Thread: Today I lost my virginity.

Congrats on your first shave! That's a beautiful razor by the way.

I bought a strop with this shaver, also from solingen and its called harolds I think. It have a leatherside and some sort of canvas on the other side. When to use what I am not sure of. I tried the leather side but not the canvas side, when am I to use that side?

Some people say that there is no point in using the canvas/linen side. I have always been of the opinion that the fact that they have been around for so long means that some time long ago when straights was the end all, be all, of razors the linen/canvas side was used for an actual beneficial purpose. Anyway, if you believe that there is some benefit to the linen/canvas strop, then the way that you use it is simply that you use it prior to the leather. I use 15-20 passes on a linen strop and then 40-60 passes on the leather.

Aha then I understand a little better Utopian.

Today I ordered a shavingsoap and a brush. Also ordered a grained stone brand norton from the perfekt edge.
Shavingsoap is Edwin jagger and so is the brush. I bought a little less expensive brush for now untill I get the hang of it.
I will later on go to a local pottery here where I live and have them make up some nice cup for me.

Today I had my 3rd shave, I am starting to get the hang of it now! But I still use shavingcream so I cant wait to do it the right way.

One question. When doing the second round when you shave, do you still shave with the hair or against it? I cant get a good angle when tryong to go against the hair. Any good instructionvideo on that thing?

I usually go with the grain on the first pass, across the grain (sideways) on the second pass, and against the grain on the third (if necessary, I usually just touch up after two passes). The across the grain pass makes against the grain much easier.

But how do you shave against the graind without breaking your arms? Because you have to change angle and grip on the razor when going against the grains right? I could not get a stable grip that I would dare go across the grains with.

I guess a general rule would be, if you have to break an arm, you're probably not shaving right.
There are shaving videos in this forum and on YouTube. If you watch some of them, you might learn how to do the appropriate gripping and movements.

Got my new brush today! And a nice thing to keep the razor standing up and the brush at the same place. Also ordered a good smelling shavesoap.

So tonight I will finally get a full shave the right way.

How did it go with the new equipment?

Everbody in the thread seems to think your razor is good,so I think I will be getting one as well..=)

Raka lugnt!=)

I just shaved, in the middle of the freaking night!
It worked real good! A real nice brush and the soap was easy on the skin. Its amazing how much closer you get with a straight razor. I always thought my old razor was real good, but thats nothing compared to this.
And best of all, your skin dont look like you have the pleauge after a shave. You can still put some aftershave on without looking like the kid in home alone.