Thread: First Shave

Hello everyone,

I been wanting to use a straight razor for awhile, finally decided to make the leap.
I never used DE, shavette, jumped from cartridge to SR
I purchased the Dovo best quality 6/8 half hollow following the advice on SRP, pre-honed, and a bunch of castle forbes products
The shave went relatively smooth for a first time, i left the chin area as suggested by the "first shave" article. no nicks or cuts so far

Only problem i had is i attempted a light strop after the shave, however, i believe i rolled the tip of the blade a little
(now when i strop on one side, it leaves a slight drag mark on the strop, and a little bit of the blackleather stayed on the blade)
What can i do to rectify this mistake? I would really appreciate some comments on this

Thanks for all SRP's helpful wikis that made my first shave as pleasant as it could've been.

Best,
Newbie

First of all, Bravo for taking the leap. From the sounds of it, you did an awful lot right.

Stropping didn't come easily for me. I think some strops survived - just so they could get revenge. I've shaved w/ that Dovo, and if it came from SRD, you had a fine edge. If it is now rolled, you'll need to send it out for a touch-up/re-honing. This is when its handy to have at least a 2nd blade so you're still in business while one is out being honed.

The finest thread I've seen on stropping is Glen's 3/11 beginner's tips thread. Its one I keep marked - just for this occasion

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ch-2011-a.html

Be sure to watch Al's vids, linked in the thread, and now on also on the SRP home page.

If the shave has gone this well so far, I can't see it getting anything but better. Nicely done.

Originally Posted by fatPplLagIRL

i left the chin area as suggested

I think this is how the goatee was invented. Lol, couldn't help myself. Great job on the first shave, unfortunately touch up on the hones does sound in order.

bummer, I was hoping stropping might be able to fix the issue.
Can't believe i messed up the blade to a point that it needs re-honing already on my first strop!
I guess I will order another blade, and practice honing/stroping with this one

It happens. Do some reading in the Wiki, watch some videos on stropping. You'll get there, but it does take some time. Good luck!

Hi, I think all of us have destroyed our first strop at least to a certain point. I put a small nic on my strop the first time I tried to strop. Please watch the videos on stropping and also listen to the two audio files about the correct sound of stropping. It takes a little while to get good at it. I am still not very good at it although I have stropped razors more than 50 times. I just try to do a consistent stropping.
If your strop is new, it is probably not broken in yet. In most strops, you will see multiple wear lines (I am not talking of cuts or nics). If you see this, just relax and finish your stropping. Once you are done stropping, rub your hand across the strop. This usually helps break the strop in and fixes many of those lines.
Good luck

Two days and two shaves later, I got one nick yesterday from shaving my upper lip. my hands were a little shaky yesterday, dunno why, should've probably stopped in the beginning.
Today's shave is very pleasant, the slighty rolled edge didn't hinder the performance of the blade, though eventually, i have to get it fixed, because right now, I avoid about 1/5 of the front of the blade when stropping.
I can go WTG and ATG now. and most parts of my face are smooth, except the area right under my chin.
I still need to work on establishing a systematic approach, right now i'm not shaving any part of my face in any particular order and I'm still using my dominant hand mostly.

I will need to pick up another shaving cream (castle forbes?), since currently I don't have a comparison for the Vintage Blade triple milled soaps. Not quite sure where it stands on the comfort chart. The bubbles disappears rather quickly.

My face has a slight irritation after the shave, the problem is , Even after I apply the Castle Forbes after shave (lime), my face still feels really dry, so I have to apply some japanese moisturizer that I use daily to remove that sensation. Which I think is a little odd considering the after-shave should provide the same effect. Could you guys please suggest a more moisturizing after-shave product than the castle forbes one? (trumpers?)


Sincere thanks to all of you who have replied and offered advices.

Don't feel bad, we all did the same thing when learning. You don't have a monopoly on your experience. One suggestion, when I rolled the edge on a strop while learning, I got a barber's hone. It's a small stone; cheap $20 from a local barber. 5 strokes on the barber hone fixed it right up as good as new (as Lynn's hone). Try that before you send it out again. Go easy, light and slow on the barber's hone too, same as for the strop.

Used my newly purchased feather RG with proGuard blades and CF shaving cream, got a much better shave than the "shave-ready" dovo
and almost no irritations.

Can't say that feather is better because I shaved with the dovo on my first try, which caused some irration but i blame that on my technique, and ever since, the dovo has been strop by me, who don't know how to strop at all and probably dull the blade further

Looking to invest in some hones and pastes, and will attempt to hone the dovo myself.