Thread: thoughts for newbie shaving sucess

I use both sides of the strop every time I shave. I strop the razor about 50 times on the linen side then the same number on the leather side. My razors stay shave ready for months before they need to be honed. A few strokes on a fine hone followed by a few strokes on the linen side of a strop rubbed with green paste does the trick when my razors begin to shave poorly.

Just got my Dovo in from str8razordesign and it says it is shave ready and has been sharpened....Im excited...

Originally Posted by clarman

I read post after post from novice shavers who are starting to shave with str8s...for the most part it seems their initial experience is less than gratifying...The shave is not close and in many cases unpleasant and bloody...so what do they do? after reading the forum posts, they buy a norton stone or buy paste to apply to a strop which should be applied to a paddle and work the razor to death...In my opinion this is not the road to sucess! A new shaver needs to learn and master the basics of stroping and shaving with the str8...He needs to purchase a shave ready str8 from a proven honer such as lynn...he needs to start out with a blade he can handle such as a 5/8 blade...by doing this, the new shaver will learn what a sharp blade is...the newbie should refrain from honing or sharpening with paste as improper technique will destroy whatever edge the honemeister has put on the razor and then its back to square one...I know everyone on this forum wants to see newbies...learn and enjoy the pleasures of str8 shaving...hopefully my thoughts will save the new shaver a lot of... pain and frustration

I put this post in the newbie section yesterday. Does anyone have any advice for the below:

Hi,

I'm Brett. I have been getting my haircuts with straight razors around the ears for years by my barbers. I'm in the military and need to keep short haircuts and have found this most cost effective.

Recently I switched barbers do to driving time. My new barber pressured me to try a face shave after a long weekend. After the first one, I was hooked. The next two haircuts I had the barber shave my face as well.

Of course, this led me down the path of.......how can I do this myself. My new barber (a Russian immigrant) (who seem to be the only barbers in Phoenix who use straight razors) offered to sell me one. They use the ones that take disposable blades. I bought one from him and went to Walgreens and bought the blades. I cut myself pretty bad the first few uses and progressively got better.

This led me down the path of internet research and I found a 5 piece set at nashville knife that featured a Dovo 5/8 razor, strop, a cake of soap, badger brush and stand. I bought it and selected the pre-honed by Lynn Abrams version.

While I waited for delivery, I bought Lynn's world of straight shaving dvd and realized it was a lot more complicated than I thought. I youtubed videos and tried to prepare for my first true straight razor shave.

I received my set and set to shaving the next day. I tried stropping as I had seen on the internet and Lynn's video. I of course screwed up once and flipped the wrong way and cut into my strop. I didn't get a good shave and figure this must be why.

I tried again the following night and managed not to cut myself but still didn't achieve the close shave like my barber and I had to go over it with my old gillete sensor.

I did more research and think I might have screwed up the blade. It does not pass the hair pop test from my wifes hair brush. I am going to try to strop on the canvas side tonight and then leather and see if it helps but I'm afraid I'm going ot have to send it in for re-honing after just 4 uses.

Last time it dragged across my face. I addes some water to the lather thinking that might be the problem but it just made the razor glide OVER the beard. I found that increasing my angle helped but still didn't get as close as a disposable blade and I know that isn't how it should work.


Any advice? Do I just need to strop more or should I send it back to Lynn?

As a guy that likes to take old stuff and make it work. I have acquired several straight razors for a few dollars or they were given to me. Some I believe to be sharp but I really don't know. they shave the beard and comfortable. However I have ralized the iimportance of keeping the face well lathered and keeping the skin taught. I have slacked and gotten ****y and went fast and put a nice inch long slice in my cheek.
I do the thumb nail test on the razor. and it feels sharp. it slides across the nail and doesn't tug. But they still don't cut a piece of my wifes hair.
The best shaving razor I have it a Henckles 5/8 round point.
Also, sometimes mid shave or between shaving my face I strop before shaving my head, is it normal to have to restrop during the shave?

Any suggestions?

Thnak you,
Dale.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Well I'd like to put a monkey wrench into this discussion and maybe play devil's advocate but think about it, we all have to start somewhere and universally we buy the razor and the soap then the brush then the strop and then duh how do I sharpen this thing or keep it sharp or isn't it shave ready when I buy it or well I'll send it to lynn for sharpening and then what as it becomes dull?

Don't we all approach this thing from a backwards approach? Isn't honing one of the (if not the) most important and difficult things to master?

Maybe, just maybe we should worry about mastering honing before we think about actually using a straight. maybe we should recommend that newbees get an eboy special and a hone and go at it until they master the skill and then buy the real razor and all the other paraphanelia.

What do you all think about that eh?

Amen to that. I think it makes perfect sense...one needs to minimize the variables (stick to one shave ready razor, one brush, one creme, one method, etc...) to maximize progress. As suggested, if one wishes to try honing and other techniques, one should get an eBay razor and go at it his heart's content until one gets it right.

-Robert

I think in this day and age, where A) the father is not teaching the son the art of straight shaving, and B) a man will prefer a quality shave over a nostalgic shave, that sending a razor off to be honed professionally is a smart idea.

A razor with bad edge simply cannot be used to shave. So learning to shave, and appreciate what a sharp edge can give, can motivate someone to stick with it through the learning curve. If learning to use a straight involved fumbling through carving up one's face for a few months, then very few men would stick with it.

Originally Posted by rgsccr

I live in Seattle - can anyone refer me to someone who can hone my razor?

i'm from the seattle area, and new to the straight razor world too.

after using a store bought razor (which I was told was 'shave ready') for a few months and having less than optimal results, i decided to send it to lynn and having it really sharpened.

we'll see how much better the shaving is when it comes back.