mistercitizen's Straight Journey

[mistercitizen]

Well, I think I'm ready to get started. I've been using the badger and blade (DE razor) for about a year now and my interest is finally moving in the direction of straight razors. I've been strictly a DE shaver since converting to true traditional wet-shaving about a year ago.... granted, I've used over 40 to 50 different variations of the DE razor, but after my father pulled out my great uncle's old German straight, I've got straight razor shaving on my mind. I did a little investigating and asking around and pretty much determined that it might not be worth the effort to get my uncle's straight shave-ready, although I've had one generous member offer to hone it up, as well as my own barber..... but I thought I might just keep it as is for now and up until now have been using it to practice stropping. Last night I actually went through a two pass "mock straight razor shave" with my uncle's old razor and a piece of scotch tape across the blade edge. It worked pretty good, and I definitely got a feel for the need of a very slick lather when using a straight compared to a DE razor. I practiced using both hands (I'm right handed).... and hope to become an ambidextrous straight shaver.... although I shave with nothing but my right hand using my DE razors.

Anyway, I bought a shave ready Boker Edelweiss a couple weeks ago from The Superior Shave. Obviously, it's all ready to go. I've got a cheap 2" x 20" leather strop to use starting out. It has a rough side and a smoother side. Right now, I have no plans to try my hand at honing.... I just wanted to get a nice shave ready straight and a strop and work on shaving with it first. I do have a feeling that picking up vintage blades and honing are in my future.... as part of the usual AD that I will inevitably experience. But hey, I've got a good stable of brushes, software, liquid relief (aftershave) all pretty much stocked up and ready to go.... so I can mostly just focus on the technique required to shave with a straight.

This is the beginning of my journey.

Ben

 

[Krodor]

Welcome! I look forward to hearing about your first go at it.

 

[mistercitizen]

First Straight Razor Shave

It wasn't too bad.... but I didn't push it for the first shave. I did a WTG passed on the complete right side of my face with my right hand, since I am right handed. I think I was surprised at how much resistence I felt. I used my Boker Edelweiss 5/8 Full Hollow Ground. It seemed like there was more flex in the blade than I would've expected. Alot of tugging and I applied very little pressure. My lather was not very good.... even for a normal DE shave. I used QCS Esquire soap and my Semogue 620 Boar. It was a dry and not very slick lather.... which I tried to avoid but wasn't very successful. I thought to myself about how I've pretty much got lathering down and of all shaves to have a bad lather it would have to be my first straight razor shave. After I did the right side.... I tried a WTG pass on the left side of my face with my left hand. I started about a full inch below my sideburn so I could see. It was awkward..... that's about all I can say. I got my cheek done and I didn't even attempt my neck. I had trouble gripping the straight.... it seemed to slip and turn in between my fingers. I rinsed my face and lathered up again and did a full pass WTG with my Fatip Nickel OC DE razor. After that, I lathered up again and tried an ATG pass from my adam's apple up to my chin. I did the same on my right side..... and tried a little on the left side with my right hand.... again ATG. I ended up finishing the shave with my Fatip.

Stropping the Boker before my shave went very well I thought. I did 50 swipes each way on the rough side of the strop and then about 30 swipes each way on the smooth side. I used on X stroke type pattern and was careful and quick on the stroke but very slow and deliberate when turning the blade over on its spine.

I finished my rinsing the razor and wiping the blade with rubbing alcohol.... careful to not wipe across the edge with my cotton round. I let it sit while I did some more clean up and then came back and wiped the blade with some mineral oil. I let the razor sit out in the open for another half hour or so and then folded it up and put it back in the silicone impregnated sock that I got with it from TSS.

I didn't nick or cut myself at all. A little razor burn and irritation from the tugging.... but not bad. I think my biggest challenge will just be using my left hand. I know that if I stick with it, the comfort level will improve and how to position my hand will become more intuitive. I practiced using my left hand while finishing up with my Fatip during this evenings shave.... and I will probably try to make it a habit to do that from now on. I read another member recommend to brush your teeth while holding the brush in your less dominent hand to get used to the feel of using it as well. Great idea.

All in all.... not bad. I didn't overdo it.... and it wasn't quite as wonderful as I thought it would be.... mostly because of the tugging. I think I was tentative and didn't use deliberate enough strokes.... but I wanted to be careful too. No major wounds.... I'm happy.

Ben

 

[global_dev]

Good for you!!! Why strop before the first shave and what strop that you are using the through side?

 

[mistercitizen]

Good for you!!! Why strop before the first shave and what strop that you are using the through side?

Well, I saw or read somewhere that even if you get a razor that is shave ready, that it's not a bad idea to strop it before your first shave. Is there something wrong with stropping it before the first shave? I guess my thought was that to not strop it would be assuming that whoever honed it had stropped too.... and that may not necessarily be the case. The strop I am using is this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Professional-Barber-Leather-Strop-Straight-Razor-Sharpening-Shave-Shaving-Strap-/370774819471?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D333005%26algo%3DRIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D12%26meid%3D6113770726953816618%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D2%26sd%3D370753095446%26

Thanks for the support!

