Thread: Having trouble with first straight razor

Hi Satyen,

I offer a honing service in the UK if you wish you can send me the razor and I will hone the razor plus I'll give your razor a shave as well just to make double sure so to speak.

Thanks beluga... ur a lifesaver!

Originally Posted by Papabear11

If I can add, when you shave whit a straight your suppose to scrape the lather. If the angle is to high your scraping your face, the blade is suppose to cut whiskers when the lather is scraped. Make sure that your lather is on the wetter side and less pasty, a wetter lather is slicker and way better for straight of course as mention your stroping is a really important the blade flat on the strop and the most important thing take your time there's no rush. The most important thing don't give up it'll come and when it will happen you would be very proud of your self.

just wanted to say thanks for this.
im constantly reminding myself to scrape the lather and not the face.
which has reduced my razor burn tremendously!
even though i still might be like 96 shaves away from mastering the art!

I skimmed through this thread and did not notice anyone mentioning a potential problem. When you shave with a shavette, you use a much higher angle than you do with a straight razor. You need to keep the spine quite close to you skin. Experiment with a lower angle and you may find that the razor will work much better.

I really don't think that you should try the diamond paste yet. Get a better handle on your shaving and stropping before you start trying to remove steel.

I finally met up with beluga who is mentoring me through it. He graciously touched up my blade on a series of naniwa stones, gave me some super tips on technique and corrected my stropping. So now its down to practice and patience.


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Good luck to you on your journey. It should be quite a bit easier now that you have a mentor near by.

Bob

Having someone you can see in person is such a valuable asset! There's is big difference between all the advice and videos you can find online, and actually seeing it done in person.

Originally Posted by Satyen

I finally met up with beluga who is mentoring me through it. He graciously touched up my blade on a series of naniwa stones, gave me some super tips on technique and corrected my stropping. So now its down to practice and patience.


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I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: Hands on learning can't be beat! You learn more in a few hours than you can from months of reading and watching videos!

By the way--you ended your post on a perfect note! "So now its down to practice and patience".