Thread: My First Straight Shave

Congrats on your first shave. Go slowly and with full attention to the task at hand. You will be rewarded soon enough with the best shaves of your life and a sense of accomplishment at mastering something not many people do anymore.

Two weeks in and the straight razor experiment is going very well. The damage I did on my first shave served as an excellent cautionary tale and I've managed to avoid any other real issues since, maybe a little insignificant razor burn and a definite lack of blood loss.

At this point I'm shaving my entire face (I've had a Van Dyke or a beard for twenty years now so "entire face" is a relative term) WTG and following up with a XTG cartridge pass on my cheeks and an ATG on the neck. At this point I'm normally getting very comfortable shaves and my cheeks are probably the cleanest they have been since before puberty. Currently my biggest challenge is changing my normal morning routine to an evening shave so that I'm not stumbling around the bathroom at 5 am while trying to drag a piece of rather sharp steel across my face.

The only real qualm I've had is wondering if my blade could use a visit to a honemeister. It was purchased 'shave ready' and while I don't really have any complaints it seems like it should be a touch sharper. I have already take a chance on two more Shumate razors purchased from ebay and I'll be sending them off here in the next few weeks to compare. At this point I'm heeding the community's advice and putting off learning the fine art of honing until I've got several months of shaving under my belt.

Where did you buy the razor? Some online stores do hone their razors before shipping them out. That could tell us whether it's really shave ready or not.

The razor was purchased here from the classifieds. I can certainly shave with the razor and have no complaints with the seller's claim (in deference to the seller I will not disclose their identity.) My issue really stems from inexperience.

I've read posts by more than a few members around here that 'shave ready' is always a subjective term and that many experienced shavers have had razors honed and were not really satisfied with the service that was provided, even when that person was experienced. Add to that my own inexperience in stropping and it is entirely possible that I've damaged a perfectly good edge that was provided to me by the seller.

I guess that what I'm really saying is that while I am fairly happy with the results I am getting I feel as if my blade should be a touch sharper and would like to try a truly "shave ready" razor. As an afterthought, I'm happy enough with my attempts that it might be worthwhile to invest in a new Aust or Dovo from SRD and make the comparison in that fashion.

Suggestions?

It isn't uncommon for someone new to straight shaving to damage their razor, either through poor technique or poor stropping.

Too much pressure, wrong angle or a poor lather can all make a razor feel less sharp. If you really want to try a fresh edge, however, you couldn't go wrong by either buying a new razor from srd or sending yours in to be honed. It costs $25 plus return postage

Originally Posted by KenWeir

Too much pressure, wrong angle or a poor lather can all make a razor feel less sharp. If you really want to try a fresh edge, however, you couldn't go wrong by either buying a new razor from srd or sending yours in to be honed. It costs $25 plus return postage

or contact Lynn hes just up the road from you and hes always ready to help Tc

Lol, I didn't realize they were both st.l area

Let me start by saying that, after reading my post, the gentleman from whom I purchased my Shumate has offered to sharpen it again for me. For this and so many other reasons I can only praise this community.

At this point I'm going to send the other razors I've acquired off to be honed and made shave ready. (Hopefully I've learned enough that my eBay purchases aren't wasted money.) Due to proximity and the community's praise of Lynn's work I'll be getting those off to him the near future. At this point I'm going to keep using the razor I have, all the better to ascertain my inadequacies.

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