G'day Everyone,
I finally plucked up the courage to have a go at shaving with a straight razor. I have a Bengall Imperial that has been in the family for as long as I can remember and I sent it away to get it cleaned and honed. It was already in pretty good nick but the edge definitely needed bringing back to shave ready condition. It came back before Christmas but I hadn't got up the nerve to try it out.
I have been wet shaving with DE razors for a while so this was the next logical step. I must admit that the straight razor is intimidating and having read all the stories about the razor gangs in Sydney in the 1920's going around slashing each other with razors, my imagination ran wild. Chicago gangsters used Tommy guns - Australian gangsters used cut throat razors - a far more scary weapon.
Anyway I digress - the guy that honed the razor (a reputable honer btw) didn't mention that it need stropping, but after watching numerous Youtube clips and reading the forums, I stropped it anyway. I bought a cheap-arse razor kit some months ago, a chinese straight razor, strop, brush and stand along with a wooden soap bowl. You don't expect much for fifty bucks on ebay but the wooden brush stand and wooden bowl were pretty good and worth the $50. The razor was pretty much as you would expect. However, I figured the strop might be OK.
Today is a public holiday in Australia and my partner was working, so I decided to bite the bullet and enter the world of straight razors. I got out all the bits and pieces and stropped the razor - 50 passes. It cut the hair on my arm. Next was to do the lathering etc. All pretty straight forward so far. And there I was in front of the bathroom mirror, lather on face holding the razor wondering how all this works. Of course the Youtubers make it look easy. I just couldn't figure out how to get the first stroke from the side burn area down to the jaw line. Which hand do you use? I tried both and on either side of my face. Still haven't made a stroke yet. First stroke - tried to get the angle right but the razor wouldn't move on my face. Apparently you don't use pressure, just scrape the lather off and the blade does the rest - this wasn't happening. Tried on the other side, same thing. Eventually, I dragged it down my face and I could feel the blade chattering on my whiskers (only a one day growth BTW). It really took effort and it tugged like anything. So I kept going and things didn't get better. Ended up getting out the DE and doing it properly.
What went wrong? Obviously the blade wasn't sharp enough. It cut my arm hairs but dragged on that also. I paid over $50 for the hone plus postage. Not sure if I got my money's worth there. Will email the guy tomorrow and discuss it with him. Did I ruin the edge when I stropped it? Was the strop just cheap crap and it took the edge of the blade? I would have expected the blade to be shave ready - maybe it was and I stropped it incorrectly. Not sure about any of this.
At least there wasn't any blood!
cheers
Andrew
I finally plucked up the courage to have a go at shaving with a straight razor. I have a Bengall Imperial that has been in the family for as long as I can remember and I sent it away to get it cleaned and honed. It was already in pretty good nick but the edge definitely needed bringing back to shave ready condition. It came back before Christmas but I hadn't got up the nerve to try it out.
I have been wet shaving with DE razors for a while so this was the next logical step. I must admit that the straight razor is intimidating and having read all the stories about the razor gangs in Sydney in the 1920's going around slashing each other with razors, my imagination ran wild. Chicago gangsters used Tommy guns - Australian gangsters used cut throat razors - a far more scary weapon.
Anyway I digress - the guy that honed the razor (a reputable honer btw) didn't mention that it need stropping, but after watching numerous Youtube clips and reading the forums, I stropped it anyway. I bought a cheap-arse razor kit some months ago, a chinese straight razor, strop, brush and stand along with a wooden soap bowl. You don't expect much for fifty bucks on ebay but the wooden brush stand and wooden bowl were pretty good and worth the $50. The razor was pretty much as you would expect. However, I figured the strop might be OK.
Today is a public holiday in Australia and my partner was working, so I decided to bite the bullet and enter the world of straight razors. I got out all the bits and pieces and stropped the razor - 50 passes. It cut the hair on my arm. Next was to do the lathering etc. All pretty straight forward so far. And there I was in front of the bathroom mirror, lather on face holding the razor wondering how all this works. Of course the Youtubers make it look easy. I just couldn't figure out how to get the first stroke from the side burn area down to the jaw line. Which hand do you use? I tried both and on either side of my face. Still haven't made a stroke yet. First stroke - tried to get the angle right but the razor wouldn't move on my face. Apparently you don't use pressure, just scrape the lather off and the blade does the rest - this wasn't happening. Tried on the other side, same thing. Eventually, I dragged it down my face and I could feel the blade chattering on my whiskers (only a one day growth BTW). It really took effort and it tugged like anything. So I kept going and things didn't get better. Ended up getting out the DE and doing it properly.
What went wrong? Obviously the blade wasn't sharp enough. It cut my arm hairs but dragged on that also. I paid over $50 for the hone plus postage. Not sure if I got my money's worth there. Will email the guy tomorrow and discuss it with him. Did I ruin the edge when I stropped it? Was the strop just cheap crap and it took the edge of the blade? I would have expected the blade to be shave ready - maybe it was and I stropped it incorrectly. Not sure about any of this.
At least there wasn't any blood!
cheers
Andrew