Thread: My First SR Shave... OUCH!

Wow... I want to thank everyone who is contributing to this thread I had no idea I would get this much response! You guys are the BEST!

Believe me, I'm CALM for all those who seem to think I may be upset with SRD. My frustration to all this is simply that I feel a professionals advice to a novice in my particular situation, should be to try a cheap SR or maybe one of those $5 models you find in drug stores etc before making a considerable investment. (for me $230 is a lot of money) Especially if destroying a razors edge is so easy to do, and lacking the experience, almost impossible to fix... And more importantly it should be made clear that no matter the circumstances these items are NON REFUNDABLE! Other than that, I will take responsibility for messing up the blade...

For any other people out there that have no experience with SRS, techniques or principals. Be advised, the learning curve could be long, painful and expensive!!! The difference between DE and SR shaving is like night and day. One wrong strop, and you're finished!

Sorry, but your advice is not correct.

Whether you buy a $1,000 razor or a $10 razor, you still need to learn to use it. Many people who try, do mess up an edge on a strop or have problems because they take on an entire shave without proper beard prep or without ensuring they are using the proper angle for the razor to shave nicely.

We have had many members also frustrated when trying to learn to hone with a similar thought process. They tell us they have sharpened knives and tools their entire lives and yet still have to learn that a straight razor is a different animal.

We have seen many many people who come on the forums with similar concerns and then come back a couple weeks later and are amazed at the difference that couple weeks of practice and learning has helped them. The Dovo Bismarck is actually one of their better shavers.

Thanks,

Lynn

Originally Posted by Numi

Wow... I want to thank everyone who is contributing to this thread I had no idea I would get this much response! You guys are the BEST!

Believe me, I'm CALM for all those who seem to think I may be upset with SRD. My frustration to all this is simply that I feel a professionals advice to a novice in my particular situation, should be to try a cheap SR or maybe one of those $5 models you find in drug stores etc before making a considerable investment. (for me $230 is a lot of money) Especially if destroying a razors edge is so easy to do, and lacking the experience, almost impossible to fix... And more importantly it should be made clear that no matter the circumstances these items are NON REFUNDABLE! Other than that, I will take responsibility for messing up the blade...

For any other people out there that have no experience with SRS, techniques or principals. Be advised, the learning curve could be long, painful and expensive!!! The difference between DE and SR shaving is like night and day. One wrong strop, and you're finished!

That's not true.

My dad just picked up my razor and cut a rag from a shirt with it today (he's not so smart sometimes)

I ran it over a pasted strop and it's just fine. I would put money down that unless you were cutting something other then hair with your razor, the edge is well within your skill level to fix. I'm pretty sure if you damaged it stropping you can fix it by stropping. Give it 100 passes on the linen and 100 on the leather and I'm sure it will be fine.


Other then that, learn to use it.

If Lynn honed the razor, it's shave ready.. Reading through this thread makes me think it's something in your stropping technique. Your described taking an hour to strop? That's pretty excessive. What did you do during that hour? I can imagine stropping for an hour might kill the edge. Let Lynn fix that razor back up for you.

I've also read one of your previous threads and you mention that your not using hot water? I guess it's possible.. But that makes prep pretty hard. And prep is a huge amount of shaving with a straight.

Originally Posted by dwessell

I've also read one of your previous threads and you mention that your not using hot water? I guess it's possible.. But that makes prep pretty hard. And prep is a huge amount of shaving with a straight.

Uh, yeah. This might have something to do with it. Hot water is pretty key, I think. There are products that will still alther and lubricate without it, but will the beard be soft and prepped? The skin pliable?

Originally Posted by Numi

The razor is a Dovo "Bismarck" I purchased from Straight Razor Designs and Don said it is shave ready! I can't see how I could have killed the blade stropping I hardly touched the strop!

mine was also shave ready, but i had to run it on a CrO strop and hanging strop to be comfortable for me.
Beard prep is also important.

Numi when you say the blade wont even cut hair being dragged across the blade. This doesn't mean it isn't shave ready. I haven't done any honing with a straight razor. But I use knives every day as a meat processor, your knives have to be constantly sharp or you will damage your wrists,arm and elbow. I have a better understanding with knives. I soon worked out quickly you might have a sharp knife off a stone, but unless you know how to look after it you will have a blunt one really quickly. Stropping is the most important part of keeping something sharp. If the edge on your razor has folded it will feel like a butter knife. The edge is there and its still sharp, but its not facing the right way. You imagine how thin the edge has to be to cut hair easly. So any excessive pressure you place on the edge when stropping won't straighten the edge, it will damage it.

Read thru these posts and I don't think this was mentioned-- but when you get your razor back from being rehoned, *don't strop* for your first shave-- that way you'll remove stropping technique from your list of variables... (but you should strop for your second shave). Stropping is easy once you know how, but it is very easy to do it incorrectly and roll your edge, so read the wiki carefully, and you can also find some great stropping videos on this site.

Here's the deal with these straights-- it takes time to figure it out, but once you get it right, you'll wonder why you ever used anything else...

If you decide you don't want to go the straight route, there is a great classified section on this site and I'm sure you would get a really good price for that razor...

-Chief

There is a learning curve here, but you definitely stropped incorrectly, but this is common in the beginning. It's better imho to buy two or three cheap used razors when starting out then relying on one single expensive good razor that you could easily ruin with a few strokes on the strop.

I've never had a razor honed by Lynn he is the expert here not me. I can only say that imho I like to hone my own razors because there is a comfort level that only I achieve with my blades, I guess its a personal thing. I'm 100% positive Lynn's edges are amazingly smooth, but I've never had the pleasure.

I'd say stick with it, I didn't enjoy straights in the beginning, I got inconsistent shaves, the reason: it's an art form. You have to practice young skywalker!

good luck!
D

Originally Posted by Lynn

We have seen many many people who come on the forums with similar concerns and then come back a couple weeks later and are amazed at the difference that couple weeks of practice and learning has helped them.

I second that. By now I've got less then 10 shaves of experience, but the difference between the first and last is phenomenal.
I bought a € 15,- blade prehoned by the previous owner and didn't strop the first time I used it. On the cheeks it shaved fine, but everywhere else it pulled like a diesel. My stropping made it even worse the next two shaves, but I gradually got the hang of stropping, prepping and shaving. Seriously, it gets better every single shave. I even got some BBS spots yesterday!

About the quality of your blade. Almost every single experienced member here defends Lynn&Don and vouches for the quality of their blades. That many ppl can't be wrong, right? Either that or Lynn&Don deserve major props for applying Advanced Marketing and using the entire site as a big propaganda machine, but imho that sounds highly unlikely.