New to Straight from Shavette

Yes. It feels much harder to catch my chin hairs with the straight than when I used the shavette.

The shavette cleanly caught them with less effort; as though it needed little-to-no stretching to cleanly cut the hairs. While the straight needs a bit more effort; the heavier hand, I guess, just helped as an equalizer..

MWF this morning. No lasting irritation (beyond a mis-swipe). My chin is cleared with just some additional attention with a heavy-hand behind the blade worked fine.

The Strop Shoppe stuff just isn't cutting it for me. Perhaps the sample I have is the non-tallow based version. Worked fine for a DE shave yesterday (I needed to be presentable for a customer and I'm not there yet).

Odd, I always got great results with Strop Shoppe soaps.

Tallow?

I shaved with a gold dollar yesterday. Very nice shave; ugly razor.
In two passes without trying hard I missed nothing. I think my Hart needs to see a hone: the CrOx isn't cutting it.

Yeah, I have only used the tallow Strop Shoppe, but from what I can tell of the company, if anyone can make a quality veggie soap, I'd think them in that list for sure.

You will find many here who like the result of CrOx and others who don't. I am one who does not like pastes and sprays. If you are getting razors professionally honed (bevel properly set) you only need to focus on a finishing stone. Reading your detailed posts you sound to me like a guy who would enjoy going straight to a Jnat with Tomo Nagura. Over time you could back your way to more and more coarse Nagura's. Look for posts from Gamma and check out TomoNagura.com. Jnats are going to a very different place than synths and pastes while still providing a keen edge. The process can be much more rewarding for some and the shave can be very smooth. Gamma also has great how-to videos on YouTube. Links are on his site. Affordable Jnat finishing setup can very affordable if you learn to appreciate small stones. I like them because they lap easily (flattening process) and they fit nicely in my hand. Coticule is another option. Check out a Coticule.be. Many of the videos are hand held honing which is just a matter of preference that I share.

It's been a while since I posted any news up here.

Recent events: I met up with a gathering of folks from the "other" site locally to learn how to hone and see what abounds... Included quite a few people including Phil from Classicedge.ca which was great. Phil seemed surprised at the condition of the Hart razor (as though I'd treat it badly) with stories of rusted or damaged blades he's seen after only a month or two of use.

One of the other members honed up my Hart razor on a progression of Naniwas to 10k and then on a natural stone with oil (can't recall which, he claimed it was near-20k). I, however, picked up my Griffon and took it to the same stones - it's not been tested as practice.

I got a little feedback, from the group, on stropping to use only light light light pressure when stropping as well. I didn't think I used a lot of pressure but I'll try even less.

So, as a result, I ordered stones. While browsing the interwebs I found a sale on Naniwa SS stones and ordered an 8k and 10k that I want to use to maintain the edge. I'll likely pick up a King 4k to complement it. That'll end my endless reading on Coticles, BB, JNat, CNat, etc... for a while at least


Monday morning: I went back to my baseline soap with Arko. Face lathered up and the Hart gave me the smoothest shave I've ever had with it. I could have easily lived with a one-pass shave but went for two and heard very little cutting-feedback on the second pass. My face felt awesome.

Today I had a customer meeting and picked up the DE razor with Proraso. I often miss the speed I get from a very respectable one-pass DE shave.

This morning I picked up the Hart and Proraso.
A fine two-pass shave that yielded quite acceptable results. I partially missed under my chin: that's still my nemesis though I didn't actually focus on it that much this morning. No sore spots, no nicks and no irritation.

I wanted to see if the Proraso, being glycerine based, would have a different results considering the issues I had earlier with the Strop Shoppe soap. Based on not having any irritation nor tugging: I think it's time to break out the Baker St once more.
Though I do note that the Proraso is far thinner of a lather than if I did my typical Arko or "stick" soaps (I use the MWF and Strop Shoppe as a stick by rubbing a block on my face)

Ok. Testing out the glycerine soaps now that the blade's seen a near-week since honing (figuring that, now, I'm back onto a "stropped edge" feel rather than the buttery smooth of the freshly honed blade).

Yesterday back to the Strop Shoppe. A little irritation on my cheek.
Today: Proraso green to go back for reference. I've a little irritation on my neck from the ATG pass.

Tomorrow will be Arko to see if it's the soap.

On the quality of shave front: this whole week has been solid DFS in 2 passes. Even my chin has been perfect in the last two shaves.

Went back to Proraso and it was nice.
I then had two days with Arko. The first was good ... Then I took my razor to some CrOx and the shave just felt harsh.

I thought I'd take it to the CrOx to just "keep the edge" as people say. Pass it 20-30 laps on the CrOx paddle and try and keep the edge going. Then a few laps on the leather (50 or so). The shave the following day just felt harsh. I didn't even try to do an ATG pass as I would normally have done even last week.

