Today's shave was with a newly acquired, restored, and honed razor. It's been 4 days since the last shave. I had to look scruffy, for the Texas Renaissance Festival. Well, I expected a tough shave, but I was surprised to find utter smoothness. One pass would have been good enough for a DFS, but I went for two passes. I stropped the blade, about 15 times, on the leather, between the 1st and 2nd pass, and was rewarded with a buttery smooth ATG pass. I ended up with a BBS shave. I don't know anything about this razor, other than the name, but it looks, feels, and hones, and shaves like Swedish Steel. Razor- Hauptner Brush- B400 By Tom Soap- Arko/Avon Spicy Aftershave- Pinaud Clubman
Straight Razor Sunday for me. Another rep with my 6/8 Frederick Reynolds and my 30DC brush. Today I went with Stirling Gentleman which I like but the wife isn't a huge fan so this will be a rare Stirling we dont reorder. A little tugging and pulling at first not sure if its because I have 3 or 4 days growth or Im just not doing my part with the strop. So I stopped and went back to the strop 40 passes on both linen and leather and back to shaving. Also I noticed I have a little more luck when the soap is a little wetter/not as thick as I shave slower with a straight. May only lather half my face at a time moving forward as it seems to to dry a little by the time I get to my left side. Overall another close shave after revisiting the strop but I can tell sharpness is starting to diminish. I'm sure it's technique based, one side of the linen had diamond paste maybe I'll use that first and then go back go 40 on linen and leather and see if it comes back some. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
You always need very wet lather, when using a straight. Also, don't use the pasted linen strop, too much, only when needed. After each shave, I use an unpasted linen strop, about 23-30 light strokes. Then 35-45 light strokes on the leather. If you have a really coarse beard, then increase your stropping, and do 10-20 strokes, on the leather, between shave passes. If your stropping isn't correct, it can kill an edge. Bad angle, too much pressure, and too much slack are mistakes commonly made(I've been guilty of that, when starting out).
Prob a combination of all. I used to go through a cart a week because of my beard and DE wear quickly too. Thick and fast growth combined with noob skills make if tough on razors I'll have to remember to keep the lather thinner, I had gotten better at making a nice thick lather but it def seems to slow the razor down and make it feel like it's sticking to my face. Also this is probably the longest Ive gone between shaves. Not sure how much that effects it but I almost never have 3 days or more growth. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
It makes a little difference, with several days growth. Try stropping on a flat surface, with your strop, many suggest a table, until you get your stropping skills down. Also, definitely increase the number of strokes on the leather. I don't do ATG passes every time, but do WTG and XTG, most shaves. When learning, use short strokes, until your comfort level increases.
Never tried ATG. I usually do 2 passes though to make sure I got everything. 1 WTG 1 at about 45 deg to that. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
I usually would not use a straight with just 16 hours since my last shave but I wanted to put this cream to the straight razor test. This razor was touched up on a GMK 20k and then went through the pasted strops including 50k and 100k diamond paste. The edge was very sharp and still smooth. The cream took a little work to lather in the bowl and get the right amount of water. It did produce a slick and wet lather, nice for a straight razor shave. Four passes yielded just tickle from the alum, I thought I nailed the BBS but fell a little short. It is hard to follow up with a BBS after just 16 hours. Irritation A Closeness A- Smoothness A Sharpness A+ Razor: Brian Brown 7/8 half hollow Stop: T Miller Brush: Thäter silver tip Pre: Nivea Soap: “A” AS: Speick, Antaeus ASB Scent: Chanel Antaeus
7/8 Wacker (Don't Tread on Me) Coate's Lavender Shavemac silver tip 2 band Excellent shave this morning. Have a good one.
There's no time like the present! Seriously, if you're even remotely considering shaving with a straight: there's no point in waiting. The only regret I have about straight shaving, is I put it off for a couple of years. This caused me to miss out on several hundred of the best shaves one could have. Once you take the leap, there's a bunch of enablers here in the waiting, to help feed the new obsession
