First Shave and I'm still alive

Thought I'd post some notes about my first shave and solicit some feedback.
I purchased from SRD:
1. Dovo Bismark 6/8 bone
2. SRD Saddle wood soap and a SRD shaving bowl
3. 3" strop
4. Badger brush

The razor came professionally honed and shave ready. I wiped the oil off the blade after unpacking and did about a dozen nice and slow strops, taking my time to do it properly. Took a hot shower while I soaked the brush in hot water and then made up some lather in my bowl when I got out. I'm sure I could improve in the lather dept but whipped up something decent.
I expected the razor to ride smoothly down my face and my biggest fear was slicing myself. The complete opposite was the case. The razor was scraping my face, loudly. It kinda sounded like stropping. It was uncomfortable shaving as it just scrapped my beard and was painful. It felt like I was scraping off a layer of skin.
I lathered up small areas and practiced and I continued to get scraping at different blade angles and a good stretch.
At the end of the shave i didn't notice any removal of hair. I think I have a long road ahead of me. Is the scraping sound and feel normal? The razor was very 'jumpy' as it scraped and fought its way. I just want to make sure I have a good edge and sharp razor, and I know I have my work cut out to get a good shave.
I'll keep trying but I'm a little disappointed.

First shaves with a straight are tough because you don't know if your problems are the result of the edge or your technique. Both can be the case. I'd recommend to find a way to evaluate whether your blade is shave ready, perhaps sending it off to a honemeister for honing. All this takes time and practice. Good luck and be patient. It will eventually come together.

Surviving the first shave is crucial.
Making it to the second and later shaves is just as important.
Quitting is not an option.
Styptic pencil is your friend.
Blood is the speed limit sign on the highway to successful straight shaving.

Concentrate on the easier to shave places like down from the side burns first. Take shorter strokes also. If the blade angle is slightly tilted with toe leading wiskers come off easier. The jumping happened cause you got too gready and the skin was not tight in front of the blade. Don't worry about a real close shave, it wil come in time. Take your time and enjoy your time shaving. It will be worth it and then some if you take your time.

Thanks for the advice. I'm truly humbled that I can't shave my face.
I'm going to trust that the razor is shave ready as I have seen a lot of favorable feedback about the SRD pre-honing. I think someone from this forum helps with the honing?
I'm going to give this some time to learn, and hopefully report back progress.

FWIW --

The Dovo is probably sharp. However:

. . If you stropped it _badly_ before you used it, the edge may be dulled.

I test razors by running them along my arm, as though shaving arm hair, with the edge about 1/8" above the skin. If a razor chops hair that's standing in the air, I'll try shaving with it. This works _for me_, it may not work for you.

Razor angle is important. Too flat, the razor won't cut hair. Too steep (at right angles to the skin), it's very rough. At about 30 degrees off the skin, with very light pressure, you'll get a sound like "buttering toast", and the edge will cut off a layer of beard.

It takes time, time, time to get comfortable with the process, and find a ritual of beard prep, razor prep, and shaving technique, that works _for you_.

Charles

Don't get too frustrated, we have all been there and I am not just saying that. My first few shaves with a straight a few years ago were absolutely horrible! But time, patience and lots of practice paid off. I can shave just as easily with my straights as I can with my safety razors and get equally good shaves with both. Double check your stropping technique, as bad stropping can completely ruin an edge. If it came from SRD, it was honed properly. The person " helping" hone at SRD is Lynn, the man who started this website and is one of the most respected honemeisters out there. Keep at it and don't give up. Many months from now you should be enjoying wonderful, relaxing and impressive shaves with a cut throat razor!

Just a couple things -- even though you showered -- you need a good minute or two of soaking your beard directly with water, hot water is probably best when starting out. Rub it into your face, sort of massage your face with it, then make a nice wet, hot lather and massage that in with your brush.
I would have avoided stropping. When SRD says shave-ready, that's what they mean Now you have a dilemma, did you dull the blade or not? Probably not, but it's tough to be sure when you're starting out. Read the stropping Wiki, and make sure that blade will at least shave arm hairs easily before trying again.
Scraping noises? Sure. All razors sound a little different, some are really loud.
Last -- try to find someone in your area with experience, there's nothing like some hands-on advice and judgement. Put out the call for help in a forum post.
Relax.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stimpy52

I would have avoided stropping.

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My thoughts exactly. I'm going to make sure stropping didn't ruin the edge.

