My First Shave!

Hi guys, just joined up here on SRP and thought I would introduce myself. I am 24 years old and have been shaving with a cartridge since I was 13. My general shave routine is: Hot shower, neutrogena face scrub, soak my brush (bottom tier art of shave) in hot water, make a lather in my hand with AoS sandlewood and apply on my face, shave with a gillette fusion, rinse face with cold water and dab off with towel.

Now I have recently purchased a straight razor (sight unseen razor which turned out to be a 'black diamond wedge') and a strop (poor mans strop) from whippeddog.com. I am not really sure how good the razor is as it looks somewhat old but on my first shave it performed quite well. Now for the details on my first shave. I performed everything in my routine as regular except for switching the cart with my new straight razor. I did both cheeks easily with one minor cut. I struggled to get around the jaw line to the neck so I stopped and went back to the cart to finish the shave. I had a hard time using my left hand to shave the left side of my face but I guess it will get easier with time.

Anyways any tips or suggestions or info on my razor would be appreciated!

Attachment 127059Attachment 127060

You are off on the right path, concentrate on one area at a time, get it down and expand. No shame in picking up what you are familiar with to finish.

Or you could be like a few of us stubborn fools were and go for the bloody mess, irritation, but I did it all approach.

Great job and keep it up, if you follow the advice of those well versed and practiced on this site it will only get better.

how important is it to protect the blade with an oil between shaves?

Welcome Recline,

You will find some of the best people in the world here . I have only been a member here for about a month. I have made some great contacts and what I believe will become dear friends. I have had people here help me in ways that I could not believe. Don't ever hold back on a question these guys are here to help. Remember the only dumb question is the one you don't ask.

As far as oil on the blade I wipe mine dry, blow out any water between the scales. I don't close it all the way and let it dry while at work.If you are going to leave it for some time (days) you may want to add a little oil. However if you are like me you will not be able to keep it down. I am working towards my 3 rd razor now that is about 1 every month so far (suffering from RAD)

Good luck on the journey.

Kevin