Thread: Newbie with a question on Shave Ready?

Recently I decided to try straight razor shaving after shaving with a DE razor for a little while. So I went onto Ebay and found a seller who stated that his razors come shave ready. After winning the auction and receiving the razor I was pretty excited. This being my first razor, I didn't know how the edge should feel other than really sharp. So I stropped it and shaved with it and it felt pretty good! Then for my next shave I had two days worth of stubble, and the razor felt like it was pulling my hair out versus cutting it. So what I'm wondering is if this razor is truly shave ready or just somewhat sharp. I just sent two razors to a fellow SRP member (undream) and when I get them back I will compare the difference, but until I get them back I don't know what to compare them to. I think I should have spent more money and bought a razor off of the SRP classifieds. I'm hoping that not all straight shaving is going to feel like this. Thanks in advance to all who reply and give advice!

well if your frist shave went well the razor is more than likely sharp.all sorts of things come into play here face prep, stroping, angle exc.getting a razor honed by one of our vendors was a good idea most have there honing skills down pat.i too bought a razor shave ready from ebay and it didnt go so well and like you i then got one honed by lynn to compair it.i trusted lynns honing skills and all went well after many more razors were added ( bad case of rad) i went back to that ebay razor and found it was very shave ready.its common to blame the razor when starting out i found. read wiki and watch all the videos.and go slow. when it all comes togeather sharp well stroped razor, good face prep .great lather, proper angle and pressure, it feels like your not doing anything to your beard just wipeing the lather off it.hope this helps

Could be you rolled the edge through improper stropping. Could be that you need to work on technique. Hard to say. See what they are like when you get them back from Brad. I've been messing with this for a pretty good while and still improving my technique. Noticeably improving, not even subtly. So it ain't rocket science but there is more to it than scraping the lather off of our faces. Stick with it and you'll get the hang of it.

Impossible to say. A good shave needs both technique, prep and a sharp enough razor. Even shave-ready blade doesn't shave properly with bad prep and wrong technique. Unfortunately when you bought the blade from ebay, you didn't get the certainty of the razor, so you don't know why the shave failed. Try again with Undream's razors. And don't strop it before shave so you'll get at least one shave with a known good blade before you expose it to your stropping.

But if you spent less than in classifieds, you probably didn't get a shave-ready blade.

This is exactly why more experienced members suggest new members to buy from a reputable source. This applies to both razors and strops.

Gotta agree with the other guys. It's hard to tell what's going on...especially when it comes to ebay razors. Just because the listing says that it's shave ready doesn't mean that it really is. For goodness sakes, even the guys selling that Paki junk are using 'shave ready' in their auctions.

It will take some time for your technique and ability to strop the blade come together for a great shave. Keep trying, it is worth it. Also, keep asking questions, the senior members here will get you to the other side (a great shave).

Cheers!!

Originally Posted by Milkylee

Then for my next shave I had two days worth of stubble, and the razor felt like it was pulling my hair out versus cutting it. So what I'm wondering is if this razor is truly shave ready or just somewhat sharp.

FWIW, my stubble is hard as a wire brush. If I shave every day, I'm good to go. If I wait two days between shaving, my two-day stubble noticeably pulls more. In my case, it ain't the razor; it's my beard. Apparently the flexing of a longer stubble gives me the sensation of more pulling which isn't there when shaving off a shorter stubble.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Thanks for all the great advice! I have been using a couple vintage strops that are pretty used and have some nicks that I also got off ebay. So after your guys' advice about reputable sources, I ordered a Filly Strop this morning! Hope that will better my stropping technique. In all honesty my face prep wasn't all that great before I shaved either. I'll definitely keep working on all aspects of my shaving game. Thanks again

Also I think I'll stay away from ebay for awhile!

as a general rule, avoid ebay at all costs when you are starting out. Lots of the auctions will say 'shave ready' but will be dull as a butter knife. Its really hard to find a reliable, good quality razor unless you have tons of experience in weeding out the bad ones.
if you are looking for good quality blades, check out the classified section on this site. almost all of them are shave ready and are honed by reliable people. They even have great honing services available in the classified section for very reasonable prices.
good luck.