Hello From South Florida!

[mmmbacon]

Hello! I've been lurking for a while, and decided it was high time I joined SRP. Thank you all for making this such a great community!

I'm a high school math teacher, and I started to learn how to shave with a straight this summer. So far I've completed 38 open-blade shaves, 31 with straight razors, and 7 with a Feather SS shavette. I'm trying to learn how to hone with a progression of synthetic wetstones.

About me:
1. I dull razors very quickly. Sometimes after one shave. So I'm guessing my stropping stinks, but I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

2. My honing skills are not good yet. To put it mildly.

3. Every time I get discouraged, I give myself a great shave with my shavette, which is very forgiving, and a great tallow-based soap, and I get psyched about wet shaving again.

4. I like silvertip badger brushes. I have a synthetic for travel (it dries quickly), and it works, but for a luxurious shave, give me a badger brush.

I'm looking forward to building my skills until I can begin to provide useful advice on these forums!

[PaulFLUS]

Welcome from a fellow Floridian, although I'm from North Florida. Stropping and honing are both skills that seem easy at first glance but turn out to be much harder than they look. I don't know what kind or how many razors you have but since you also have the shavettte you may want to consider sending one off to have it professionally honed. There are people here who can help you with that. That way at least you don't get discouraged and you keep from cutting yourself as much. Don't let lack of skills interrupt what is a daily drudgery turned fun hobby because that's what we do around here. Make a mundane thing like shaving into an art form (IT'S INGENIOUS!) Don't sweat it. You'll improve over time. If you've been looking around for a while then you know everyone here is pretty helpful, in addition to the fact that there is a great wealth of information already on the site. The search tools are pretty good at helping you find things but if you can't just ask and someone will help you. There are some very helpful videos on honing and stroppng. Look around. Read a lot and have fun with it. That's why we're all here.

[PaulFLUS]

Here's something helpful for getting good results with your honing.
https://shavelibrary.com/w/Pyramid_honing_guide

For me this made a difference like night and day.

[mmmbacon]

Here's something helpful for getting good results with your honing.
https://shavelibrary.com/w/Pyramid_honing_guide

For me this made a difference like night and day.

Thanks for the advice, and the link. I'd read the Pyramid Honing article before, but I really needed to re-read it and look at the pictures again.

I've been letting my mind run wild about honing quick fixes, instead of focusing on practicing the basics (elbow up, for instance). And yes, I've gotten, shaved with, and quickly damaged, edges from several respected honemeisters.

That experience is what led me to purchasing the whetstones - I'm so good at dulling edges that I'm going to have to learn to sharpen them, if I'm going to shave with straight razors.

[petercp4e]

Hello and welcome to SRP.
Enjoy your time here on the forum and have fun learning.
Watch as many videos as you can stand and take your time.

Pete <:-}

[Gasman]

Welcome and i love the name!
It takes time and a keen edge to lean. Trying to learn to shave and hone is going to slow down the enjoyment as it takes longer to learn to hone properly than it takes to learn to shave. And that takes many months. Do what you have to but know that we are here to help you along the best we can.

[mmmbacon]

Hello and welcome to SRP.
Enjoy your time here on the forum and have fun learning.
Watch as many videos as you can stand and take your time.

Pete <:-}

But I want it all NOW! Seriously, thank you for the perspective.