Thread: First post while eagerly awaiting the mail order.

One odd thing though.
The starter kit came with a travel strop. It has brown leather on one side, but I can't figure out what's on the other side. It seems to be a rougher kind of leather, but it feels synthetic and rubber-ish. Here is a picture with the two different sides.



The starter kit also included a thiers issars paste.. is it supposed to go on the weird rubberish side? Am I even supposed to use the weird side?

Just leave the paste alone until you find out if it is intended for leather conditioning or if it has an abrasive in it.

The "rubber" side is probably intended for use prior to using the leather side. Its function is most likely the same as a "linen".
But verify it all first.

Hope this helps

The paste is a white paste from TI, which I believe is intended for canvas, and it seems weird that it would be included in this otherwise nice beginners kit, when the strop doesn't have a canvas side.

Anywhoo, the razor has now been honed. I tried it this morning and it worked okay. I didn't completely mess up my face, and I did sorta shave the entire face. The chin seems weird though. I'm still suspecting the razor to not be sharp enough.
Am I supposed to feel a significant amount of resistance when shaving the thicker hairs? When I come to the chin, it's really rough to shave through. It also seems like the razor is skipping on top of most hairs, because after several strokes, there were still a lot of stubs left

The chin is usually the most difficult area to master. You will feel more resistance on the chin because there is more hair density and of the coarser kind. I suggest you take shorter confident strokes and make sure your angle is correct, beginners often have the tendency to lay the razor flat on the chin. If you sent your razor to a reputable honemeister then it is likely your technique that needs work. Lastly, prep is extremely important, a hot shower, a pre shave and a good thick lather will surely make those hairs softer.

Yyyes! I just had my 3rd or 4th shave (loosing track here), and it was successful. You were correct about the angle. I gave it a little more angle and confidence and suddenly magic happened. I was even able to do a little ATG and XTG on the chin without the skin going crazy. I think this might be because the skin is getting a bit used to straight shaving.
Sure I got 2 nics, but that was because of sloppiness. Looks like this straight razor shaving stuff might work for me. Can't wait to see how it will be after a few months of practicing.

So I'm getting increasingly suspicious of my stropping.
I'm just doing about 10-20 strokes on the still-mysterious "rubbery" side, and then 40 on the leather.
No paste, no nothing... would you think this is sufficient?