Hi all! I've had thoughts for a few years of learning to shave with a straight razor. I'm 27, in the US Coast Guard, and have to shave every day for work. I've always thought of it as a chore and often just used an electric razor to get a SAS. I decided to change up my routine and spend a little more care on the job. Recently I took the plunge and went the boutique route with a full The Art of Shaving set (Sandalwood pre-shave oil, shaving cream, and aftershave lotion and upgraded to the Fine badger brush). I also bought a TAOS Thiers-Issard straight razor which is a beauty.

Well, the first few shaves have been far from satisfactory. It's a combination of lack of experience, poor technique, and I'm also pretty sure that my factory honed razor is not as sharp as it should be. I don't know if I've managed to dull it immediately through inexperienced handling or what, but after 3 shaves I've set it aside until I can get a good strop and possibly a hone. I have a fairly coarse beard and the razor just skips across it without a good cutting action no matter how long I take with my lathering routine.

My question is, how much sharpness can I hope to bring back by a good stropping? The razor seems very sharp and close examination even with a loupe can't detect any flaws in the edge. It takes the fine hair off my arm like a breeze but the coarse hair of my beard is defeating it. I'd hate to have to ship my new razor off to a honemeister or mess it up by trying to hone it myself. For now I'm putting a 3" strop on order from ClassicShaving.com and will try that.

I love that there are people who take every interest very seriously and I can find them on the internet to ask questions - This forum reminds me a lot of a pipe-smoking forum I've spent a little time on - generous members who like to post pictures of their collections and their 'smoke of the day'

Thanks all!

You need to get a hold of Glen (gssixgun). He is our resident Straight razor master restorer.

Take a look at some of his work. He can answer your questions.

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/the-sheffield-quintuplets.25036/#post-435143

By the way:

Welcome to the Den.

We know you'll fit right in.

So grab yourself a comfy chair,

and give our threads a spin!

Burma Shave

I am pretty new to straight shaving myself, with about 20 shaves under my belt, but from what I understand a factory honed razor isn't satisfactory for shaving and should be honed before using. It sounds like your razor is not sharp enough, which is really something only you can determine by your shave. People do the hanging hair test and think that if it cuts the hair, it's sharp enough. That is not necessarily true. It's your shave that determines whether it is sharp enough and it sounds like yours is not. Furthermore you must have a strop to strop your razor before each and every shave. A strop doesn't sharpen your edge, but rather re-aligns it. If you have shaved three times with an already not sharp enough razor and then don't strop it before the shaves, it is going to be a rough shave. If I were you, I would send it off to be honed by a pro so you know it's sharp. Then when you get it you can do a hanging hair test or whatever other test you want and you will know how a properly honed razor responds to that particular test. Then you can apply that knowledge to the future and the test that you do will actually mean something because you can compare the results to your initial test of the professionally honed razor to what you have at the time. I wouldn't shave with the razor until you at least get a strop and strop it, but probably not until it gets professionally honed. I'm pretty sure if you send a PM to Glen (GSsixgun) he can help you out with honing. Good luck with your future shaves and keep us posted.

First, welcome to the Den!

I'll second Glen gssixgun. He's done some great work for me, and a great guy to work with.

Welcome to TSD! This is the best wet shave board on the planet!

hi and welcome to The shave den, (Glen is the man to ask)

Welcome to TSD! I'm a DE shaver myself, but you can already see we have plenty of straight razor shavers with good advice.

Welcome to the Den young man. This IS the place to be for answers advice and just good chatter along with some humor. I also give a nod toward Glen as the local St8 meister here. There are also some very informative videos on youtube showing the how to on shaving and on how to hone and strop your blades. Hope you enjoy the family here!

Welcome to the Den! Enjoy your stay here and Happy Shaving!

Welcome to The "Den" I think I answered over at SRP but just in case, Most edge issues that you create with a strop can be corrected with a strop...
You would really have to mess it up like stropping backward or rolling on the edge instead of the spine to hurt the edge that bad...
AOS Unfortunately follows along with TI when they claim "Shave Ready" from the factory , to be sure the edges are much much better now then they ever were in the past and some razors with dedicated stropping can give decent shaves from the factory... The problem comes from a perfect storm of beginner problems combined with razor problems..
You have a barely shaving sharp razor, with a factory bevel, which means that it is steeper then it should be, which also means that even if you attempt to hone it better, it is a bit of a chore for a new honer to find the proper bevel...
They can be stropped in, especially if you use the TI paste, but then again as a new user you can really mess up the edge even faster with pastes..
They can be made to shave smoother with a bit of purposeful stropping , but again as a new user that is something that you are not comfortable with ...
Now an experienced user can actually shave with a less than perfect edge, because we know our beards, and we know the angles, and actually how and what a Scything stroke is.. As a new user you are probably going, Huh???
Prep and lathering also plays a large part, again something you are still working on...

All these things combine to make it almost impossible for a new guy to succeed, which is why all the shave forums have grown

The best way to start is to have a razor that there is no doubt about it being "shave ready" and to start simply on the flat parts of the cheeks and with each shave you expand on the parts you shave, this allows for a slow steady learning curve with all the aspects I talked about above...

For now,Try the stropping laying the strop along the edge of a table do 100 perfect laps slow and steady learning the flip, then try another shave only on the cheeks from the side burn line to the jaw line concentrating on keeping the spine the 2 spine widths away from the skin for your angle... See how that works for you, try it at least three times, if the razor is still pulling then PM me and I'll hone it up for you for free, you pay shipping

Hope all that helped.

Glen, thanks for explaining it so that even a non-straight razor guy like myself can understand.

qwkdtsn, you are in very capable hands!

Glen, what a super offer!! I really appreciate that along with all of the welcomes and advice I've received so far. I'm looking forward to getting a truly shave ready straight razor to learn with. For now I have been using all of my newly learned pre-shave routine steps along with the TAOS products and Fine Badger brush and a Schick Hydro razor and I have to say the results are definitely DFS!! Before dinner on Thanksgiving I shaved against the grain for the first time in years and had a very nearly BBS shave. Man did that feel good. Looking forward to learning to achieve those results with a straight razor is going to be fun.

Once again, thanks all, and Glen, don't be surprised if you get a PM from me soon!

Welcome,
I think you will find this a great place to learn and share.
Where are you stationed out of? Whats your rating?
I don't know who here is X-coast guard, but there are a bunch of X-squids here.
Welcome aboard.

Greetings and welcome to the friendly confines of the Den.

Mechguy,
I'm an AET2 (avionics/electrical tech 2nd class) stationed at Air Station Borinquen in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Flight mechanic on MH-65C Dolphin short-range rescue helicopters. Coming up on 8 years in the Guard.

Cool! Avionics!! That was my field for 20 years, Air Force.