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Thread: Yet another introduction

  1. #1
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    Default Yet another introduction

    Hi,


    I've been using either Mach 3's or a Norelco electric I got in 2001 for the past 10 years. I was out of Mach 3 heads and while at the store recalled some video I was shown of the Dollar Shave Club. I though I'd check it out. While I was at it, I thought of a double edged razor handle my grand father had, so I started looking at those. That led me to various forums, and somehow I ran into straight razors. I thought... what the heck, why not!?

    That was maybe a month ago. Since then I've:
    • Looked around for used razors at antique stores, contemplated doing the whipped dog deal, and eventually found out that user robd is local and ended up buying an antique special from him for $15 to get started
    • Ordered a 22mm silvertip brush from The Golden Nib. I plan to turn my own handle soon.
    • Put some Taylor or Old Bond Sandalwood and a styptic pencil on order; should be here soon.


    The only thing I don't have is a strop and any honing instruments.

    I couldn't wait any longer. I did my first shave tonight after a shower. Used the badger brush handleless and whipped up some lather from my Nivia gel in a can in a shallow coffee mug. I stopped my razor (it was already shave ready from robd) with newspaper laying flat on my marble kitchen island.

    It went so-so... My comments:
    • The shave was more "pull-y" than I expected. Perhaps the razor wasn't sharp enough or my cream wasn't very good. It tugged quite a bit. The razor did pass the hanging hair test... maybe cream matters more than I thought?
    • I cut myself a bit, but no worse than using a new Mach 3 cartridge. I always seem to get a few nicks the first time. I was hoping to be a pro on the first go, but all-in-all I wasn't too disappointed
    • Shaving around the voice box, directly under the jaw line, near the ears, and the chin are quite difficult! Not sure how best to get these areas. I kind of just skipped them for the sake of not filleting my face.


    Anyway, just wanted to officially say "Hi." I've been lurking all this time and it's a great site. Robd has been quite helpful with various questions on private messaging and it was neat to know there's some locals here (St. Paul, MN).

    I think I'll try to find leather to make a strop at Tandy and keep my eye open for something like a 4000/8000 Norton stone or a barber hone, as those seem to be the recommended starting places.

    I'd love any suggestions on the tugging factor. I didn't expect that. Sharpness, cream, lather, all three?

    Thanks!
    John

  2. #2
    Senior Member rodb's Avatar
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    I'm glad you finally gave it a try!!

    It sounds like a typical 1st shave with a straight!

    Prep, angle and pressure are all very important. I know 100% it was sharp as I used it myself, so I'm guessing it was 1st time technique, did you use skin stretching? It's very possibly the cream wasn't optimum either. Also the blade is 2+ times the width of cartridge blades so there will be more resistance. It's also possible the newspaper stropping could have hurt the edge, did you use several layers of newspaper? More layers will be more forgiving.

    If it's still pulling after a few more tries feel free to bring it back over and I'll touch it up on the stones. I'll make sure it's good

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    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    Certainly an 'A' for effort & guts.

    There's alot to talk about, and like any other here, all aimed at you LOVING your shaves. My first was quite bloody, and that was w/out a shave ready edge.

    Perhaps start at the end and work backwards. The tugging. Beard prep is big medicine. The romantic image of the 'hot towel' prep to 'soften' the beard is misleading. Soft wiskers are harder to cut. What the hot towel does is get and keep the whiskers wet - bloated up w/ water so their shingle-like outter bark can get caught by the edge of the blade. I haven't saved a thread I could paste that covers beard prep specifically, but the canned snot is far from your friend. TOBS is quite good, easy to lather, and comes in whatever smell that pleases you. Assuming you can make lather. Wet your face, lather up. Leave the razor where it is. Now rub that lather into your skin for a full 2 min. Vigorous comes to mind. The rubbing will erase the lather. No prob. re-wet your face and relather. Beard is ready.

    If you can't make lather, Mantic's vids are hard to beat. How To Build And Apply Traditional Shaving Lather - YouTube


    The other likely reason for the harsh, carnivorous feel to the edge is the stropping. Paper stropping done right can be a wonderful poor man's hone. But after the paper (done right), it needs the linen and leather, or the edge is usually harsh. I suspect your face agrees.

    'Your first straight razor shave' link is on the home page. Its wonderful. That means it saves your steptic pencil some wear. On the subject of steptic - once you nick yourself, DO NOT shave right over the nick again on a subsequent pass OR over it for the next few days - you'll only open it back up and delay the full shave.

    At least as hard as learning the shave is learning to strop. I sucked at it. There are remnants of 5 strops lying around the house that have met their demise at my hands. This skill is big. The finest threads on it are from our very own gssixgun. You'll see his name alot and we're all the better for it. This link is worth going through a number of times. It'll save you money and heartburn.

    http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ch-2011-a.html

    Another good one is from the honorable Mrsell on the all important 'flip', which is where most of the strop carnage happens. MrSell has been using and collecting str8s since 19xx uh. since I was er.. young. (1968) He does a wicked nice edge.
    Please don't nick your strop


    Although you'll likely blow it off, its worth repeating the mantra of the experienced guys that say: first learn the shave (w/ pro quality edges). Then (and not before about 6 mo.), try your hand with honing. FWIW, I blew it off and it was one of my larger mistakes. It held me back in learning the shave, and while I flailed about w/ the stones, I had no clue what a real edge felt like until I sent one razor to gssixgun, who's shapton edges will give you nightmares - they're so sharp. It would be months before I had a semi-respectable edge. Should you distinguish yourself by heeding that advice, I'll gladly do your edges at no cost other than the envelope and postage to return your razor. You'll thank yourself. Certainly some learn it faster than others, but spend your first months w/ great edges.

