Thread: I finally done it at last!

Hi guys, just a big thank you to all at SRP for the help and advise that I've recieved in the art of straight razor shaving. I've been trying to use a straight on and off for about a year now with varying results. Allthough I've been able to shave with one, My face has usually been red with major razor burn which took days to calm down, so I mostly went back to my safety for My skins sake! But today I had another crack at shaving with a straight and the results were fantastic! I had absolutely none of the dreaded razor burn, and was able to shave all of my face including the tricky part of my chin I usually left for the safety.
I was generally getting discouraged with being unable to keep the edge of my dovo keen enough to give a smooth clean shave, upto the point I had considered waving the white flag of surrender and giving the thing away! I had tried everything stropping, honing, crying, but I couldn't get that final piece to fit into place untill today. Going off the infomation off wiki and what other members had shared on the forum I bought a leather and canvas strop which arrived this morning and a couple of hundred laps later Presto!It was the best shave I have ever had!
I just wanted to share this great feeling with everyone and say thankyou for all the infomation which has been a great help and stopped me from giving up, if I can do it anyone can! Thanks!

Congrats!

Once I got the hang of stropping I was pretty much blown away how much it impacts the sharpness of your razor.

Well done, Kenneth!

Keep practicing, and pretty soon you'll be giving away your safety razor instead of your cutthroat

Originally Posted by Blix

Congrats!

Once I got the hang of stropping I was pretty much blown away how much it impacts the sharpness of your razor.

So very much agreed, I think I'm just realising that now after four weeks...it really is THE difference, isn't it? (along with all the other prep...)...

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

So very much agreed, I think I'm just realising that now after four weeks...it really is THE difference, isn't it? (along with all the other prep...)...

Yeah, it really is, now I understand why a good quality strop is worth it's weight in gold!

It's great when everything falls into place, isn't it?

Keep it going, things will just get better!

Great going Kenneth, once you get the BBS shaves going, there is no going back.

Pabster

Congratulations on your success! But it's the failures that intrigue me:

. . . I had tried everything stropping, honing, crying, but I couldn't get that final piece to fit into place untill today. Going off the infomation off wiki and what other members had shared on the forum I bought a leather and canvas strop which arrived this morning and a couple of hundred laps later Presto!It was the best shave I have ever had! . . .

What kind of strop were you using before, and how many laps were you giving the razor between shaves?

Charles

Hi Charles, I was using a small leather hanging strop which needed an x stroke to cover the whole edge of the razor. I am quite new to straight razor shaving so I think the problem for me was trying to keep the blade flat on the strop when using the x stroke and using a little too much pressure! I was giving the razor about 100 laps but I always seemed to dull the edge rather than improve it. My new strop is a lot wider and covers the whole blade which feels better and makes it a little easier to keep the blade flat using a very light touch. Kind regards, Kenny.

Originally Posted by kenneth

Hi Charles, I was using a small leather hanging strop which needed an x stroke to cover the whole edge of the razor. I am quite new to straight razor shaving so I think the problem for me was trying to keep the blade flat on the strop when using the x stroke and using a little too much pressure! I was giving the razor about 100 laps but I always seemed to dull the edge rather than improve it. My new strop is a lot wider and covers the whole blade which feels better and makes it a little easier to keep the blade flat using a very light touch. Kind regards, Kenny.

Hi Kenneth,
I used to use an X stroke (when I started 6 weeks ago) with my narrow Dovo strop, but have now changed to keeping the edge of the blade perpendicular (at right angles to) to the edge of the strop. I essentially do one end of the blade at a time; heel end in contact, flip, heel end in contact, flip, toe end in contact, flip, toe end in contact, flip, etc. I need to borrow my grandson's USB microscope to be sure, but I feel that IF stropping DOES align and smooth the tiny 'teeth' on the edge, then one would suspect that aligning them so they're perpendicular to the edge rather than at a diagonal angle to the edge would be the aim (maybe). I'm thinking an X stroke would generate diagonal, not perpendicular teeth. Anyway, I DO find this works for me, and like everything else, it's not what people SAY that is important, it's what WORKS. I've read numerous articles on shaving cream softening the beard, for instance, yet an article in on old book on shaving (in a link here somewhere) says the function of soap is to stiffen the beard, allowing it to stand up and be cut by the blade. Again, who cares, (though it IS interesting in a science kind of way), main thing is we all know soap, cream (and esp. Überlather) WORK! HOW they work is essentially immaterial. I remember having this argument when I was a soldier in the Aust army, training new soldiers on a Surface to Air Missile System. How the thing works is important for fault finding, but who cares how many pulses per second at whatever frequency the radar works at? Who cares really that the muzzle velocity of an SLR is 823 M/sec, all you need to know is that it's really, fast and leaves a really, big hole in the 'enemy'.

PS, I may have gone way off the OP Post here, and may have made some silly newbie statements, so feel free anyone to correct me!