shmeegs shaving journal

Hello guys (and the occational gal)! I figured I would get one of these started starting with the new year. Let me give you a bit of background info. I have been DE shaving for the last 4 years, using a Parker shavette for the last yr, and started straight razor shaving last month. I bought a whippeddog.com sight unseen package with a strop and a barber hone. The razor I got was a Clauss. I have been enjoying shaving with that for the last month but the last shave I had with it pulled a bit too much and I had to finish with my shavette. So last night I decided to check out some barber honing videos and watched the video by xmacd about 10 times and about 5 more times this morning.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UaQyweJ7qU

My razor is not a smiling version so I just did a normal x pattern for 10 passes. I used my shaving soap combo lather for my lather with the hone. My hone is not as long as his in the video but once I figured out the stroke, it was not as difficult as I thought. After honing for a little bit, I did the thumbnail test and passed with no difficulty. I did about 20 passes on my leather strop and got ready for my shower and shave.

I showered, dried off, threw on some boxers and lathered up with my VDH deluxe boar brush and some shaving soap combo. (Basically I take all leftover shaving soaps, stack them in a bowl, put some hot water on it, let it sit overnight, and in the morning dump out all the water, and mold the mass like clay and stuff it back in the bowl). The lather is super slick and provides nice cushion. I lather up and get ready for my first pass. I nervously place the blade to my sideburn area and with a nervous attitude start my N-S pass. I was so nervous that it was going to pull again, that I almost jumped for joy when there was no pull at all. I did a complete N-S pass and was absolutely shocked with how smooth I was able to make the blade.

I lathered up again and decided that with the weather and the wind, I would just do another N-S pass instead of my usual ear to chin pass. It was so smooth that it didn't feel like I was shaving. I love that feeling and can't wait to try the shave again. The shave was not BBS but DF and I know that even in the battle with the elements, my face won't feel like a piece of leather.

The one thing I can't get used to is trying to use the straight on my stache area. Not so much with the N-S pass but more so with the out to in pass. The shavette is easy to maneuver but I have a bit of trouble creating a good pass on that area. No cuts or irritation but alot of awkwardness and nervousness.

I eventually want to get some Norton hones, and would love some advice on what grit and what it a must have hone, and what would be great to buy on top of that. Thanks for all of the help guys and can't wait to report back tomorrow. Peace!

Thanks for the inspiring post! I am still relatively new to all this, but have got a great edge off my barber's hone. The standard for Nortons seems to be 1000 to set a bevel, and a 4000/8000 set as the standard to get to shave edge, give or take some finishing on a finer grit of some kind, barber hone, balsa, etc. I love the idea of basically being able to keep a shave ready edge with a barber's hone, balsa, and strop.

Hello again,

Normal morning routine. 20 strokes on my leather strop after my shower.

I lathered up some Crabtree and Evelyn Sienna soap with my Tweezerman brush and lathered it in my bowl.

I did my N-S pass with no issues. I decided to give the ear to nose shaving pass a shot today. And boy was I suprised that my face wasn't a mess at the end of the day. I am still have a bit of difficulty at trying to make that pass on my upper lip just due to the sheer size of the blade. I am trying to tilt the blade slightly to only allow the upper tip of the blade to make contact with skin and it did a better job. I started to feel a bit of tugging at the end of the shave and I wonder if I am not doing enough passes on the strop. I have heard anywhere from 30-40 so I will give that a shot tomorrow, baring any unforseen issues with time management. After my shave, I used my alum block and didn't really feel any sting. I usually apply both an aftershave balm, as well as my go to moisterizer during these winter months as my "wussy" skin usually can't take the abuse without me looking like leather itself.

I do have a question however. I hear people talking about when to strop and the common answer is before every shave. But if you do it after you shave, do you still need to do it before the next shave? Or is doing it twice, just make that blade that much better?

