Thread: Hello and questions from Northeast Ohio

I am a professional violinist who loves my violin. I enjoy tying my own bow tie. I enjoy writing with my fountain pen. It only seems natural for me to take up SR shaving. I've been reading up on the wiki and doing a lot of online research as I've started with this new hobby. I'll pose a few questions here in case my questions are so rookie that they would be a waste of space on the other pages.

1. I noticed today after my third shave today that my soap seams sticky on my face after the very pass with the razor. Having watched videos of others shaving, I notice that each stroke of the blade starts on a small patch of previously shaved face and then moves forward into the new area on each small stroke. When I start the blade on a previously shaved portion, I feel as if I'm smearing peanut butter on my face until I've gotten to the lathered portion of my face. In my fingers, the soap feels wet and slick. Am I not using enough water? I'm using a Simpson Pure Badger Brush and the Sandelwood soap from SRD with 5 drops of glycerin. As for face prep. My routine is to shower first, using as hot water as I can handle. I soap my face and massage to soften my whiskers. Before applying lather, I again splash my face with as hot water as I can muster. Now as to why this seems to be a problem for me. Because the blade seams to stick to my face, I feel like I need to add more pressure in order to keep the blade moving. I'm sure you all have preached a hundred times that using to much pressure causes razor burn......bingo. My face is pretty raw afterwards. I have to say I've only had three telling nicks so far, though I do seam to have a few more bumps that seem to bleed really slow. Any suggestions would be helpful. As for dealing with the burn, I'm using the sandlewood skin food. I'm sure it is helping but my face is still on fire for half the day. I'm sure without the skin food I'm sure I'd look like I fell asleep in a tanning booth.

2. As for the razor, it is a Dovo Best. I got the kit from SRD. I'm not sure I'm stropping right even though I'm keeping in mind pulling the strop tight and lead the blade with the spine very softly(yes I'm rolling it on the spine on the return): I'd say 50 strokes each time so far. This last shave I rolled the blade away from my face as I came to a curve near my chin. As I rolled away, my skin was pulled up with the razor as there were a dozen or so hairs half cut holding onto the blade. Is this just bad technique or am I truely screwing up the edge with the strop? The first two shaves I had a relatively high cutting angle. At the time I would have guessed 30 deg. But after having watched some shave on youtube I would guess the angle was closer to 45 deg. This most recent shave I tried the other extreme and shaved with the spine almost on my skin. Once again I'll take any suggestions on this issue as well.

I'm looking forward to this daily routine once I get a better feel for it.

Hi, Mhouff, and welcome to SRP!
You didn't mention whether or not you are stretching your skin. Also, not all soaps/creams are equally appropriate for all skin types. By any chance do you have hard water? These are just some of the variables that come to mind.
As far as stropping goes, a little sag in the strop is actually desirable. If your knuckles are bone-white whilst holding the strop, you have it too tight and the entire blade may not be making full contact with the strop. If your strop is still nick- and scratch-free, I suggest not using it for a little while whilst you practice your technique on an old leather belt with a butter knife. This is an excellent way to master your stropping form and simultaneously avoid damaging your strop whilst you learn. You could also use tightly folded-up newspaper in lieu of the belt. Incidentally, the folded newspaper can successfully be used instead of the strop altogether.
Hope this helps, and I'll see you in the trenches, buddy!

Welcome to SRP!

maybe try more water in the soap.... I add water during the shave.