Thread: Hello Everyone

Welcome! You've come to a good place. Lots of really helpful people here. I'm still pretty new to the straights and have gotten a lot of good tips from this forum. The biggest improvements I had were after finding a good razor angle and being light on the pressure, let the razor do the work. There's still a couple of spots that are troublesome so I cheat with a DE touch up. Those areas are getting smaller and smaller as I improve my skill. As said, go slow and enjoy the time. I used to dread shaving, now I look forward to whipping up a good lather and knocking the whiskers off.

Welcome and good luck.

Hi and welcome,

Practice makes perfect... You will get there

Something nite to add...

All of us started off using too much pressure. A phrase we use around here is...shave the lather, not the face.

Learn to properly strop your razor, its the most crucial part of straight razors.

Practice stropping on an old leather belt to build your muscle memory, and to keep u from cutting up a expensive strop. Funny, a belt is all I used for a strop, for.. many years. Still do, on occasion.

Hi again,

I am from near Windsor Ontario.

I do have a strop, it's a board strop to learn on before I hurt an expensive one or even worse hurt my razor.

I bought a beginners kit from Classic Edge. It included the Dovo Astrale with Ebony Wood scales, a badger brush, a board strop and my choice of shaving soap. I went for Henri et Victoria Cognac & Cuban Cigars.

The razor was honed and shave ready before it was sent.

Got ya a big scuttle too. Nice. Just be careful not to add too much water in the scuttle so your soap stays creamy not sudsy.
Preasure and angle are what makes a comfortable shave. Well, besides a properly honed blade. Its said that when talking angle to look at the thickness of the spine of the razor and use that amount of space between the spine and your skin. That is a good starting point. From there its practice and experiance.

Phil at Classic Edge does well at honing and your razor will have been truly shave ready. I too have purchased from him. There are a lot of users near you and there is often meets in Ontario, mostly GTA, there are a fantastic place to learn.

P.S.
I can’t say enough how important skin stretching and holding is for me.

Hi from the east end of the province.

As Rez mentioned, there is a really great bunch of SRP members in the GTA and Southern Ont. Keep an eye out here for get togethers: https://sharprazorpalace.com/get-togethers-meetings/

That looks like a good setup - and you chose your vendor wisely, so that razor should be good to go.

Hi guys,

I am feeling faint from loss of blood as I write this.

I just had my second shave OMG. I thought I would be better this time but nooo! and the styptic pencil stings.

Why am I doing this to myself.

I am frightened to press firmly so I run it dow my face so lightly it skips and gives me a horrible shave, and cuts

Originally Posted by STF

I am frightened to press firmly so I run it dow my face so lightly it skips and gives me a horrible shave, and cuts

Try to make sure you're going as SMOOTHLY as possible. Hesitating and jerking the blade is a leading cause of pink styptics. Also, although Rez said it above, it definitely bears repeating: make sure you're stretching your skin. That makes a huge difference.

Be patient - it will come!