My First Straight Razor Shave

[jhenry]

Well, after several false starts over the holiday weekend I took the plunge late this morning--after watching "The Shave" section of Lynn's dvd, "World of Straight Razor Shaving" numerous times since Christmas day--and began to enter, ever so slightly, into the world of straight razor shaving.

Before doing so, however, I secured my strop approx. waist high to a rustic wooden post which decorates the Master bedroom of my house, which was installed by the previous owner. Thanks previous owner. He must have known I would need it one day.

After slowly stropping my Dovo "Black Star" Red Pakkawood razor about 20-25 times--followed by a hot shower to soften my beard--I applied pre-shave cream, followed by a hot towel and warm lather. Next, as Lynn suggested in his dvd I started out slowly, only shaving the right side of my face close to the sideburns. Holding the razor at about a 30 degree angle, I accomplished this feat without any nicks.

Then I got ****y, thinking, "This is easy." I ventured to shave the right side of my neck. This worked pretty well too, but not without two very small nicks on my neck. I think the problem was that I didn't sufficiently tighten the skin around my neck. I'll do better on my neck next time.

All in all, however, it was a relaxing and enjoyable experience.

Thanks to all, and especially Lynn Abrams, at SRD for giving me the information and confidence to venture into the world of straight razor shaving.

[ben.mid]

Congratulations! Sounds like a good start in all.
Personally, I tend to strop more. 20-30 on the linen, then 30-40 on the leather, but others strop both more & less. If you are taking them slow till you build up muscle memory, it might be worth trying a few extra. They're considered to be more effective when done quickly, so a few more would compensate

[red96ta]

Glad you liked it...I remember cutting myself every time I shaved for the first couple weeks or so and then it began to taper off until I no longer (knock on wood) nick myself whilst shaving.