1st Shave.. some impressions.

Well, wanted to pass on my first shave feedback and see if I can get some tips on how to improve it.

First off, easily the hardest thing I found was making that first contact with my face. The depth perception looking into the mirror was a bit tricky and I didn't' know what to expect at first contact.

I used my TI "Wheat Berry" blade after stropping it on the linen about 15 round trips, and then the leather another 15 times. It was sharp from what I can see, but not as sharp as I thought it would be. I have an extremely thick beard (in terms of the thickness of my hair).. typical Mediterranean male growth I guess. So anyway, I noticed that with a 30 degree angle, I was still sort of ripping hair off. I shaved only in the direction of growth, but in some cases I had to do 3 or 4 passes to get a clean shave, with there being less and less resistance as I made additional passes. The good news is I felt more and more confident with every stroke, and considering that I did as many as 4 passes over some areas, I wasn't irritated or burned afterwards. The bad news is it probably took me about 25 min to shave and I didn't get quite as close as I had hoped.

I have a Belgian stone for honing.. should I hone my blade? They claim it comes shave ready, and I also have a Dovo that I purchased that also claims to come shave ready that I'm going to try tomorrow, but how "easy" should the hair shave off (considering my thick beard) and considering I did everything else tight with the soap, and hot towel prep, etc..

Thanks

The only thing that everyone really agrees with is that new straights are not shaving sharp out of the box. The best advice is to find someone who knows how to hone a razor, and get it honed. I wouldn't try to sharpen your TI. I'd advise picking up a practice razor and working on that first.

I want to work on sharpening skills, for sure. Thanks.

Given good prep and a keen edge, there should only be a little resistance. Also practice skin stretching, sometimes it can reduce the pulling sensation.

Even if you don't mind practicing on your TI, I would still back up the advice to have it honed right first. This should let you work on your shaving technique while at the same time providing you with a benchmark for your future honing adventures. Have the TI honed and practice on the Dovo.

both blades went out today to Lynn Abrams for a "bench mark" hone. I'm also buying a $50 used blad to work with on my Belgian yellow stone.

The thing that both blades did with my beard is there was a but of pulling, or in other words, more resistance to cut the hair than I expected. I don't know how much of that is new guy technique (maybe my angle was greater than 30 degrees), and how much was blade dullness.

anyway, in a week or so, I'll have them back and will try again.

BTW.. not related to this topic, but I'd be curious to know, in terms of quality, if my silvertip badger brush should look sort of disheveled after I used it? or should all the hairs stay together nicely? It's only when it's wet and after I rinse it out that I notice some of the hairs are all bent and going in random directions? Is this normal for a $100+ brush to do?

thanks

You'll have to post a pic, but in general there is a little "bloom" to be expected in new brushes.