Ben

 

[Krodor]

Good for you!!! Why strop before the first shave and what strop that you are using the through side?

Hmmm...my thought too..."rough side of the strop" sounds not quite right. Do you mean the backside of the leather?

Folks are often requested not to strop before their first-ever shave because it is easy to ruin the edge if you do it wrong. If you damage the edge and then do you first shave, you'll never know what a good edge would feel like, and assume any bad experience is all the user while it might be the tool. If you don't strop before first-shave, then you strop and do your second shave and THEN it feels wrong, you'll have at least a feel for what might have gone wrong. In the former case you wouldn't even know something WAS wrong. Make sense?

Concern here is that the rough (reverse) side of the leather may damage the edge, as I'm pretty sure it was not intended for the job.

Edit: ah I see "suede side and smooth side" in the listing. The color difference made it look like it came with a linen strop as well...is that lighter side in the picture the back of the darker side? Hmm...maybe suede would work, never tried it.

Jeff

 

[mistercitizen]

Hmmm...my thought too..."rough side of the strop" sounds not quite right. Do you mean the backside of the leather?

Folks are often requested not to strop before their first-ever shave because it is easy to ruin the edge if you do it wrong. If you damage the edge and then do you first shave, you'll never know what a good edge would feel like, and assume any bad experience is all the user while it might be the tool. If you don't strop before first-shave, then you strop and do your second shave and THEN it feels wrong, you'll have at least a feel for what might have gone wrong. In the former case you wouldn't even know something WAS wrong. Make sense?

Concern here is that the rough (reverse) side of the leather may damage the edge, as I'm pretty sure it was not intended for the job.

Edit: ah I see "suede side and smooth side" in the listing. The color difference made it look like it came with a linen strop as well...is that lighter side in the picture the back of the darker side? Hmm...maybe suede would work, never tried it.

Jeff

That makes sense..... the not stroping the first time you use it. The strop I have has a suede side and a smooth side. The dark side is suede and the light side is smooth. There is no canvas or linen to it at all. Should I just use the smooth side? My barber told me to use the rough side (suede side) first and then finish on the smooth side.

I must say it's a bit unerving.... talk of ruining the edge and all of that. It's a $140 razor after all. Another member is being kind enough to send me a loaner straight that he has honed and stropped.... to use as a backup. I'll use that right out of the package so I will know what a sharp, shave ready blade should feel like. I just hope that I didn't mess up the edge on my Boker. When I stropped it, I used very light pressure and focused on keeping both the edge and the spine in contact with the strop.... while also doing an X pattern to get the entire length of the blade across the strop in one motion. I didn't go fast and was very careful.... but I am a newbie at this so if I messed up the edge on it I probably wouldn't know. Maybe I'll try the old hair test on it to see what happens.... maybe that will give me an indication.

I'm not discouraged by any of this.... I realize that there is going to be a learning curve and I can be patient and take my lumps (cuts/razor burn). It's about learning a skill and learning it correctly. Thank you guys for your input.

Ben

 

[Vivasanti]

Don't get discouraged here, sounds like you stropped fine

 

[Krodor]

no worries on the "ruin the edge" thing. What I meant is that if you did wrong, it might degrade the hyper-sharp edge. Sound like you did ok though. Some newbies might strop not keeping the spine on the leather, which can quickly lead to a "rolled edge", but that can sometimes itself be straightened out with additional proper stropping. Didn't mean to scare ya.

 

[mistercitizen]

no worries on the "ruin the edge" thing. What I meant is that if you did wrong, it might degrade the hyper-sharp edge. Sound like you did ok though. Some newbies might strop not keeping the spine on the leather, which can quickly lead to a "rolled edge", but that can sometimes itself be straightened out with additional proper stropping. Didn't mean to scare ya.

Oh, no worries. I'm still wondering though.... is it intended that I use the suede side of my strop? Or am I supposed to use the smooth side exclusively?

Ben

 

[Barbiere di Figaro]

Good luck on this journey Ben! Hope it works out fine and that the straight shaves become as good as your DE-shaves.

 

[oakeshott]

Oh, no worries. I'm still wondering though.... is it intended that I use the suede side of my strop? Or am I supposed to use the smooth side exclusively?

Ben

i don't believe it's "intended" to be used but there may be people who do. I got a suede strop with my Kanayama but it was a separate piece of material and not the backside of another.

 

[global_dev]

None Of the strops have a backside comparable to the kanayama suede.

 

[mistercitizen]

Good luck on this journey Ben! Hope it works out fine and that the straight shaves become as good as your DE-shaves.

Thank you Eric/Lysbet!!

