Hi Everyone,
I’m new to straight razor shaving (about fifteen shaves over the past 30 days) but I’m hooked. I’m using a Dovo 5/8 from thewellshavedgentleman.com. Bought the kit.
My first shave was glorious. I wanted to shave my head when I’d gotten every last whisker off my cheeks, neck, chin and upper lip. Since then I’ve had some rough patches though and I think my stropping technique is to blame, so I’m hoping for a little assistance from you experienced shavers/stroppers/honers. Some days it feels like the blade’s not sharp enough. It pulls quite a bit.
I’ve been stropping on the paddle strop – 25 round trips according to TWSG’s instructions included with the kit and I’m a bit worried that my technique isn’t quite right. Although I’ve watched the videos on the site here and some of Lynn’s video.
After stropping, I can usually shave the fine hairs on the inside of my forearm (can’t remember where I read that was a good test but it seemed reasonable to me although now I have partially-shaven forearms). But I almost never can do the hair test. The blade won’t cut it. It just bends and glides over the edge.
I bought the unpasted paddle thinking that I’d not need to hone the blade for a while (6 months to a year from what I read) and figured it’d be best if I sent it away for that the first time (although, I also bought Lynn’s video and, after watching the honing section hope to pick up an e-bay cheapie to practice honing on).
Anyhow. I don’t know if I should increase the number of strops I do. Is there such a thing as over stropping? I can’t imagine that the blade will need a honing for a long while yet. Could I be wrong about that?
Sorry for the size of this post. I’ve never posted anything on any forum anywhere so I’m a newbie in that sense too. Thanks in advance for your help.