Thread: First Straight Shave..Great Success

After weeks of research/shopping, my very first straight razor finally arrived today. I unpacked it and found just a simple tiny box marked Dovo Solingen, no fancy packaging, just a plastic black box with my model 5/8 "Special" Tortoise honed by a really nice fella I met on badgerandblade forums. I got so giddy and immediately stripped all my clothing and hopped into a hot shower. Immediately after stepping out of the shower I had already set up my razor on a towel, cream, shaving bowl, badger brush and aftershave cream. I wanted to get in and get out, black ops style while my adrenaline was still pumping.

Building a lather was easy peezy, a short soak of my badger brush in hot water, let it drip/shake it off a bit, and swirl a few seconds in my Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood shaving cream to get the center soaped up, and to the shaving bowl it went for swirling action to build a lather. This took all but 20-30 seconds and I began to lather up my face with a nice thick coat. The Taylor cream was pretty wood/leathery/waxy smelling and stayed moist on my face without drying too quickly, but I wasn't taking any risks and continued to appy more to keep from getting nicked.


This was it.. I picked up the razor in my left hand, lifted the scales up, had my pinky on the tang, thumb and two fingers on the blade and took my first swipe... WTF.. nothing happened, I just scraped off the shaving cream from my sideburn down my cheek but the hair was still there.. I try to stay calm and figure out what was the issue.. angle! I was holding it basically perpendicular to my face and the edge was not "catching". I quickly changed to a nice steep angle, about 30 degrees and shwooop, there goes the hair. For the remainder of the shave I used the towel to wipe my cream/hair onto rather than soaking the blade/pivot in water (trying to avoid rusting the little crevices). I can feel the scraping action but at the same time I noticed a little resistance/tugging, so the razor was not at it's absolute best. Either way I stuck with it, down the cheek, then down the neck.. other side, down the cheek down the neck..now the mustache going down (was warned not to go up otherwise you are in for some blood if inexperienced), now the chin.. this was the toughest part to shave, I had to keep re-lathering my chin probably 10 times to get all the little hairs underneath which seem to grow at all different angles. Once again I make a "WTG" with the grain pass down the chin, I hesitate for a fraction of a second and instead of just moving the razor across my skin I leave it hanging and a TINY nick occurs, fraction of a second of pink/red shows up and immediately is gone (it was very light).


Next pass is against the grain, I felt a tiny bit of stinging so I decided to skip phase 2 of "XTG" across the grain. Up now beginning at the neck, both sides done, now the cheeks I pull up on my skin near my ears/eyes stretching out a nice path for the razor to glide up. This is where I got my baby bottom smoothness, against the grain on the cheeks and it feels GREAT!


Well the hardest part is now over.. I notice my side burns are uneven so I grab the gillette from the cabinet and do a few swipes and wash my face with cold water. A very light patting with a towel and I reach for the Proraso Pre/Post shave cream. This is a product that was heavily recommended as a very refreshing eucalyptus/oil italian barbers traditional scent. A dab of the dense cream in my hands, and onto the face it goes.. wow what a cooling and enjoyable sensation.. like putting an ice pack that smells like the forest on your face. A very nice cream and only a tiny amount was needed to cover the whole face.. I picture this little jar lasting a long time. The Proraso cooled my face for about 8-9 minutes and as I write this review, I touch my face and it is damn soft and smooth, not a perfect BBS shave on the mustache/chin, but I am super happy with how it turned out given it was my first go. Zero burn/irritation and a huge success in my opinion.

Now on to something where I can use the input of you experts. At the moment all I have is this strop loaded with black and green bark river compound: http://www.knivesshipfree.com/produc...oducts_id=6348
I do not have a blank/plain razor strop at the moment and first wanted to ask you folks if the green compound side strop will be good enough? If not what is the most affordable option I should look at? Should I try stropping with my green compound before the next shave, I think it is estimated at 1-3.5 micron.. Overall I am very happy with shaving with a straight, I'm sure with a little tweaking and proper stropping it can be even better

Congrats! Sounds like a great first time out.

Now to your strop. For your subsequent shaves you want to use clean leather and possibly a material component (linen, canvas, nylon webbing, etc) beforehand, but they should both be unpasted. Pasted strops are for touch ups only - when your razor starts to tug or shave uncomfortably a few laps on the pasted strop should get her back into shaving action.

Eney, congrats from a fellow newb! Nice write-up & nice blade choice.