Ben

 

[mistercitizen]

Yesterday I shaved with my DE razor.... but when I was done I lathered up and used my uncle's dull straight with the tape over the edge again and did a mock WTG pass with both hands on both sides of my face. One thing I notice is that there is a bit of adjustment to the straight razor blade being so much longer than a DE blade. I have sort of an angular jaw so this is a bit of a problem to get used to. Overall though, it felt pretty good. I think I will try my second straight razor shave tonight with my Boker. I probably won't attempt ATG.... and will use my DE to finish up again.... but I've had a couple days away from my Boker and I'm starting to miss it already.

Ben

 

[litespeedone]

Best of luck, Ben! Looks like you're doing everything the right way. Slow and steady and no one gets hurt
I found it helpful to work on one section of my face at a time--started with just the cheeks since that's the easiest area. After getting comfortable with that, I added under the jawline, then under my mouth, and so on. I saved the hardest areas until I was more at ease wielding the razor.

 

[mistercitizen]

Straight Razor Shave #2

Today I received a loaner straight from a generous fellow B&B member (oakeshott). It's an F.W. Engels 5/8 Full Hollow Ground (I believe) with ivory colored scales. Honed, stropped and shave ready right out of the package.... so that's what I used for this shave. I can't thank Mark enough for lending me his razor. I think it will be very helpful to have two shave ready straights to use for comparison's sake. I lathered up with some Panna Crema Saponi da Barba (Vetiver scent) with my SOC Boar and went straight to using the straight. I did the first pass with my right hand (dominent hand) on the right side of my face going WTG. It went okay. I was not as tentative as the first time and used firmer, quicker and shorter strokes. The blade still "gave" in the same manner as my Boker.... but from what I can see they are the same size blade with the same grind, so that made sense to me. There was less tugging this time, but I still left many whiskers behind. I did the entire right side of my face clear down my neck without much of an awkward feeling at all. Just a little skipping and missed hairs.... but no cuts or major irritation yet.

By the time I was ready to attempt the left side of my face my lather had dried out, so I rinsed and re-lathered my entire face. I did the left side in a very similar fashion to my right side.... using my left hand the entire time. Pretty much the same results as the right side. I ended up re-lathering and doing two more subsequent passes WTG on my entire face.... and then finished with my Gillette New Short Open Comb Big Boy Chromium Deluxe (what a mouthful.... but he's quite a razor) and a Polsilver SI razor blade, going XTG. No ATG for this shave at all for fear of too much razor burn. I played it safe.

The end result is what I would consider a SAS. I get DFS without any trouble these days with my DE safety razors and once in a Blue Moon I'll get the BBS shave. Still, I'm very happy with this shave. It felt like it was double the improvement over the first one.... and the feeling of using a straight is behind words. It's such a joy to use such a simple tool to do an everyday job. Especially in this world full of complicated technology.... where people troubleshoot more than they know what the hell they're doing. Try it until something seems to work.... nevermind if you know for sure or not that it worked. With a straight.... it's pretty clear cut as to whether it worked or not..... literally..... and that is refreshing.

I ended by cleaning up the razor, drying it and stropping it about 20 times on the smooth side of my strop. I think I may take another day off from the straight tomorrow.... but Wednesday I'll be right back at it.

Ben

 

[oakeshott]

Ben, sounds like you are doing great. Taking your time and not forcing things. The Engels needed more face time. Thanks for giving it to her.

m

 

[mistercitizen]

Straight Razor Shave #3

This evening I used my Boker Edelweiss and did a couple WTG passes on both sides of my face and neck with a little more success. I stropped the razor before use, which seemed to go fine. I didn't nick the strop or anything, so that was good. The shave felt much more comfortable and my strokes were a little quicker which resulted in less tugging. After a couple passes I finished up with my Gillette DE razor. I had a few nicks here and there on my face but nothing life threatening. I finished by cleaning up the Boker and drying it off. While I finished cleaning up it air dried some more and I finished by stropping it about 20 to 30 times. I oiled it with some mineral oil and let it sit out in the open for another 10 minutes or so and then put it away. One thing that has surprised me is how quickly little rust spots show up if you leave it sit just for a few minutes wet. I'm always able to rub the spots out with some mineral oil and a cotton swab, but it just seems a little strange.... like I can't turn my back on the straight for a second.

Anyway, pretty decent shave this evening. I'm going to stick to an every other day kind of schedule with the straights. One interesting and somewhat unexpected thing I've found is that after I use a straight for one shave and then I go back to using a DE, it seems that my technique (blade angle and attention to no pressure) with the DE razor is better. Probably because I focus so much more and go slower with the straight.... so I'm kind of in that mode and it carries over to my DE shaves. It's a good thing.

Ben

 

[mistercitizen]

Today was a day off.... although my DE razor shave was a little rough this evening. I'm kind of anxious to get back to the straight again.

Ben