I'm really happy in my results and am happy at all the support and assistance from my fellow shavers. Good luck to you all and talk to you soon!

Up and Down, up and down, up and down

That goes for both the motion of the strop and how my shave routine was today. I gave myself enough time to do a full routine and enough more time so I could take my time with it. I took my shower, put on some pre-shave oil, and went to the strop to do 40 strokes. I decided to try a rolling X where the blade stays on the strop and just rolls to the other side to complete the X. It was so comfortable and easy that I actually enjoyed stropping.... that was until I got a little flashy and stuck the edge directly into the strop making a nice slice on the one edge of the strop.

I decided to slow down and take it at a slower pace. I finished my strop session and went a lathered some of my shave soap combo with my VDH brush and lathered away. I also tried to shave with hot water today. I normally like a cold water shave. More refreshing to me but I figured a change was necessary. I lathered it up and I had a Santa Beard in no time. I paintbrushed it the best I could to minimize the size of it and went to the shave.

The shave was amazing. It glided like nothing I dealt with prior to.... that was until my 2nd pass. I started to feel the tug. I changed my angle.... tug. I relathered.... tug. I finally found something that I could tolerate for the shave and was done after the 2nd pass. I rinsed off real quick and put on the alum thinking a 3rd degree burn was in store, and found that other than one spot there wasn't even any sting. My face felt sore (not really pain but sore) afterwords and I thought that maybe a blade restore was in order. I must have done some damage to the blade on my stropping pass so I decided to use my barber hone a bit and tomorrow use my balsa wood to finish. I did about 8 or 10 barber hone passes. Turn the hone sideways and did a light back and forth, up and down hone pass for about 5 times. I rinsed off the hone and the blade and felt a sting in my thumb. I sliced my thumb good. No blood but it was deep.

I put on my CeraVe moisterizer in the hopes of not having a damage to the face.

Cheers to another day of experience.

Good start.

Don't worry about the strop - almost all of us do that when we're just starting out. Since were smart and started out with Larry's kit, you're not out much if you cut that strop up.

I think you're on the right track - nicking the strop may have messed up your blade a little bit. It's hard to tell, hopefully it's not too bad where you need someone to rehone it. Also, being new small changes in technique may be the culprit. I think honing it on the barbers hone and then going to Larry's balsa hone is a good idea. If it doesn't work you may need someone to hone.

In an answer to a previous question - if you do a full stropping regimine after the shave you probably don't need to strop before in the morning. We've had a few people ask about that on here and give it a try and it doesn't seem to negatively affect performance overnight. If you don't shave for a week though in between, I'd definately strop it.

How I do it is after the shave I strop on the canvas 20 times then set it out. Personal preference, I figure I'd let the blade completely dry after stropping. Before the shave I do 20 more on canvas and 40-60 on leather.

Let us know how the next shave goes and if the honing helps it out.

Hi Shmeegs! Not sure how I missed this journal, but it seems you are off to great start!

Brent gave you some great advice. I'm not sure about using a rolling xstroke on a strop tho...just a normal xstroke while keeping the spine and edge on the strop should be all you need for great shave.

Time for a recap.

On friday, I decided to use my balsa strop that I got from whippeddog. I used both the chromium oxide and the iron oxide side and finished with the leather.

My next shave was with my DE and feather blade. I was enjoying the shave and how carefree the shave is. It's not as mentally fatiguing is straight shaving and I enjoyed and missed that.

So I woke up this morning pumped up and ready to go. I stropped a bit on the leather and got my shower and ready for the shave and it was.... "eh". The shave wasn't really uncomfortable but it wasn't really comfortable. I was really disappointed in how it turned and really don't know where to go from here. I was expecting a great shave and it turned to just being decent. I hope it's just a bad shave and the next will be better, but I'm getting really turned off by this ordeal. I took a look at the blade and it looked really good. It looked sharp. It had a nice mirrored finish but the shaves aren't just what I could get from my shavette and I thought they would be equal. I'm wondering if I screwed up the blade and what the alternative is. I should probably look into another blade and have one for my attempt at rehoning and another to have professionally done.

