Thread: My First SR Shave... OUCH!

I must be doing something wrong? As the title says this is the first time I've used a SR, grew up on DE and TE stuff.

I just purchased what I think is a good razor and it claims to be "Shave Ready" It does cut the hair on my arm easily, but beard hair is a different story and I don't know if it's me or the razor. I prepped my beard as best I could, lathered up and started my first pass. It seems that no matter what angle, or touch I use the blade drags and will not shave the coarse stubble without pulling skin and cutting my face. There is a lot of resistance. Nothing like the videos I've seen that make it look not so difficult.

Anyone know what my problem may be?

If it will not pop arm hairs it is as dull as a butter knife. You will need to get it honed.

Any one do any honing in Ecuador?

Sounds like you are going to need a 1k and a 4/8 Norton to get it ready to go. Until then do not shave with it.

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!

If you got it from SRD, it is shave ready, you can pretty much forget that concern (of course, anything is POSSIBLE, but Lynn and Don aren't likely to send out a blade that isn't really nicely honed).
You'd be amazed how easily a beginner stropping can dull an edge. All you have to do is lift the spine a little too much a couple times. If you flip badly, you can nick your strop AND dull your razor.

Honestly, technique is probably the most likely culprit here, as it was for every single one of us when we started.
Give your face a few days' rest, then try again, gently, just sideburns down to jaw...that's it. You won't remove all the hair...and don't try to. Keep the angle right (30 degrees or less), and finish up with another razor. As you get comfortable, exapnd where you shave, then move to cross grain and against grain. The learning curve might take a week or two to really show progress...but once it does...man does it feel nice!!!

Thanks for the help... Well I tried to be EXTRA careful when I was stropping and I don't recall making any major mistakes that could have ruined the edge as you describe, I followed all the instructions to the letter, but it is sure enough gone bad! It shaves skin but not hair! Now after 1 day with a $250 investment it looks like I have to send it out again to be fixed....ugh! I picked a bad time to go str8! I can only imagine if it is this easy to ruin a razor how will I ever do this? I can't send the razor out for repair every time I touch it!

It is just a POSSIBILITY that there is anything wrong with the edge. As a matter fo fact, as careful as you seem to have been, I'd even suspect that it is fine.
Try again in a few days, being even more careful, and following Lynn's great thread in the Wiki for first time sahvers...I'll try to find it for you. Let yourself become comfortable with it, and you'll be amazed when it all clicks.

Originally Posted by Numi

Thanks for the help... Well I tried to be EXTRA careful when I was stropping and I don't recall making any major mistakes that could have ruined the edge as you describe, I followed all the instructions to the letter, but it is sure enough gone bad! It shaves skin but not hair! Now after 1 day with a $250 investment it looks like I have to send it out again to be fixed....ugh! I picked a bad time to go str8! I can only imagine if it is this easy to ruin a razor how will I ever do this? I can't send the razor out for repair every time I touch it!

First off, every razor that is sold is shave tested before being disinfected and coated in oil so that we are certainly sure it shaves. It is not uncommon for new people to have the problems described and it is "Never their fault". Learning to use a straight razor is just that; learning the process. Some people pick it quicker than other regardless of what you think your skill level is.

This being said, the advise from Don is sound. So whether you have damaged the edge or not from stropping or whether you are just having problems, I am always happy to re-hone the razor. If you send it to me I will be happy to do this and remember you also have an additional free re-honing certificate that came with the razor.

Thanks,

Lynn

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