatically adjust your angle for optimal cutting.

Be patient. You will figure it out!

Thanks, yes I was also putting lil pressure on skin like a DE, I found out that is no no. I need to chop and just like a DE blade! it will be a challenge!

You want as light of contact as possible. The blade should be like a feather on your skin. One often used phrase is "shave the lather, not the skin."

Amir, bravo for choosing quality. I doubt you'll look back.

The guys have told you right, but I notice something that will be important to you and very soon.

" I have not stropped the razor yet, will do that once I can shave my cheeks with out any pulling. "

This is gonna work against you in a fairly serious way. You mention a heavy middle eastern beard - which is *HARD* on an edge, as is being a new user. Without straightening and smoothing the damage from a shave by stropping, it will likely feel worse every shave. This would only make you think a straight is harder to use than it really is. Getting your stropping skills down is really the only answer. I was *horrible* at it, destroying 5 strops. But it really isn't optional. Maybe a cheap, unsharp razor for practice w/ your strop, or a strip of newspaper - forcing a light touch and showing immediately if your flip & stroke shred the pc of paper.

On angle. Remember learning the DE? The videos or description had you starting with the hand sticking straight out from your cheek? At that point it wasn't shaving at all. As you slowly stroked, you slowly brought the angle of the handle further down until you felt it shaving, but not scraping? You can find your preferred angle the same way w/ a str8, but you'll want a well maintained edge. If you trash an edge - don't worry. There are lots of guys that will gladly help. San Diego is large enough to have users within driving distance. Probably some can give cheap or free honing to keep you going. I've done it for a few hundred guys.

Thanks for the feedback.

I will strop once I get no pulling at all, I do not want to roll the edge with bad form and not knowing if its me or razor. I will strop on flat plane field surface until I get my skills down with the butter knife. And I do not want to ruin strops either. haha. So far I have about 30 seconds of actual shaving time, the razor feels sharp and perhaps by next shave I can get one none pulling pass so I know how a properly honed and sharp razor should feel like as a baseline. I will diffidently start stropping once I am sure of my skills on the strop, slow and steady, no pressure, spine and edge flat.