First Straight Shave Tomorrow

[ChinMusic]

I feel like I have done my homework and will give it a try in the morning. I fully expect it to feel like throwing a baseball with my left hand (RHP). I know going in that it will take time for muscle memory to kick in.

I got a Dovo Forestal from thesuperiorshave and a Walking Horse strop.

Wish me luck..........

 

[rockviper]

I'm looking forward to following your adventures.

I've found that keeping a journal here is a great way to understand what's going on with your shave, as it forces you to think about your shave in order to write it down. As a bonus, you'll get feedback from some pretty smart folks (and not so smart, like me!) and will probably end up with a whole new collection of enablers friends.

 

[Lmarkow]

Good luck! Remember to stretch your skin. Take is slow, do as much as you're comfortable with, maybe a bit more the second or third shave. Many of us started by just shaving with the grain on our cheeks the first time, finishing up with a DE or whatever you're used to. In any case, let us know how it goes.

 

[ChinMusic]

Well that was a total disappointment. I was expecting it to be difficult. I wasn't expecting it to be totally worthless.

I find my DE shaves to be very smooth, requiring very light pressure. I found the straight to not even want to go through a single-day of growth without effort, and when it did the closeness was awful. I didn't cut myself, so that was good, but after hitting most areas WTG it was almost as if I hadn't done much.

I was surprised at the sense of pulling. I was expecting the straight to go through the whiskers as if they weren't there.

At this point I feel is was a waste of time and money.

 

[Attila]

If your angle was very shallow (no more than one or two spine widths) then it should not have been tugging. Unless your blade wasn't sharp enough. In the beginning though technique has a lot to do with how sharp it feels, assuming it was honed right. My advice, before you give up send it to a pro to assess the edge. I have used Doc's edges and found them excellent.

 

[Lmarkow]

If your razor was shave ready, your angle may have been too low. Also, your lather will need to be wetter and slicker than you're likely used to for the DEs.

FWIW, it took quite a while for me to think that my straight shaves were as close as the DEs, and then quite a bit more time until I was being truthful with myself.

 

[ChinMusic]

Day 2: After reviewing hand positions and blade angles I gave it another whirl. My previous angles were probably too steep and not too shallow. I did my right cheek with the straight and my left cheek with the DE with just a WTG pass. It wasn't even close. While the DE side was as smooth and consistent as expected the right side wasn't close. The DE side was tug-free and comfortable. The straight side was very tuggy an uncomfortable.

I'm really not getting this.

 

[Attila]

I would definitely send it off to get it professionaly honed before you give up. There may be something not quite right with the edge. Did you strop it before you shaved? If you are new to stropping and don't have the technique down, you can really dull an edge with bad stropping technique. I know I did when first starting out...

 

[ChinMusic]

Since I am new, I have no idea what it is suppose to feel like. Right now I would rate it as a DE shave with a blade that should have been thrown away weeks ago. Is that from technique? Is that from blade? I have no idea.

 

[AndroiDad75]

I agree with Attila, I would send it out to get honed. The honer will have it all set for you, and you will/should not need to strop before shaving with it. Then you can see if it is technique. If it doesn't shave well, you know it is due to technique. If it shaves well, then you know it was not quite shave ready before. Then when you strop for your next shave, if you end up the same as before sending it for honing, then you know your stropping is dulling it.

 

[ChinMusic]

Day 3: Just did the right cheek and gave up. Looks like it is eBay time.............sigh

 

[AndroiDad75]

Before you sell it, try to have a honemeister hone it up. Then, like I said earlier, you can figure out if it's technique, razor, or stropping technique, that is failing you.

I would hate to see you give up on SR's because the razor was never shave ready.

P.S. My first few shaves were probably barely CCS. Had tugging, due to angle not razor, etc... so there is going to be a learning curve. It will come though...

 

[ChinMusic]

After taking a few weeks off I've sent it back to be re-honed. I will be careful to observe the sharpness upon its return. I believe I had poor a stropping technique the first time and knocked off the edge. I tried to restrop and nothing improved.