I know it is recommended to try straight razor on a Saturday, but I had a date for Saturday night, and didn't want to go and possibly be bleeding. So, Saturday, I used my Merkur Futur with Feather Hi-Stainless blades, a combination of Van Der Hagen deluxe soap and Art of Shaving Lemon cream, and got the best BBS shave I have ever gotten. Feeling good about that, this morning I decided to try the straight I got from whippeddog.com earlier last week. The instructions said not to strop it the first time, that it was ready to shave, so I just cleaned the petroleum jelly off the blade, and proceeded to lather up. I started on my right cheek and it took me a moment to get the angle right, and then switched to my left hand and did my left cheek. I am lucky, in that I have a goatee, so I don't have to worry about the usual (at least from what I read on here) problem spots of chin and upper lip. I did notice though that the blade seemed to "skip". It felt like it was pulling away from my face, and them coming back to rest on my skin as I was on the underside of my neck (below my right cheek). I am not sure what would cause that, blade angle, pressure, grip? I managed 2 WTG passes, and 1 XTG (from ear to nose on the cheeks, and sort of diagonal on the underside, though straight north to south directly under the chin area). No nicks, or cuts, but when I used my alum block, it sure did sting, so I must have been just shy of actual cuts.
I had a really hard time finding a comfortable hold on the razor where I could still see the mirror, pretty much everywhere other than my cheeks. I tried a few different grips, in both my left and right hand, but couldn't find one comfortable. Once finished, I took the razor and strop to the kitchen table, and stropped for 10 strokes in either direction, I am not sure what number of strokes I should be going for, I have read, that the number should go up, as the blade gets more dull. It isn't as good of results as I am able to get with a DE razor, but for my first go, I am satisfied
I had a really hard time finding a comfortable hold on the razor where I could still see the mirror, pretty much everywhere other than my cheeks. I tried a few different grips, in both my left and right hand, but couldn't find one comfortable. Once finished, I took the razor and strop to the kitchen table, and stropped for 10 strokes in either direction, I am not sure what number of strokes I should be going for, I have read, that the number should go up, as the blade gets more dull. It isn't as good of results as I am able to get with a DE razor, but for my first go, I am satisfied