    'Hope you find yourself loving your shaves. I'm betting you will - and very soon.
    Last edited by pinklather; 05-28-2012 at 04:30 AM.
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    Plausibly implausible carlmaloschneider's Avatar
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    Good on you for jumping right in there, handle-less brush and all! Is the shaving cream you used from a pressure can? I haven't used Nivia, but I'd never use the stuff for a SR shave. A cartridge shave needs something completely;y different than a SR shave, and I'd say a DE needs something else again. You'd be better off using a shave stick while you wait for your 'real' cream to rock up.

    You should get a strop ASAP. I see you talk of making one, but I'd buy my first one; just to save any errors from the actual strop. Stropping correctly is REALLY important. I'd say the tugging is caused by a dull edge. I myself have never really found anything else than that to be the issue with tugging. It's possible either your razor isn't shave ready or stropping on paper wasn't the best this time; though it's exactly what I did when I started; as I was waiting to buy my strop!

    The areas you mention really are difficult for everyone, I think, even when you're quite practiced, but it's interesting how quickly you'll get better, as least that's what I found. I think holding a stupidly sharp razor to your throat at 6;30 in the morning will force ANYONE to sit up, pay attention and get better!

    Hope you're having fun; it sounds like you are; I felt that the beginning of SR shaving for me was one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done...

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    jwhendy (05-28-2012)

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    Wow -- thanks for all the replies! I'm on several forums and don't know that I expected the "noob board" to be very well followed

    @robd: Definitely could have been the stropping. I may take you up on that offer for some honing lessons or get in touch with the honemaster you mentioned was local (sorry... forgot his name on here). I did you several layers of newspaper. I kind of just put the whole thin local dealio (~8 or 16 sheets?) on the table aligned with the edge. I'll need lots of practice. I watched you strop that day and it took me like 2 seconds to make one pass. I had to think very hard not to flip the blade the wrong way, etc. I at least didn't think I dulled it that much as it still passed the HHT, but who knows?


    @pinklather: Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions! I watched both the lathering and stropping vids. Very helpful. I'll have to get myself a proper strop I think! Would the poor man's kit at WD be a good one? I'll have a look at the "your first shave" post you mentioned as well. Probably should have started there

    Even in watching the stropping video when he said "the shave grip" I realized I shaved last night with the handle 180 degrees from that! No wonder I had a hard time with curves... near my chin and jaw line the handle was pointing down so it wanted to bump into my neck. Learned something valuable already

    Re. shave prep -- is a shower a bad way to do beard prep, then? Should I just wet my face and let the 2min lather treatment do the job vs. trying to get my face and whiskers wet in the shower? I did think the point was to get everything nice and soft... so perhaps I got that wrong!

    Thanks again for your more than expected response. There were a lot of nice tips in there!


    @carl: Yeah, I did kind of jump in there. The gel was something like this. Again, I figured it wasn't ideal... but I've had a razor for like a month now and just couldn't wait I'm actually going to FL for a week to visit my parents so I probably won't shave again until I get back, when my stuff will have arrived. And I'll probably order the Whipped Dog poor man's strop kit before I go, so that'll be waiting for me too.

    I'll focus on my stropping as key before my next shave.

    Yes, it was fun! It's a whole 'nother world I didn't even know existed. The parts that were easier to shave (cheeks) are tremendously smooth. The face feels a little tender today, though. I can tell it's a little irritated. In any case, it's awesome and I'm quite excited to keep going. My wife watched the first shave and said I looked like a real bad-a**. Can't complain about that.


    Thanks again, all -- that was a very nice welcome to the forum.
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  • #6
    Senior Member rodb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jwhendy View Post
    @carl: Yeah, I did kind of jump in there. The gel was something like this. Again, I figured it wasn't ideal... but I've had a razor for like a month now and just couldn't wait I'm actually going to FL for a week to visit my parents so I probably won't shave again until I get back, when my stuff will have arrived. And I'll probably order the Whipped Dog poor man's strop kit before I go, so that'll be waiting for me too.

    I'll focus on my stropping as key before my next shave.

    Thanks again, all -- that was a very nice welcome to the forum.
    You'll find that the cream from a tube or tub and soap from a puck will be MUCH superior to anything from an aerosol can, I've done one shave with a straight and canned foam just to see how it was, and it wasn't much fun.

    Stropping is probably the single most important thing to learn other than the shave itself, with a strop, CrOx paddle and a barber/finishing hone and a shave ready razor you can go almost indefinitely.

  • #7
    Hones & Honing randydance062449's Avatar
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    These guys have given you very good advice. I hope you have your strop now and be sure to use it just before each and every shave (50-60 roundtrip laps). Proper stropping one of the keys so feel free to come over any time. RodB and I live only a short distance apart.

    I will PM you my contact details.

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    Hi Randy. Thanks for the offer and I got your PM. I do happen to have a strop. Actually two of them, but might need some help making them usable. Find out more on my recent post! I'm a happy camper Rob also mentioned you were quite a honing teacher. I have two recent acquisitions that could probably use some attention if you'd like to give some instruction. I'll be in touch!

  • #9
    Senior Member rodb's Avatar
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    Let me know if you are going to Randy's, I'm always ready for a honing get together.

  • #10
    Hones & Honing randydance062449's Avatar
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    Good morning!

    We can get together after I come back from Lynns Razor Meet in Cape Girardeau. That should be after June 15th.
    Maybe we can get some other new guys over at the same time.
    RodB...your always welcome, you know that.

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