Thread: New from North Central Ohio

Hello all,

Just registered a minute ago. Can't wait to get started with using a straight. I've been traditional wet shaving with a DE razor for the past year. I have myself a nice shave ready Boker Edelweiss straight and a cheap 2" x 20 inch leather strop. I have yet to use it, but I've been practicing stropping with my great uncle's old straight razor that is not shave ready. Anyway, I'm excited to get to know all of you.

Ben

Welcome to SRP!
if your boker is shave ready form a good vendor you should not even need to strop it before the first shave. so grow some whishkers and shave them off.

enjoy,
jim

Welcome to the forums.

Welcome to the forum, let us know how you first test drive goes. Read up start slow unless your like me and take it on a do or die trying approach.....

welcome to the forum !!!

Welcome to the forum!

First Straight Razor Shave (Last Friday 3-8-2013)

It wasn't too bad.... but I didn't push it for the first shave. I did a WTG passed on the complete right side of my face with my right hand, since I am right handed. I think I was surprised at how much resistence I felt. I used my Boker Edelweiss 5/8 Full Hollow Ground. It seemed like there was more flex in the blade than I would've expected. Alot of tugging and I applied very little pressure. My lather was not very good.... even for a normal DE shave. I used QCS Esquire soap and my Semogue 620 Boar. It was a dry and not very slick lather.... which I tried to avoid but wasn't very successful. I thought to myself about how I've pretty much got lathering down and of all shaves to have a bad lather it would have to be my first straight razor shave. After I did the right side.... I tried a WTG pass on the left side of my face with my left hand. I started about a full inch below my sideburn so I could see. It was awkward..... that's about all I can say. I got my cheek done and I didn't even attempt my neck. I had trouble gripping the straight.... it seemed to slip and turn in between my fingers. I rinsed my face and lathered up again and did a full pass WTG with my Fatip Nickel OC DE razor. After that, I lathered up again and tried an ATG pass from my adam's apple up to my chin. I did the same on my right side..... and tried a little on the left side with my right hand.... again ATG. I ended up finishing the shave with my Fatip.

Stropping the Boker before my shave went very well I thought. I did 50 swipes each way on the rough side of the strop and then about 30 swipes each way on the smooth side. I used on X stroke type pattern and was careful and quick on the stroke but very slow and deliberate when turning the blade over on its spine.

I finished my rinsing the razor and wiping the blade with rubbing alcohol.... careful to not wipe across the edge with my cotton round. I let it sit while I did some more clean up and then came back and wiped the blade with some mineral oil. I let the razor sit out in the open for another half hour or so and then folded it up and put it back in the silicone impregnated sock that I got with it from TSS.

I didn't nick or cut myself at all. A little razor burn and irritation from the tugging.... but not bad. I think my biggest challenge will just be using my left hand. I know that if I stick with it, the comfort level will improve and how to position my hand will become more intuitive. I practiced using my left hand while finishing up with my Fatip during this evenings shave.... and I will probably try to make it a habit to do that from now on. I read another member recommend to brush your teeth while holding the brush in your less dominent hand to get used to the feel of using it as well. Great idea.

All in all.... not bad. I didn't overdo it.... and it wasn't quite as wonderful as I thought it would be.... mostly because of the tugging. I think I was tentative and didn't use deliberate enough strokes.... but I wanted to be careful too. No major wounds.... I'm happy.

Ben

Hey Ben, I did the same thing on my first few shaves. The biggest problem for me was around my chin; the razor tugged and pulled but I figured out that by lowering the angle a bit in those areas the razor had an easier time cutting those coarse hairs--especially ATG. Using very light pressure helps a great deal too as far as irritation and razor burn. It took a couple of shaves before I realized what 'light' meant but now that I have my shaves are a lot better.

Originally Posted by skullz

Hey Ben, I did the same thing on my first few shaves. The biggest problem for me was around my chin; the razor tugged and pulled but I figured out that by lowering the angle a bit in those areas the razor had an easier time cutting those coarse hairs--especially ATG. Using very light pressure helps a great deal too as far as irritation and razor burn. It took a couple of shaves before I realized what 'light' meant but now that I have my shaves are a lot better.

Thanks for the tips! I did my second straight razor shave earlier this evening:

Straight Razor Shave #2

Today I received a loaner straight from a generous friend. It's an F.W. Engels 5/8 Full Hollow Ground (I believe) with ivory colored scales. Honed, stropped and shave ready right out of the package.... so that's what I used for this shave. I can't thank Mark enough for lending me his razor. I think it will be very helpful to have two shave ready straights to use for comparison's sake. I lathered up with some Panna Crema Saponi da Barba (Vetiver scent) with my SOC Boar and went straight to using the straight. I did the first pass with my right hand (dominent hand) on the right side of my face going WTG. It went okay. I was not as tentative as the first time and used firmer, quicker and shorter strokes. The blade still "gave" in the same manner as my Boker.... but from what I can see they are the same size blade with the same grind, so that made sense to me. There was less tugging this time, but I still left many whiskers behind. I did the entire right side of my face clear down my neck without much of an awkward feeling at all. Just a little skipping and missed hairs.... but no cuts or major irritation yet.

By the time I was ready to attempt the left side of my face my lather had dried out, so I rinsed and re-lathered my entire face. I did the left side in a very similar fashion to my right side.... using my left hand the entire time. Pretty much the same results as the right side. I ended up re-lathering and doing two more subsequent passes WTG on my entire face.... and then finished with my Gillette New Short Open Comb Big Boy Chromium Deluxe (what a mouthful.... but he's quite a razor) and a Polsilver SI razor blade, going XTG. No ATG for this shave at all for fear of too much razor burn. I played it safe.

The end result is what I would consider a SAS. I get DFS without any trouble these days with my DE safety razors and once in a Blue Moon I'll get the BBS shave. Still, I'm very happy with this shave. It felt like it was double the improvement over the first one.... and the feeling of using a straight is behind words. It's such a joy to use such a simple tool to do an everyday job. Especially in this world full of complicated technology.... where people troubleshoot more than they know what the hell they're doing. Try it until something seems to work.... nevermind if you know for sure or not that it worked. With a straight.... it's pretty clear cut as to whether it worked or not..... literally..... and that is refreshing.

I ended by cleaning up the razor, drying it and stropping it about 20 times on the smooth side of my strop. I think I may take another day off from the straight tomorrow.... but Wednesday I'll be right back at it.

Ben

Keep at it, you are on the right path and the rewards are well..... Worth it to say the least.
Glad to see you are feeling it out and taking it one step at a time,
I sometimes wish I had done the same.