Thread: My First Straight Razor Shave

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.

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

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.