Thread: getting that close shave

yes I have watched videos and read up online. Just had my morning shaveand under the chin is lovely and smooth ( no irritation either)

So thats good, just avoiding the chin at the moment since I cut it open the other day (nice big bugger too) just leaving it to heal.

I have contacted a few people around here that will be willing to try and get a good edge despite as they put it, been an inferior product. this makes me wanna get a new one, maybe a dojo.

And just practice honing on this inferior blade

also my strop seems "different" I dont know what it is. there are or seem to be 4 layers?

Black fabric.this is soft and almost velcro like maybe felt?

Black leather. this is "leather textured"

Brown fabric.this feels like hairy leather for lack of a description

Brown leather. this is textured and dimpled.


I have been using my all leather strop as I cant figure out what the different sides of this one actually are.

any help here would be great, otherwise ill just chuck this one in my cupboard and use the cheaper one that came with the blade lol

I am thinking of maybe investing in this

https://www.gents.co.uk/dovo-straigh...black-cellidor

i knew i shouldnt have spent 9 pound on one.....

Not sure about the UK vendors but make sure if you do buy a straight that it is actually shave ready. From the description it sounds like they are as is from the factory which usually isn't as sharp as one would hope

In the UK the invisible edge has good reviews from site members for truly shave ready razors. The link sounds like the factory edge which won't be shave ready so I would could them out if that's what they recommending

After a quick search, it appears that The Invisible Edge does provide a truly share ready edge with any straight they sell, they also carry the Dovo you linked.

Yes I came across this after posting the link. They hand finish all there razors and to me my razor is just cheap I knew that when I bought it but was only intended to get me used to shaving with straights. But as many have said, learning is best do e with the right tool from the start not some inferior product. So my plan is to upgrade and get a new strop as the one I have just doesn't feel right in my hand I'd prefer the d ring type and just use current strops and hones and blade for practising my stroking and maybe even honing (not expecting much here) but as I used to work in the kitchen industry a daily part of my job was honing knives and scissors so I have something going for me hehe

If you want to try honing check out the YouTube videos by Lynn Abrams and Gssixgun. Both very helpful and will give a good overview of what is needed. Pressure is the part that cant be well communicated and practice is the real teacher. Just don't play with you pro honed blade till you are truly sure of your abilities

Hi Dan,
I hope.you didn't take my last post as a glib comment, I was probably a bit rushed for time. It seems to generally take around 100 shaves to get reasonably good at the skills required, so 1 month is about 1/3 of the way there. Once you have a good grasp of what you are doing it may be easier to narrow down what is going not so well.
I spent about 3 months getting to grips with what I needed to do, then PM'd a mentor to narrow down my issues.
I don't know many UK members but it might be worth trying to contact celticcrusader (Jamie) who is based in Wales and having a chat to him about what you are looking for.

Thanks for the advice. No offence taken to your comments mate.