I'm not sure if that's normal but I keep hearing from people that CrOx helps smooth the blade after honing to keep it from being too harsh and it maintains the edge. It just feels like it's gotten worse.

I took it back to the CrOx this morning for another 10 laps and then a few quick passes on leather to see if that helped. Nada. Still a harsh shave this morning.

I'm not sure how to undo this but I'll try some extra passes on the leather and wool tonight to prep for tomorrow.

Additional laps on leather last night (50 or so) and another few this morning before the shave (20) and felt a little better. I'm not sure what I've done but I'll keep adding more stropping than typical to see if I can get it smoother. It felt a little harsh under my nose and around the mouth.

This morning: I used the Strop Shoppe Baker St and got a wonderful brush full of lather. But the lather doesn't seem to be as protective as Arko. I wonder if I do a quick mix of an Arko/Baker St mix how that'd perform.

I did the same CrOx to my Gold Dollar but I've not since used it and have been using the Hart exclusively.

Plus side: I've got the under-the-chin down pat. I've got a while without looking like I missed it. A N-S pass in front and a S-N pass under the chin with my lip curled over my lower teeth with a quick E-W cleanup at the edge and it seems to have it.

I feel like it's boiling a frog: I don't notice too much improvement day-to-day but when I consider what it felt like two or three days ago I sense some change.
The shave hasn't changed much since yesterday - regarding the tugging and pulling. It felt better than early this week but not much changed from yesterday. It does feel, however, to be a little duller only when I evaluate the stubble after two passes. I'll try stropping on CrOx and then leather again tonight to see how that improves for tomorrow.

This morning I did a mix of Arko and Strop Shoppe and face lathered them together; the Strop Shoppe wasn't strong enough to overpower the soapiness from Arko as Proraso is capable. I just ended up with, what felt like, Arko with a hint of Baker St - I'd have rathered one or the other.

After reading zje4 and his SR1: I pulled mine out. Loaded a Bluebird blade and had a great shave. Even used the strop shoppe soap and still was smooth and effortless.

I now notice the poor balance of the SR1's scales and how the shorter blade doesn't give me a clear view of my sideburns but it was a clean quick shave.

That bluebird blade brought back memories. The first pass or two was a little harsh and then it quickly smoothes out. Day two with the same blade was smooth throughout. I miss that little razor and I bet I could be happy if it were my only razor.

Back to the Hart Steel today. It feels like I needed the break that the SR1 provided. The SR1 shaves were effortless quick shaves that left little to complain about.

Soaped up with Arko, I'm down to the little nubbin of soap, and it lathered up nice and wonderfully. A little extra wet brush and lathered up my face. That soap is awesome.
Pulled out the Hart and had at 'er. Not even thinking about my shave I did a near-flawless two-pass shave WTG. I didn't even bother ATG or XTG passes and it came out nicely.

It felt as though I just needed to step away from the frustration of the irritation for a moment and go back and regain my composure. I did maybe 20 laps on felt and another 40 on leather above and beyond my typical ~30 laps on leather last night in prep.

Razor: Hart 6/8
Soap: Arko
AS: Gillette Gel (The Chemical Mint)

I use a piece of agate I picked up at the local flea mkt for touchups, I have been told they aren't all hones some are burnishers, I had my trusty Kershaw and ran across two good ones I guess. two or three passes each side and I'm good to go. he had already cut the agates and I did lap with a dmt 325 and then when flat a 600.

I've got a 10k and 8 k naniwa en route... I plan to try out the stones on my gold dollar until I feel confident.

I picked up the Gold Dollar today. It's got about two weeks of shaves on it and I thought I'd give it a shot as it's been a while (since I had the Hart honed).

It shaved just fine. Face-lathered up the proraso and took the GD to my cheek. No issues whatsoever. I notice, though, that I still prefer the 1/4 hollow of the Hart over the noisy GD. I do want to get a few more shaves onto the GD before my hones arrive to see if I can get a more drastic improvement. I got a very nice 2-pass shave this morning.

And the scales... Those GD300 scales... They're hideous and so terribly misaligned (they're both curved and misaligned with each other) that I have to pay careful attention closing the razor. I'm going to drop off my black plastic scales from my Hart w/ my father as he's got some leftover black walnut and see if he can quickly put together a set.

Razor: Gold Dollar 300
Soap: Proraso Green
AS: Master's Bay Rum (I'm not really a fan nor do I dislike it... But it comes in a large bottle and i'm committed to using it all so I've got to keep it at)

I did, shamefully, put a good nick into the middle of my strop that I"ll have to sand out last night.

I was curious about the contact of the blade against the strop surface - whether the strop was contacting the whole surface of the blade and when I went to peer at the blade contact I inadvertently moved the razor backwards. Took a good chunk out. I think, though, when stropping normally that the light pressure flattens out the blade but when I do it slowly and try to investigate that I change pressure and, well, do dumb things like that.