Well, wanted to pass on my first shave feedback and see if I can get some tips on how to improve it.
First off, easily the hardest thing I found was making that first contact with my face. The depth perception looking into the mirror was a bit tricky and I didn't' know what to expect at first contact.
I used my TI "Wheat Berry" blade after stropping it on the linen about 15 round trips, and then the leather another 15 times. It was sharp from what I can see, but not as sharp as I thought it would be. I have an extremely thick beard (in terms of the thickness of my hair).. typical Mediterranean male growth I guess. So anyway, I noticed that with a 30 degree angle, I was still sort of ripping hair off. I shaved only in the direction of growth, but in some cases I had to do 3 or 4 passes to get a clean shave, with there being less and less resistance as I made additional passes. The good news is I felt more and more confident with every stroke, and considering that I did as many as 4 passes over some areas, I wasn't irritated or burned afterwards. The bad news is it probably took me about 25 min to shave and I didn't get quite as close as I had hoped.
I have a Belgian stone for honing.. should I hone my blade? They claim it comes shave ready, and I also have a Dovo that I purchased that also claims to come shave ready that I'm going to try tomorrow, but how "easy" should the hair shave off (considering my thick beard) and considering I did everything else tight with the soap, and hot towel prep, etc..
Thanks
First off, easily the hardest thing I found was making that first contact with my face. The depth perception looking into the mirror was a bit tricky and I didn't' know what to expect at first contact.
I used my TI "Wheat Berry" blade after stropping it on the linen about 15 round trips, and then the leather another 15 times. It was sharp from what I can see, but not as sharp as I thought it would be. I have an extremely thick beard (in terms of the thickness of my hair).. typical Mediterranean male growth I guess. So anyway, I noticed that with a 30 degree angle, I was still sort of ripping hair off. I shaved only in the direction of growth, but in some cases I had to do 3 or 4 passes to get a clean shave, with there being less and less resistance as I made additional passes. The good news is I felt more and more confident with every stroke, and considering that I did as many as 4 passes over some areas, I wasn't irritated or burned afterwards. The bad news is it probably took me about 25 min to shave and I didn't get quite as close as I had hoped.
I have a Belgian stone for honing.. should I hone my blade? They claim it comes shave ready, and I also have a Dovo that I purchased that also claims to come shave ready that I'm going to try tomorrow, but how "easy" should the hair shave off (considering my thick beard) and considering I did everything else tight with the soap, and hot towel prep, etc..
Thanks