Thanks everyone for the good feedback. I'll report on shave #2 for those interested.

No one was born knowing how to handle a straight razor (except maybe Lynn) and only a relative few of us had the opportunity to see one handled by an old-fashioned expert. You'll end up happier with this if you take this whole process a bit at a time; specifically a bit of your face at a time, progressing when you feel comfortable with what you've done so far.

And....relax. If you're tense, unsure, and a bit jittery, it's going to be a long haul. Remember to breathe.

First off... WELCOME! I thanked you in your first post in this thread as it took guts to tell your story to the world and I know the "skipping" part. I have bought a few razors at a local antique store, and worked on them and with them. The first one I tried I called "Skippy", and had to pick another name since the others were about at jumpy as it was. LOL I bought a Dovo 6/8 from the Straight Razor Design and have visited with Lynn about shaving. He has honed over 30,000 razors in his experience, so what you have from SRD was well honed. His finding is that there are around 1 in every 9,000 razors that come from the factory that are really ready to shave with. Economics of the cost of man hours involved in honing and stropping the razor and testing just are out of the reach of any profits. "THEY" do it as a service to YOU more than trying to make a profit. If you think your sharp Dovo was hard to try to use, you would have a real interesting time with something not ready.

Look down the razors edge, holding it up, with some good overhead light. Can you see an edge? It will look very much like a tiny shiny spot along the blade where some of the blade simpy dissappears. You can't see a shave ready edge on a razor, but you can see the edge on one that is not ready. Look at this video to see what I mean.
YouTube - Straight Razor Sharp Tests

Stropping on leather and lifting up the razor, like an airplane wing, where the back or spine goes up first and the shaving edge is still contacting the leather, will put undue stress on the edge of the razor and can sometimes roll the edge over a bit. Always rotate the razor on it's spine(back) to change directions in stropping. (And this from a newbie only 3 weeks into it.)

You should have seen the blood trickle down my face on my first try. Almost looked like I shaved with a weed-eater. 3rd shave and I only had one little nick.. It's me and not the razor.

I did find a straight razor at a local antique store for very cheap and dulled it down and use it as my practice razor. It gives me an idea on technique, hold, trying holds, adjusting, etc with my face and lather without much great worry on nicks and cuts. Some hold to the "practice dry fire", and some do not, it did work for me, just saying.

Watch some videos on youtube of folks shaving with a straight razor, and save them to your computer so you can watch them again.

Cool video. Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by barko78

Thought I'd post some notes about my first shave and solicit some feedback.
I purchased from SRD:
1. Dovo Bismark 6/8 bone
2. SRD Saddle wood soap and a SRD shaving bowl
3. 3" strop
4. Badger brush

The razor came professionally honed and shave ready. I wiped the oil off the blade after unpacking and did about a dozen nice and slow strops, taking my time to do it properly. Took a hot shower while I soaked the brush in hot water and then made up some lather in my bowl when I got out. I'm sure I could improve in the lather dept but whipped up something decent.
I expected the razor to ride smoothly down my face and my biggest fear was slicing myself. The complete opposite was the case. The razor was scraping my face, loudly. It kinda sounded like stropping. It was uncomfortable shaving as it just scrapped my beard and was painful. It felt like I was scraping off a layer of skin.
I lathered up small areas and practiced and I continued to get scraping at different blade angles and a good stretch.
At the end of the shave i didn't notice any removal of hair. I think I have a long road ahead of me. Is the scraping sound and feel normal? The razor was very 'jumpy' as it scraped and fought its way. I just want to make sure I have a good edge and sharp razor, and I know I have my work cut out to get a good shave.
I'll keep trying but I'm a little disappointed.

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My non professional (im still a newbie like yourself, only 4 shaves in). but if its scraping along your skin and juddering i would guess as others have your shave angle is tool high, place the blade against your skin then raise the spine of it about 1cm off your skin then try that.

i cant offer much more help than that as i still find myself doing this every now and then and have to stop, think and try again :D

good luck and welcome to the club.

kris

With only one shave under my belt, and that with a razor I'd honed with no prior experience, I don't have a lot of authority on this. However, I wanted to avoid cutting myself, so I kept the blade very close to my face with the spine nearly touching. I had the same problems you described. So I began to lift the spine away from my cheek and then the razor began to cut properly. It still wasn't perfect as my razor wasn't perfectly honed, but it did a pretty decent job for my first shave. I had read so much here on SRP about guys holding the spine too far out, AKA having too much angle that I made the opposite error.

