Got one of the kits back, so I'll be putting it under some light maintenance for turn around. JayKay-- Your up next -- are you stil interested in participating?
this was an OUTSTANDING opportunity to try out Straight Razor Shaving. I was able to get a bloodless shave and it is a GREAT experience. Thanks Chris for sharing your stuff. Tom
JayKay, If I would say one thing about str8 shaving.. FOCUS ON TECHNIQUE Don't worry about the BBS or even the quality of the shave at all. Learn and get comfy with the holding and contortions you need to acquire.. OH! YEAH!! Another thing... Don't tap your cheek to make a mental point...when you have the straight in hand Hahahahaha YES it is true!
Hahhh. I'll keep all mental points for after shaving. As for technique, I'm already practicing contorting my face :laugh042
I am working on both stropping and trying to shave. I'm still having a bit of trouble putting a nice edge on the razor even after watching numerous videos on it. So bad strop job is leading a to rather bad and tuggy/painful shave. I need to keep working on it...
JayKay, The razor came with a decent edge on it. IWhen I first held razor to strop I was too heavy handed. You want just a light glide spine leading. The weight of the razor is all you need. I messed up the edge on the first razor I tried but luckily Chris put three razors in the kit. So I proceded to learn, fairly well, with the two good edge razors I didn't mess up whenb first stropping. Remember: WORK ON technique not worrying about a smooth shave. This advice really helped me...
That was my problem. An over zealous stropping right out of the box. There was a decent edge on both of them but my first stropping may have been a bit on the loose side. I've been stropping and shaving since very lightly on a tight strop. I need to touch it up with a DE but its coming along. All in all though this whole experiance has really made me understand how much work goes into straight shaving and is also making me consider a feather AC, maybe a non folding razor. But of course I'm going to keep this going and trying and see where it takes me.
SER Trial Statistics I thought it'd be nice to tally up the results (so far) of the SER trial. Based on posts within this thread and others, it appears that there have been 4 participants that took up SER shaving after using the kits, and three that did not. Here they are by name-- Sparky5693 [*]Mottern Man [*]Issy [*]TOB9595 TraderJoe [*]Jim [*]Baloosh If this is not accurate, please post your position.
I am enjoying str8 shaving! My only problem is the prep, cost, and time involved once you've purchased everything. I thin after this I may try a feather non-folding and see how it shaves. If its almost as great as a str8, I may buy one. I love it though, and am dreading parting with it I'll send it back later this week
I stick with my previous post. I like the idea of wet shaving and got some wonderful shaves but the maintnance is pretty crazy and I just dont see my self having the time to strop razors and have the honed multiple times a year. Nor do I have the money to buy hones, razors, strops, etc. I am going to try a shavette and see how that goes. I appreciate the chance to use a straight Chris has provided me with. Thank you chris, and good luck to everybody who plans on trying one.
This is just for now. I may go around to some antique stores and flea markets and see what I can come up with in terms of straight razors. I can always strop on a belt if need be. Maybe theres somebody around that would trade a handful of fixer-upers for a simple shave ready razor. I'll see what I come up with at the stores.
Keep in mind also guys, as you get more experience your shaves will not only get smoother, but faster. I can shave in about 10 minutes... That's from Lather to AS, 1.5 passes, not BBS, but better than any electric or Mach 3. I enjoy spending 30+ and taking some personal time with it, but I can whip out a fast shave if need be. Also, if you get several razors, as many of us do, you won't need to have them honed very often. I hone my favorite blade every 4 months, the rest get honed yearly... If you have a regular rotation, you might not have to send them out for honing but once every year, or two... Or invest in a small barber's hone, and just have a honemeister do the initial sharpening... A shave ready razor can be maintained almost indefinitely with very little investment.
