What's new

Zephyr's straight shave journey

thats freaking great. congrats!

do you think the crox puts it over the top?

what do you think changed from the last shave to this one? any insight?
 
First 100% perfect BBS shave :biggrin1:

The shaves just keeps getting better and better, and yesterday I had my first perfect BBS!
Three pass WTG/XTG/ATG, and not even a slightly sting when applying D.R. Harris Sandalwood, lovely!

What makes it even better it that I have honed the razor myself!

Awesome! :thumbup1:

I'm still working on it... I can get a pretty great shave consistently, but I still haven't achieved that perfect straight razor shave yet.
 
Awesome! :thumbup1:

I'm still working on it... I can get a pretty great shave consistently, but I still haven't achieved that perfect straight razor shave yet.

Awesome work Rune! :thumbup1:

Thanks guys!

thats freaking great. congrats!

do you think the crox puts it over the top?

what do you think changed from the last shave to this one? any insight?

Thanks!

It was my third shave with this razor, which was the first one I finished on the coti. I was told that it was a great razor, so I had high expectations for it, first shave was good, but nothing special, so I went back to the coti, gave it hundred more laps with just water, then 50/50 canvas/leather. The shave was great, almost perfect. But something in me told me it could get even better, so I gave it 10 laps on CrOx, and 80/100 canvas/leather.

Whether it was the CrOx or the extra stropping that made the difference I don't know, but I have two identical Gong razors waiting to be restored, and I thought I would do an experiment with them with different finishes and see what works best.

I've been getting consistent DFS/DFS+ the last month or so, and haven't really reached for BBS. I also have two very tricky spots on the neck that I have been strugling with, but this time I found a technique that worked for those spots, and they had to surrender.
 
Last edited:
Straight shave # 75, a small milestone

Unfortunately my 75th shave wasn't very good, just okay.
I honed a Heljestrand No.24 yesterday, and even though the edge seemed fine, it's not satisfying, WTG pass was acceptable, but I felt some tugging and got a few small nicks, so I decided to finish the shave with my Heljestrand No.4

Bringing the 24 back to the stones and hopefully getting as nice edge on this one as I have managed on the other ones I have honed.

I was told that honing could be really frustrating, and that was not a lie :001_smile
 
Straight shave # 75, a small milestone

Unfortunately my 75th shave wasn't very good, just okay.
I honed a Heljestrand No.24 yesterday, and even though the edge seemed fine, it's not satisfying, WTG pass was acceptable, but I felt some tugging and got a few small nicks, so I decided to finish the shave with my Heljestrand No.4

Bringing the 24 back to the stones and hopefully getting as nice edge on this one as I have managed on the other ones I have honed.

I was told that honing could be really frustrating, and that was not a lie :001_smile

Doing good!

The No 24 is a bit tricky. It's super-hard steel so it requires a lot of time setting the bevel 100% right & not only that, but it tends to micro-chips (might explain the nicks you got), probably because of the insane hardness of the steel.

My solution is one layer tape & spend extra good time making sure the bevel is flawless.
The good side of it is that once you tune it right, it becomes an unstoppable beast. A friendly beast of course.
 
Doing good!

The No 24 is a bit tricky. It's super-hard steel so it requires a lot of time setting the bevel 100% right & not only that, but it tends to micro-chips (might explain the nicks you got), probably because of the insane hardness of the steel.

My solution is one layer tape & spend extra good time making sure the bevel is flawless.
The good side of it is that once you tune it right, it becomes an unstoppable beast. A friendly beast of course.

Thanks Jens,

I tried to hone it first time on sunday, but when I still hadn't gotten a decent bevel after 20 minutes on the Naniwa 1K I just put it away. When I took it back to the hones yesterday I dulled the edge on a glass and put one layer of electrical tape on the spine, took some time, but got what seems to be a nice bevel. Haven't checked it in the scope, something I usually do, so I don't know if it got any microchippes, but it sounds plausible. I'll check it tomorrow. Thought I'd just take it back to the 3K and follow the progression from there, hopefully that will be enough.
 
Thanks Jens,

I tried to hone it first time on sunday, but when I still hadn't gotten a decent bevel after 20 minutes on the Naniwa 1K I just put it away. When I took it back to the hones yesterday I dulled the edge on a glass and put one layer of electrical tape on the spine, took some time, but got what seems to be a nice bevel. Haven't checked it in the scope, something I usually do, so I don't know if it got any microchippes, but it sounds plausible. I'll check it tomorrow. Thought I'd just take it back to the 3K and follow the progression from there, hopefully that will be enough.
You can also try making some slurry on the 1k or 3k Naniwa with your coticule slurry stone.
Makes it cut a little faster & the scratch pattern gets less consistent, which in these cases sometimes actually is a good thing.
 
