Dear Straight Shavers
Well, here I am on my journey into the rabbit hole of straight shaving and this morning have clocked up my 99th shave with a straight. One more shave to go before scoring my century.
So far it’s been an interesting 18 months or so. I opened the batting in January 2020 and got off to a pretty rough start. At first I thought the razor wasn’t sharp enough but after a few shaves, I realised it was my technique. Stropping technique was also a factor. However, after 99 shaves I am still not sure what I was doing wrong in the early days with my stropping. I don’t seem to be doing anything all that different but the edges are definitely better these days. I am currently doing 110 passes on the leather before the shave and 10 on the linen straight after, even before I rinse my face. Dry off the razor and 10 passes on the linen then off to dry for a few hours. It seems to work for me. I might try going for less passes and see what happens, but I have found that the standard textbook 60 passes isn’t enough for the edge. Maybe my stropping technique has improved by now.
As far as my shaving technique is going, I have the chin all sorted – no dramas there. I mastered the fool’s pass quite a while ago and all is good there too. Although I still hold the razor with both hands for that extra bit on control. No one handed antics like you see on YouTube! Still struggling with the jaw line though. Just can’t seem to get the right angle and now I have the confidence/technique to start trying the get the razor at different angles. To be fair to myself, however, it’s challenging getting the jaw line BBS with a DE razor also. As the months/years go by it’s getting better.
Still haven’t done much in the way of honing. I have been fiddling about with a couple of Gold Dollars but not making any progress. Getting the bevel set is still a total mystery. I did a posting at my 50th shave and mentioned pretty much the same thing and got a lot of positive feedback but the art of honing and bevel setting in particular is still a mystery. I have tried “The Method” but found the postings confusing and contradictory, and couldn’t get a burr no matter how hard I tried. To be honest, with my life being really time poor, I am happy to send my razors out for the initial honing – will let those balls go through to the keeper. I am able to touch up the blades with my 12k Shapton when they start getting a bit tuggy and can usually get about 12 or so shaves before they need a touch up. Hopefully, as my technique improves the number of shaves between touch ups will increase. But I seem to be able to get them shaving again with no problems – it’s just the bevel setting that seems to be the issue.
Next shave will be number 100! Will try and use the same razor, soap and brush as the first and gosh, what a difference there will be between the two!
As with a lot of other things in life, I have discovered that with straight shaving, you listen to all the advice, read the literature, use it as a guide, but in the end you pretty much end up having to work it out for yourself. It’s all part of the journey and thanks for all the positive comments and advice that I have received from our wonderful wet shaving community, both here on the B&B forum and other social media.
Cheers
Andrew
Well, here I am on my journey into the rabbit hole of straight shaving and this morning have clocked up my 99th shave with a straight. One more shave to go before scoring my century.
So far it’s been an interesting 18 months or so. I opened the batting in January 2020 and got off to a pretty rough start. At first I thought the razor wasn’t sharp enough but after a few shaves, I realised it was my technique. Stropping technique was also a factor. However, after 99 shaves I am still not sure what I was doing wrong in the early days with my stropping. I don’t seem to be doing anything all that different but the edges are definitely better these days. I am currently doing 110 passes on the leather before the shave and 10 on the linen straight after, even before I rinse my face. Dry off the razor and 10 passes on the linen then off to dry for a few hours. It seems to work for me. I might try going for less passes and see what happens, but I have found that the standard textbook 60 passes isn’t enough for the edge. Maybe my stropping technique has improved by now.
As far as my shaving technique is going, I have the chin all sorted – no dramas there. I mastered the fool’s pass quite a while ago and all is good there too. Although I still hold the razor with both hands for that extra bit on control. No one handed antics like you see on YouTube! Still struggling with the jaw line though. Just can’t seem to get the right angle and now I have the confidence/technique to start trying the get the razor at different angles. To be fair to myself, however, it’s challenging getting the jaw line BBS with a DE razor also. As the months/years go by it’s getting better.
Still haven’t done much in the way of honing. I have been fiddling about with a couple of Gold Dollars but not making any progress. Getting the bevel set is still a total mystery. I did a posting at my 50th shave and mentioned pretty much the same thing and got a lot of positive feedback but the art of honing and bevel setting in particular is still a mystery. I have tried “The Method” but found the postings confusing and contradictory, and couldn’t get a burr no matter how hard I tried. To be honest, with my life being really time poor, I am happy to send my razors out for the initial honing – will let those balls go through to the keeper. I am able to touch up the blades with my 12k Shapton when they start getting a bit tuggy and can usually get about 12 or so shaves before they need a touch up. Hopefully, as my technique improves the number of shaves between touch ups will increase. But I seem to be able to get them shaving again with no problems – it’s just the bevel setting that seems to be the issue.
Next shave will be number 100! Will try and use the same razor, soap and brush as the first and gosh, what a difference there will be between the two!
As with a lot of other things in life, I have discovered that with straight shaving, you listen to all the advice, read the literature, use it as a guide, but in the end you pretty much end up having to work it out for yourself. It’s all part of the journey and thanks for all the positive comments and advice that I have received from our wonderful wet shaving community, both here on the B&B forum and other social media.
Cheers
Andrew