Good luck!

Going with a lower angle, especially ATG, is always safer. If you find that you aren't cutting whiskers, you can always bring the spine up. I've had the experience of having the spine too low, then raising it a bit and hearing that "spreading butter on toast" sound. It's better to find that "comfort zone" from the low side than from the high side, trust me on that.

Remember, you may have been shaving for years, but you're now learning to do it in an entirely new way. It's almost like learning to shave all over again. It's easy to get disappointed in your efforts when you read of others' successes. I've said this before, this WILL get better. Read, practice, and ask lots of questions here. One day, you'll complete a shave and realize not only did you not cause significant damage to your face, but you got a pretty decent shave in the process. I've been at this 3 months and am just now getting consistently smooth shaves.

Thanks for all the good advice. I'm a patient person and I know this will take a while.

Tonight I actually had a really nice shave. My goal was to just do the sides of my face and that went really well. For the first time hair was actually removed from my face. I got excited so I did my neck (WTG and ATG), upper and lower lip. I needed my Mach 3 to touch up a little at the end but I really surprised myself. I have a nice and smooth shave for the first time. I did two things different in case anyone wants to know:

I figured I screwed up my shave ready razor with bad stropping so I practiced that. I discovered that by using the canvas part of my strop for about 30 passes as a coarse run, then doing about 30 passes on the leather, my blade was in really good shape. I improved on the strop and now the razor cuts my beard.

I also spent a lot of time stretching as I shaved. I'm not used to this. By always getting a good stretch I got results.

The shave was kinda messy. I only lathered section by section and did two ATG passes on my neck. But I was able to match my Mach 3. Burts Bees aftershave balm and a dash of D.R. Saddlewood and my face doesn't burn too much. I wish I grew a faster beard so I can do this again. Thanks for all the great input. Cheers.

Well, I'm not as new as others, but not an old hat either. I had similar problems when first starting. For me, the biggest improvement came when I really focused on stretching. I think for a five percent improvement in stretghing you get a 15% improvement in shave quality.

Also, you have to think of the angle of the EDGE relative to the point where the blade is making contact with the skin. There are points on my neck where the spine has to almost make contact the skin in order for the edge to be at the right angle.

The latest improvement came for me when I learned to slice the whiskers off. Some call this an advanced technique, but for some it may be the only way to a close shave with no burn. Especially for those of us whose growth is thick and course enough to need a shave every single day. It's less damaging to the edge and, after a few tries, not that hard to put into action. I'm not an expert, but I'm getting better at it. It's just scary for a little while...longer.

--David

Quote:

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Originally Posted by barko78

I also spent a lot of time stretching as I shaved. I'm not used to this. By always getting a good stretch I got results.

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We must have been posting at the same time. I see you figured out my first tip. Keep pressing on. You WILL get this.

--David

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ace

Going with a lower angle, especially ATG, is always safer. If you find that you aren't cutting whiskers, you can always bring the spine up. I've had the experience of having the spine too low, then raising it a bit and hearing that "spreading butter on toast" sound. It's better to find that "comfort zone" from the low side than from the high side, trust me on that.

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+1 on that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by raneyday

The latest improvement came for me when I learned to slice the whiskers off. Some call this an advanced technique,

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Any advice on how to learn slicing? Or does it just come with good form and experience?

Thanks for the advice.

If you did strop incorrectly you only jumped the boat by 1 shave, did you change you technique the second time you stropped? Probably not. I'm a newbie and I definitely haven't developed technique, So I wouldn't worry about that.

Many people seem to press too hard on their first shave, is it possible that you weren't use enough pressure on your first shave? I have been very lucky compared to some newbies who post, all the pieces seem to have fallen in place, but for a short while I did have trouble with my chin, and I seemed to have the same problem you did, it was tugging. I learned quickly that I simply wasn't applying enough pressure.

Welcome, I nicked up my first strop so bad that I thought I would never get it. Now after 50 or so shaves I'm just starting to get the hang of it. I agree with other posters about preparing your face. I have tried to get a couple of shaves in without proper prep and it went all wrong. I first fill the sink basin with really hot water (I turned up the thermostat on my hot water heater) I drop in the brush and a towel. Then to the shower, I put on a little pre shave (lotion or anything that softens the whiskers) then shower. Jump out use the hot towel on the face, dunk it two more times, lather than shave. When I do proper face prep I always get a good shave, lately I've been getting great shaves. Hang in there, it only gets better.