How was todays shave?

Divided!

The shave started fantastic with my beloved Duke, MWF and my Bengall Cast 6/8, this razors takes a fabulously smooth edge and is a dream to shave with.

Hadn't shaved since saturday morning and the Bengall chopped down the stubbles like nothing.
Under nose, mouth and chin - great!
On right side of the neck -great!
On left side of the neck - great for a while, then OUCH! :scared:

I didn't pay enough attention to the toe, and sliced of a ~10x2 mm piec of my neck! It bled like hell!

Finished up the pass, and did the necessary touch up for a SAS shave (going to court tomorrow, so I really should had a perfect shave)

Despite the cut I decided to try the Brut I picked up in Amsterdam, trying to avoid the cut.
This is the cheapest, best product I have used, wonderful scent (and SWMBO liked it to :thumbup:) and it did a wonderful job, it's a stayer!
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Doesn't look too deep! +1 on long neck! :laugh:
 
Doesn't look too deep! +1 on long neck! :laugh:

It's not very deep, just sliced of a piece of the upper layer, it will heal just fine in a couple days.
I just had to mention it since it is my first "real" cut after almost six months with straights, I'm actually surprised it didn't happen before :blushing:
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
It's not very deep, just sliced of a piece of the upper layer, it will heal just fine in a couple days.
I just had to mention it since it is my first "real" cut after almost six months with straights, I'm actually surprised it didn't happen before :blushing:

That's nothing, it won't be there in 2 days!
 
Discovered what I think is the reason for yesterdays cut.

I checked the edge on the razor I used today, didn't find anything visual, but with the TP test I noticed something was wrong with the toe, some further investigation revealed that the edge by the toe is "bendt" to one side, when sliding my fingernail down the blade, direction from spine towards edge, my nail grabbed the edge by the toe on one side of the blade (the side I facing my skin when shaving left side of the neck) Apparently I must have managed to dent the blade without noticing.

I'm glad I noticed this or else I would be likely to get another cut next time using the same razor.
 
I've done that a few times - it usually happens when opening or closing the blade which can sometimes cause the toe of the blade to bump against the scales. If it happens when you're closing the blade you are almost guaranteed to roll the edge. Which means a visit to the hone...
 
A milestone is reached, my straight shave number 100 :biggrin1:

I was planning to pick my favorite razor, soap etc. but because of the ongoing French theme in SOTD, and the recently arrived RV B&B 2011 brush, I settled with Filarmonica DT 12, RV B&B 2011, L'occitane Cade soap and Brut Aftershave.

I've had some great progression the last month, getting constantly DFS/BBS, and haven't gotten a nick since I rolled the edge on the Bengall and cut myself (exept a test shave with a not well enough honed swede)

Untill today....

Nothing severe, just a couple minor nicks, but this time I partially blame the soap.
I don't use the Cade very often, and todays shave reminded me why. When the lather got the consistensy I like it dries out a little too fast, which I forgot, and didn't notice until it was too late.

A small downer for a celebration shave, but other than that a very pleasing and nice shave.

Part of the late progression is that I have started to use very short fast strokes, which gives me a better and closer shave, it also makes me shave faster.

I do think I did this in the beginning, but that I at some point started to do longer, slower strokes for some reason, I guess that's the reason I had a priod where I only got a little above mediocre shaves, and almost every time I got some nicks.

Todays setup:

proxy.php
 
Thanks, I should have, I got so many soap that are so much better.

But only four more days and I can celebrate six months of exclusive straight shaving (exept one terrible cartridge shave), I'll make it up then.
 
Last edited:
Yesterday one year had passed by since my first straight shave, but since I wasn't hime until late last night I postponed my anniversay shave until today.

When I wrote about my first shave a year ago I had a terrible burn (being too cocky and doing too many passes + touch up), and knew I had a long and steep learning curve ahead of me, but I was determined to hold on.
And man I'm glad I did, I have learned so much the last year thanks to all that have provided help and advice not only about shaving, but also honing and restauration, a special thanks to Jens (honed) who have given me a lot of good advice and help on the way.

A lot of different razors have passed through my hands the last year, but finally I have found my prefrences and have started to narrow down my collection to just a few, to me very good razors, that way I actually get to use them all :001_smile

For my anniversary shave I chose to use:

Semogue 830
C.V. Heljestrand MK32
Cella
Mennen Skin Bracer

When I first started I knew that one day in the future I would get consistent nice shaves, and I did reach that point a while ago, but still I feel that my shaving improves a little bit every time, another good reason to keep going :001_smile

Looking forward to many more great straight shaves.

proxy.php
 
Top Bottom