First Straight Razor arrived today

[erudolph]

Howdy... received my first straight razor today, ordered from Jim at Vintage Blades, a basic Dovo. Came with a 2" strop. The UPS man arrived shortly after I'd finished shaving, so using it will have to wait.

I'm in my mid 60s and have been wet shaving my whole adult life, so I understand the brush/lather/beard direction/pressure/passes... those elements of wet shaving. About straight razor shaving all I remember is that, when I was a kid, the barber used to have a strop hanging from the arm of his chair and would strop his straight before shaving my sideburns and the back of my neck.

Question: this razor is said to be shave-ready. Should I strop it before its first use? Or after?
Thanks for any guidance.

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[kelton]

You might just try shaving with it for your first shave, unless you had stropping experience. Normally you strop before you shave.

 

[erudolph]

Thank you Cliff. No experience with stropping, so will do as you suggest. Am currently watching a DVD on straight shaving that seems to have everything in reverse order. I thought that for newbies it'd begin with the basics of shaving but it begins with collecting, buying on ebay, then proceeds to honing, and i think it's about to get into stropping. Eventually it'll get to how to shave...

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[brother cavefish]

you will get the hang od stropping the trick is the flip, always role the spine and let the blade flop over for the drag- when i first started, which was a couple months ago,LOL-- i did not pay much attention to the flip, just did it , but once and a while i would cut the leather just a bit- if one strops like a hone it turns out alot better

 

[Earcutter]

Thank you Cliff. No experience with stropping, so will do as you suggest. Am currently watching a DVD on straight shaving that seems to have everything in reverse order. I thought that for newbies it'd begin with the basics of shaving but it begins with collecting, buying on ebay, then proceeds to honing, and i think it's about to get into stropping. Eventually it'll get to how to shave...

That's funny!

Stropping is an art, and one of the best things you can teach yourself early on! Good luck!! Congrats on moving into straights. It'll take a while to master - but the ride is a blast!

 

[Kentos]

Glad you made the jump!

Just give yourself a lot of time for your first shave, say 30-40 minutes. Time flys on those first few nerve wracking shaves.

 

[PFP_Dad]

Enjoy, there is nothing quite as satisfying a your first successful straight shave.

 

[erudolph]

Enjoy, there is nothing quite as satisfying a your first successful straight shave.

chris, what's your ballpark estimate on how long from the first shave to the successful shave?

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[PFP_Dad]

I think I've been at straights on/off for about a month and finally seem to be getting it down. Prior to that I've been just cleaning up problem areas with a DE or gave myself some wicked razor burn. I didn't find the general concept that hard, but getting all the angles down is the challenge. Some people use their left hand for half the shave, whereas I can only seem to use my right for the whole thing.

My advice is that if you just try to cover a little more surface area each day with the straight (master one new area, angle, etc) its a lot more fun than just going after your face for half a dozen passes trying to get BBS. I don't go ATG with a straight, I just do two passes WTG and one XTG and it worked great. Good luck on the journey, it's a blast to learn and not nearly as scary as people think.

 

[erudolph]

Would olive oil be an okay substance for oiling the blade after shaving?

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[kelton]

Would olive oil be an okay substance for oiling the blade after shaving?

I'm guessing for corrosion resistance ? You would be better to rinse it with alcohol and dry with a towel or tissue. Olive oil will go rancid and get sticky over time. Mineral oil is another good choice. I use a microfiber cloth to dry and a sleeve from TSS for storage

 

[sanfranciscian]

Welcome Ed, congrats on your purchase, that dovo will serve you well to learn on. Like you i started later in life with the straight and think it was actually a perfect time to do this, It is going to take a little time to sort things out and i am assuming you are semi to full retired and have that time. up to an hour for those first tenuous shaves is quite reasonable so don't feel like you need to rush things at all. You will have a sharp learning curve now and that should keep you well engaged for now. Please know it will take some time, think months not weeks to get a good basic set of skills to move forward but i can absolutely say if you hang with it the rewards are worth it. Good luck and we are here when you need us. as far as oil i cant really say as i don't use it and have not really had any issues with my razors, I just clean them up with a little maas once in a while and have not seen any rust yet. may be a squirt of something on the pins once in a while would be prudent?

Ian

 

[erudolph]

thank you kelton and sanfranciscian. i'll skip the olive oil.

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[cleanshaved]

Ed. If you want to use oil try camellia oil.
I have the sleeve from TSS my daily shaver and use the camellia oil for pins every now and then, seems to work well.
If I am not going to use that razor for a while i will lighty oil before storing.

 

[erudolph]

Thanks Chris.... I actually have some oil on order but it won't be here for a week and I'm wanting to get started, take the plunge, break the ice, etc... From what I'm getting here I can go ahead and do that, with wiping dry.

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