Thread: Things I wish I had known sooner…

Things I wish I had known sooner…

Back in the mid to late 80s, I purchased my first straight razor and started a long painful journey exposing not only my ignorance but a few minor blood vessels too. All I knew at that time about open razors was what I had seen in cowboy movies (remember My Name is Nobody?) and the Three Stooges.

I was flying blind. Deaf and dumb too. That I continued with it should suggest questions regarding my sanity.

So here’s what I had to learn the hard way and what was revealed to me when I stumbled into SRP.

It’s not sharp enough! So, there I had this straight razor in my hand. All new and shiny and the sharpest thing I ever beheld. How was I to know it wasn’t sharp enough to shave with? What a dirty little secret that turned out to be. I have never quite forgiven DOVO for that one.

I knew of no honemiesters (nor the word) to turn to. But I had a whole collection of Arkansas stones and fairly good instincts. I was able to get my razor to the threshold of passing the hanging hair test (I knew of the HHT from Bugs Bunny cartoons).

You can’t sharpen a razor with a strop. See above.

Stropping with out a strop. Enough with the cowboy movies! Your belt, boot, or palm of your hand is not a strop.

Lather from a can? Yeah, I thought the stuff in the aerosol can would work. I mean, how important is lather? How was I to know that the cheapest puck of soap and an old paint brush would be better than the most expensive fluorescent gels? Someday I might be forced to give up my straights (the sanitarium may not allow them) but I’m never going back to the can.

Don’t bear down. When shaving with a blue plastic razor, if you want a closer shave, you press down a little more. So when my DOVO (still not really shave ready) left a great deal of stubble, I tried applying more pressure. Yikes. No, really, I mean, YIKES! Pressing down is still a bad habit I have to watch out for.

Use two hands? When I first saw that video of Lynn shaving (It took about an hour to download to my computer at the time) I saw the true folly of my ways. Stretch the skin! Hard to reach place? Stretch it to someplace more accessible. Stubborn, cross-grained beard? Stretch it! Then switch hands and do the other side of the face. Wow, now I can shave both sides of my face equally close-ish. That Lynn, who would have thought a guy with a mustache knew so much about shaving?

Badgers? I don’t need no steenkin’ badgers. Or so I thought. Are badger brushes that good? Yes. Yes, they are. What makes a good brush is a very subjective thing but for good or bad, badger brushes are very different from the porcine variety (which is still better than a paint brush).

One razor leads to another. The damn things should come with warning labels.

I am the best honemeister. Well, once I obtained the proper tools and spent couple years learning how to use them. No one can hone my razor to please my face as well as I can. Most of the time. Except for that first flippin’ DOVO.

Semper Circa,
LG Roy

This is a great post- one that many of us can identify with or learn from- and was a pleasure to read. Thanks!

Now THAT is a good post. A lot of info there. All newbies should read it.

Great post! Thanks for sharing. Thats really one that new guys should be reading..!

Hello, Library Guy:

A good read. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Regards,
Obie

Thanks for that post, I identified with a lot of it. The same old barber who gave me the tip on shaving in my sig line back in the '80s told me to only hone a razor 4 or 5 strokes with the weight of the blade. Doomed me to failure because I listened to him. He also told me "you can overstrop a razor." At least he was right about how to hold the razor and thank God I found SRP.

Great post! Both informative and entertaining to read. Thanks

Really good post. It's always nice for someone to write from the perspective of a rear view mirror.

It serves the educational purpose of:

1. Letting everyone know that nobody gets to your level without a little pain, suffering and sweat.

2. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm sure you will help inspire some people who are sitting on the fence to either start or stick with it.

Thanks.

David

me and dovo had the same problem tho since i got it worked over on my nortons im starting to forgive

Awesome Post! It's always fun to read about others learning experience, whether past or present.