Not sure your total number of shaves but for many it takes a while to get into the groove. After a few weeks I didn't really think about it anymore when I started, it began to be natural so I think you can get the carefree feeling with it also.

Not sure where you've gettting the uncomfortableness of the shave - if it's only XTG or ATG, etc. You may want to try 2 WTG passes and much of the advice around here is trying to keep the spine as close to the skin as possible.

You could have damaged the edge when you cut your strop. You may want to have it out for a hone to be sure.

I'm not trying to start any acquisition disorder but it's not a bad idea to have a second razor even if you hone your own. That way when one needs a honing, you have a backup to use.

I shaved for about a year with my Parker shavette and after a while I learned what I can, can't, and shouldn't do with a straight and that transition was pretty easy. I only do two passes. One WTG all over, and one WTG on the neck and ear to chin on the face. That gives me DFS with no irritation. I don't think my techique could change that much when using a shavette when compared to a straight so IMO it's the razor which means either I have more money to spend on another razor or I am doing something wrong with stropping or honing. I thought that my barber hone would be enough to restore the razor and then by using the balsa wood and leather, reconfigure the razor back to shape, but it doesn't seem to work and I really don't wanna have to send the razor out and have to pay for all the cost.

A traditional straight will never be quite as sharp as a shavette, although my kamisori is pretty darned close. What kind of a razor did you have again? I'll rehone it for you, but I don't do "beauty queens", or razors that cost more than my hones.....just pay shipping....oh, and I'm in Hawaii so mail takes a while...

Kent = da man

I did a shavette shave today. Parker shavette with Derby Professional blade. VDH boar brush with my soap combo. Face lather. Alum block and Polo Blue aftershave balm.

I also had some time before work to try my attempt at repair of the razor. I did 10 passes on my barber hone. I also did 20 passes on my balsa strop on each side and I lost count of how many passes on the leather. I also did the leather passes flat. I'm worried that I am not doing my strop passes right and maybe ruining the edge, so I layed the leather strop on the balsa strop and did my passes slowly on that.

I'm praying that I got my straight back to a useable condition. More to post tomorrow.

shmeegs said:

I did a shavette shave today. Parker shavette with Derby Professional blade. VDH boar brush with my soap combo. Face lather. Alum block and Polo Blue aftershave balm.

I also had some time before work to try my attempt at repair of the razor. I did 10 passes on my barber hone. I also did 20 passes on my balsa strop on each side and I lost count of how many passes on the leather. I also did the leather passes flat. I'm worried that I am not doing my strop passes right and maybe ruining the edge, so I layed the leather strop on the balsa strop and did my passes slowly on that.

I'm praying that I got my straight back to a useable condition. More to post tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Good luck tomorrow shmeegs - enjoying the journal.

Not a bad idea to strop on leather with a flat surface. Let us know how it goes.

Well, I don't know if it was the shaving god or my skill with the hone but I shaved with the straight and it wasn't too bad. Much better than the last one.

I decided to start stroping on a flat surface. Keeps myself from putting slack on the strop.

I bowl lathered up some C&E Sienna with my VDH boar and did my usual straight shave passes. My first is a complete N-S pass with the second being more Ear to Chin. The shave wasn't bothersome, but comfortable. I usually get done with my shift and start to get some visable stubble back which is ok for me. I did the alum test and didn't have any sting to it. I put on some extra moisterizer just incase and did my day. My face didn't hurt at all at work today.

Let's go two for two tomorrow and I'll give you all the details.

Awesome! Maybe this is the turning point...

I did a quick one pass and moustache touch up with my straight today. I just used a bit of barbasol on the face and did a normal N-S pass and re-applied some more foam to the stache region and did my normal out to in pass there. My face didn't hurt, I just think that the normal shave would have turned my face into a mess. Even while showering, my normal exfoliating face wash didn't feel as comfortable.

