Thread: Hello from Sunny Cleveland, Ohio

Hi everyone! I've been trolling around the forums for a while now... toying with the idea of learning to shave with a straight razor. I was so irritated with the cheap, disposable razors and electric shaver that last year, I just stopped shaving. My wife put up with the beard for about a year... but she put her foot down a couple weeks ago :-). I told her that if she wanted me to shave, she had to buy me a straight razor. My new Dovo 6/8 half-hollow should arrive later today and tomorrow morning I'll give this a first shot. Big thanks to everyone who has posted 'beginner' articles in the wiki!

Welcome to SRP MarcR!
I wish you the best of luck on your venture in to this straight razor world

I hope she got you a shave ready razor! If not, you'll find out where to get it honed in the classifieds.

Any questions, feel free to ask. Lots of people on here who will help out as best as they can!

I got it from Vintage Blades, which I think was listed in the wiki as selling shave-ready razors. I had been doing some research here since early last year, so I had at least some idea of what was good and what was not worth the money (or my face's skin).

Great, then you should be all set mate

Question about the strop... I have an Illinois 127, which has two surfaces, one leather and the other linen. When using the linen, should I rotate the strop and use the back side (which has a gold logo on it), or should I used the inner side of the linen (facing the underside of the leather)?

Use the back side.
the sides facing each other aren't used

Originally Posted by Birnando

Use the back side.
the sides facing each other aren't used

Okay, good. That's what I thought, but didn't want to assume (since I have no idea what I'm doing). I find it strange that many men in my generation were never taught how to shave properly (even with a disposable), so I'm glad that there are guys out there willing to help. Hopefully, I can master this skill and then pass it on to my son some day. He's only 2 months right now, so I have a while to practice :-).

heh, yes, then you should have ample time to learn this sport before teching him.
Congrats on the newborn

Check out the videos in the bottom of this wiki article. Great stuff!

Welcome. Hope you enjoy the forums as much as the rest of us.

Michael

First shave this morning. Stuck to the sideburn area on my dominant hand side, like Lynn recommended. I had some trouble getting the Williams shave soap to lather properly... probably too much water in the lather bowl. Anyways, no cuts yet and I didn't experience any tugging or pulling; quite comfortable. Looking forward to adding some more of the dominant hand side tomorrow morning. Very enjoyable so far!