My Very First Full Shave!

[rokerdepipe]

Well, I gotta thank you fellas here. This was quite a morning. I received my DOVO razor back from Mr. Abrams. It was hard to send it to him to hone but I took all of your advice and did that. I think I'm glad I did! :biggrin1:

I took my shower as usual, letting the water really soak in to my skin. I then lathered up with some lavender-scented Taylor of Old Bond Street soap. I took the razor and stropped it 15 times on the linen side, and 30 times on the leather side of the strop. Then I added some more water on my brush, put some more lather on my face, and took the plunge.

Started with the cheeks, then under the jaw line. Drew the blade up from the neck towards the finished part of the jaw line. Then down just underneath the chin to the Adam's apple, gently around that area with oh so light pressure. Then it was under the lower lip and chin area. That was tricky! Then more lather on the upper lip and tackled that area. I then rinsed with water my whole face, lathered up again, and repeated.

I used light pressure throughout, got a few nicks (to be expected you all say) and no major cuts. After the second time around, I think that the shave was pretty good. I know that it will get better. Running my hands around my face I can feel where there are spots to improve, but overall the face is smooth and I could dress and go out anywhere.

I wiped my blade clean and am storing it downstairs where it's dry. I suppose for my next shave, I strop it some more, eh?

I read the post on razor burn (which I have) and I've put on lots of razor burn emolients (Neutrogena) and this is helping some. I'll let my face rest tomorrow, and tackle her again on Thursday morning with a safety razor, going a second time with the straight so that I can practice moving my hands around!

Any other suggestions?

[Steelforge]

Sounds like a good start, well done. :thumbup:

Yes you'll need to strop before each shave, as it re-aligns the fine cutting edge of the blade and makes quite a difference to the sharpness and shave comfort.

Keep up the good work, it gets better the more you practice. :thumbup1:

[mjsorkin]

I don't think it's a good idea to strop a razor that you get from Lynn untill after you have used it. From my understanding, he ships them "shave ready", meaning that they are honed, stropped, and fine tuned. Additional stropping doesn't really improve it from that point, but can easily dull the blade especially if you are inexperienced.

I'm not speaking for Lynn, that's just my opinion.

---Michael

[Joe Chandler]

Strop your razors before shaving, but know what you're doing. I don't care who you get it from, and I've gotten them from the best. The only downside is that if you don't know what you're doing, you might mess up the edge. Lynn sends them shave ready, as do I or Randy, or Bill, (those are the only ones I have experience with) but I still recommend stropping. But again, only if you know what you're doing. Stropping is a an incredibly important part of the shave, and takes practice.

[moviemaniac]

It's okay to strop a freshly honed razor before using - but I'd warn you against using the linen side regularly - 15 rounds on the leather side is all you need and one wrong move on the linen side and you'll have to send it away once again to have it honed ;)

But it sounds like you've had a good start - enjoy your shaves! :thumbup:

[Thebigspendur]

For a first shave it sounds like you did a fabulous job. I agree with the others that stropping is vital to good shaving. As far as the linen side goes there is debate over that. I use it every time.