I learned two things in this shave. I now remember why barbasol (or other canned lather) is not nearly as good as real lather. Don't get me wrong, I do use Barbasol. Not as much as created lather, but it is my go-to quick shave lather. If time is the issue, I recommend using something else. If it isn't then you can get by with using it, you just have to be really careful. The lather is slick (probably slicker than regular lather) however I learned two things by using it. It will dry out on your face, so straight razor shaving is probably out when using it (unless you splash some water on it or relather), but the more important things is that is kinda numbs your face. I didn't have any tug or pull when shaving, but the alum block told me otherwise. I know that it's probably going to stay in the undersink cabinet for straight shaves, but I didn't mind the experience. I didn't have any redness, but my face just felt tight. I put on aftershave balm, but with the weather and the lather, I think my face was a bit dried out.

I am really starting to enjoy stropping now. I sit on my bed with my strop and my balsa strop and do my passes with my cat just sitting there watching. I lay the strop on the wood and hold it at an angle that is comfortable for me to use my one hand. I usually put on Pandora radio on my Iphone and take my time doing it. No fatique, no rushing, no bordom. Just doing what needs done.

I have a busy day tomorrow, but I look forward to another shave. More to follow, fellow shavers. Good shaves to you all and good night.

I know people who smear regular shave cream on their face, massage it with their fingers to create a faint lather and then shave directly. IMO, if I were pressed for time, I would rather do this than resort to canned foam.

Keep up the good work with the straights!

So let me recap the last two days....

no straight shaves.

I really wanted to but something happened to my eyes and I couldn't wear my contacts. I had to wear my glasses and I won't attempt a straight shave without wearing contacts. I made that mistake once and ended up with an inch size slice on my jaw. So instead I did two shaves with my DE razor with my feather blades, and I will go back to the straight tomorrow.

I'm done. Thats enough for me. After my shave this morning, I am giving up on straight shaving..... at least until I get some more money saved up and get either a new razor or a hone set (or maybe both )

It was the worst shave I have ever done in my whole life. The shave when I was 8 and I wanted to be cool like my dad and sliced myself to high heaven because I didn't know what lather was, nor good technique, was still better than my shave today. I think I pulled every hair out of my face. It wasn't an uncomfortable shave, but the damage was noticable. I didn't even slice myself. I just looked like I rubbed bacon grease on my face and left it there. I had red bumps all over my face, my face burned with the fire of a thousand firey souls. You know when it doesn't look good, when your significant other (my wife) asked "what did you do to your face?" I did a great stropping session. I took my time stropping it. The razor looked perfect. The edge was shiny as could be. I thought that this would be my best shave and it turned out to be a horrible experience, one in which I don't wanna deal with for any period of time.

I am so disappointed. Disappointed in the time and money wasted. Disappointed in myself. I take full responsibility on my actions and state that I really wanted to have this as a new hobby and passion, but every experience is turning me off shaving. And that is what I really don't want. I live for the shave. I love shaving. I love the "me" time. I love the new things to try. But maybe this style of shaving, just needs to hold off for a bit.

I will still be looking for straight shave journals to write on. I still will use my shavette and can provide some decent insight for that, but take this from me, You better have alot of time and mucho denero to get into this. The cheap set will work for a bit but you need money to get everything you need. I will still hold on to the items I have now (razor, 2 strops, balsa wood, barber hone) for later, but they are going into a box and being set aside. I put oil on the razor and sadly placed it in the box knowing, it probably won't get seen for a long time.

I wanna finish this journal with a big thanks to all who answered my random, stupid, and probably repetitive questions. I wish everyone the best of the luck in their trails and tribulations involving straight shaving, but my heart, nor my wallet, can't take anymore abuse. As always, best of luck and happy shaving.

*tear swells up