My journey with the straight razor initially came with many lessons to learn, but the more time with the instrument the less frequent these lessons occur. As it currently stands I've done at least 200 SR shaves if not creeping up towards 300 at this point, so still quite young in the grand scheme of things. Todays shave did carry a lesson to be learned, so I'll share my experience.
When I was stropping today, I did my normal linen/leather round before the shave. Everything went well but when I was close to my "60" count on leather, I felt something strange. I didn't nick the strop, but felt something unusual on the surface that hit the edge. The only way I can describe this feeling is when you encounter a rogue grit on a higher grit stone and you feel it when you're honing. You feel something like that hit the edge. I felt something similar on the strop and I remember after I felt it I stopped and thought to myself "well that isn't good..." I chose to go on with the shave anyway, thinking that there was no way anything could have happened to the apex of the edge due to stropping being spine leading. Well, I was wrong.
Started the shave, and the edge felt great- and after the first pass I thought about not refreshing the edge like I do every Sunday and just continue to roll with it for another week. I chose to proceed.
After rinsing off lather from my 2nd pass, I felt some sting from water, which is never a good sign. I also noticed a few weepers pop up. For some reason I chose to do some cleanup anyway. Rinsing off the lather from cleanups I noticed some redness already starting to creep into my neck and I knew this was an alum block type of shave.
Now my first thought was to blame whatever I felt on the strop doing something to the edge, which resulted in a good amount of irritation and alum burn. I should, however, blame myself for going on with the shave even though I felt something unusual..and on top of that did some cleanup too after already knowing that something was up. Dumb moves all around.
Regardless, lesson learned. If you feel anything unusual "clink" on the edge when stropping, either scope the edge to double check what's going on or just grab a different razor. Because, well, my face hurts now LOL.
If something doesn't feel right, it probably means something isn't right. The edge is delicate, and will show no mercy. Don't take any chances.
Back to the stones I go....
When I was stropping today, I did my normal linen/leather round before the shave. Everything went well but when I was close to my "60" count on leather, I felt something strange. I didn't nick the strop, but felt something unusual on the surface that hit the edge. The only way I can describe this feeling is when you encounter a rogue grit on a higher grit stone and you feel it when you're honing. You feel something like that hit the edge. I felt something similar on the strop and I remember after I felt it I stopped and thought to myself "well that isn't good..." I chose to go on with the shave anyway, thinking that there was no way anything could have happened to the apex of the edge due to stropping being spine leading. Well, I was wrong.
Started the shave, and the edge felt great- and after the first pass I thought about not refreshing the edge like I do every Sunday and just continue to roll with it for another week. I chose to proceed.
After rinsing off lather from my 2nd pass, I felt some sting from water, which is never a good sign. I also noticed a few weepers pop up. For some reason I chose to do some cleanup anyway. Rinsing off the lather from cleanups I noticed some redness already starting to creep into my neck and I knew this was an alum block type of shave.
Now my first thought was to blame whatever I felt on the strop doing something to the edge, which resulted in a good amount of irritation and alum burn. I should, however, blame myself for going on with the shave even though I felt something unusual..and on top of that did some cleanup too after already knowing that something was up. Dumb moves all around.
Regardless, lesson learned. If you feel anything unusual "clink" on the edge when stropping, either scope the edge to double check what's going on or just grab a different razor. Because, well, my face hurts now LOL.
If something doesn't feel right, it probably means something isn't right. The edge is delicate, and will show no mercy. Don't take any chances.
Back to the stones I go....
