First Str8 shave, Not bad. Stropping, not so good.

[Orlando_The_Axe]

So I did it. I brought out the razor and took the first step. I shaved my cheeks WTG, I got ambitious and made an attempt at a few other spots but after dipping my toes in a retreated back to the shallow end of the pool. My cheeks are the only area, other than my chin, where my beard grows N-S. It was a slow process, I concentrated on the "beard reduction" idea and on my 3rd WTG pass I still was picking up plenty of stubble. I would wipe the lather off the blade and inspect it to monitor my progress. I definitely got a feel for what a sharp shave ready razor should feel like and practicing stretching of the skin, switching hands, etc. No irritation or cuts or anything. I finished up with a DE.

The strop was a different story. I felt clumsy and hopeless... I'm using a WD poor man's strop and after hooking it around my towel rack I felt like I couldn't get it flat even when pulling it taught. I finally settled on laying it flat on the edge of my coffee table. I did eventually start to get a feel for it and definitely wish I had tried practicing with a butter knife before the real thing. I mostly struggled with keeping the blade flat. Either I was dragging the spine along with the rest of the blade lifted uselessly off the leather or I would lift the spine off the leather and just drag the bevel along. Neither of which is a good thing I'm sure. If I applied some pressure it was easier to keep the entire blade flat on the strop but then I feared I was applying too much pressure. I caught the leather a few times with the edge but no nicks big enough to be an issue yet. After something like 100 "laps" maybe 30% of which were acceptable passes, I tried hooking the stop on the towel bar again and it went a bit better. Clearly practice is the main thing here but I wanted to share my first time beginner experiences because I know you all have such great advise to give, one just has to I ask.

 

[BobLH]

Sounds like a pretty normal first experience to me. I would just take shaving and stropping slow and easy. Both will come along with time and practice. The last thing you want to do is rush a shave with a straight razor even when you know what you are doing.

I'd concentrate on keeping the spine about a spine width or so from your face and using no pressure on the blade. Hope you enjoy the ride and good luck.

Bob

 

[Lmarkow]

Way to go! You'll get the hang of stropping, don't sweat it.

 

[lishijia]

I'll second BobLH -- sounds like a "normal" and, to be honest, successful, first outing! Congrats!

Nothing wrong with doing the easy bits only at first. In fact, that's the smart way: you'll build up muscle memory before trying the curvier, less straightforward (hah!) sections.

Just remember to go SLOW. Almost certainly mistakes will happen (on both your face and the strop), but they'll be more frequent and worse if you try to speed up before you're ready. Neither is a race, so go slow enough to catch your mistakes before gashes occur. Speed will come on its own.

And, finally, ENJOY! It's addictive!

 

[perry]

I started with the Poor Mans strop in December and I nicked the crap out of the edges in the first month. Not sure if it's that delicate or I was that bad. I know I struggled with the X stroke that's required on it.

I also laid it flat a couple times because I was frustrated, but on the wooden rail on my bed's footboard. It's only like 4" wide, so there was room for the scales to hang off the edge.

I bought a 3" strop from Maggards and it's been much easier for me to use. No nicks yet, knock on wood. I am lightly scratching the leather at the far end where the tip of the razor must be dragging when I flip it over.

 

[lightfoot]

+1 on the 3" strop. If you like straights you could consider having a couple more razors that are shave ready on hand so that if one needs to be sent out for honing you would have some back-ups to use until the one being worked on gets back. Just an idea.

 

[jimmy538]

Sounds like a good start. When I first started I pulled the strop very tight. I was good on the cloth component, but didn't like the heavier draw on the leather. I just took it slow and carried on. I recently saw a thread that recommended a slight amount of slack in the strop. This has been working extremely well for me and I wish I had tried it long ago. Any slack in the strop just seemed wrong to me. I don't allow much slack, but don't pull it bango tight anymore. This also lightens the draw slightly to me. Hope this helps.

 

[StubbleTrouble]

Stropping is definitely half the learning curve. For many it's also half of the enjoyment- somewhat zen like. Take it slow until you get comfortable with applying only the weight of the razor on the strop for each pass and always keep the spine and edge evenly planted. Listen for audible feedback. The odd scraping sound is a sign of lifting the spine before the edge (what you want to avoid). It'll all come together soon enough and you'll be thankful you stuck with it!

 

[Kentos]

Nice! You don't have to pull the strop so hard that the anchor pops out of the wall, just pull enough to take the slack out of it.

 

[A Cut Above]

Use a paddle strop, its much easier and pretty much fool proof.

 

[Steve56]

You'll get there, but fairly normal for a first go.

Cheers, Steve

 

[Jnatcat]

Stropping will get easier and easier just keep the blade flat and no need to go fast that will come in time, forget about what you see in the movies, 10 correct laps are better than 30 bad ones.