What's the fuss.. another noob giving SR a crack

[Holiday]

lesson for the day, get concentration and KEEP concentration throughout the shave.. was scary how I transitioned from peak concentration to relax mode, that's where danger lurks

Every nick is a lesson learnt. Definitely teaches one to concentrate on that sharp edge wherever it is.
My lesson (nick) today was remove blade before moving head or don't move head while blade still in contact with skin.
One or the other

 

[Nanook]

Every nick is a lesson learnt. Definitely teaches one to concentrate on that sharp edge wherever it is.
My lesson (nick) today was remove blade before moving head or don't move head while blade still in contact with skin.
One or the other

Don't do what I did.

After realising I wasn't stretching the skin as I was about to put the razor to my cheek, I lowered the hand holding the razor, whilst moving my right hand up to stretch the skin. They met in the middle and now I have a nice scar across my knuckles.

That was a definite lesson learnt as I've never done it again

 

[rbscebu]

Most of my bloodletting with SRs is on my fingers when working on the blade, very rarely from shaving. I know that I should tape the edge but I'm a slow learner.

 

[Jaco]

I have yet to experience a SR that is sharp enough to cut whiskers with zero effort. Shavettes can do it, but they are also very good at removing any bumps from your face with total disregard of the skin over it. What you learn is when to push through, and when to stop. You will very quickly develop cat-like reflexes, blood and a sting is a very good motivator.

The guys at work still joke that when I started, they thought I have joined a fight-club, often showing up with scabbed over wounds that healed within three days or so. Worst cuts are not from shaving, rather from handling razors without the proper respect. I mostly shave in the tub with a mirror stuck to the tiles. Needless to say, I never drop a razor, and carefully close it and place it in a secure place before doing anything else.

Everyone's face is different and with me being on the wrong side of 55, I have learned where I can get away without stretching, and where it is essential to tighten up some saggy skin before dragging a blade over it. You will learn what works for you, and then stick to it. After five years, it's very difficult to change anything.

Another mistake beginners understandably make is to be overly cautious and move too slow. If you don't commit to a stroke, it will feel like the blade is tugging. It needs some momentum to feel smooth. The most tricky areas to get right, are under your nose and around your mouth.

 

[StratMan]

Had an excellent shave last night with the SR.. did the cheeks 2xWTG 1xXTG pass, all passes were smooth, but more importantly I felt no real fear of cutting myself.

That part of the shave went so well, thought of continuing on with the shave starting with my chin and going from there.

As I started to place the blade on my chin, my eye caught the cut near my mouth I did last week (still healing) and thought maybe best to quit while ahead and not to proceed.. baby steps is the best policy while learning to shave with a SR


Good takeaway from this shave was that the shave felt much more comfortable (and smoother) and had a sense of familiarity. I have no doubt that with practice I'll end with excellent shaves.

happy to say I am definitely enjoying the experience and look forward to many more SR shaves

 

[Holiday]

Had an excellent shave last night with the SR.. did the cheeks 2xWTG 1xXTG pass, all passes were smooth, but more importantly I felt no real fear of cutting myself.

That part of the shave went so well, thought of continuing on with the shave starting with my chin and going from there.

As I started to place the blade on my chin, my eye caught the cut near my mouth I did last week (still healing) and thought maybe best to quit while ahead and not to proceed.. baby steps is the best policy while learning to shave with a SR


Good takeaway from this shave was that the shave felt much more comfortable (and smoother) and had a sense of familiarity. I have no doubt that with practice I'll end with excellent shaves.

happy to say I am definitely enjoying the experience and look forward to many more SR shaves

Hi @StratMan may be too early to tell but you are known for your coarse bristle and chasing the BBS with many ATG passes. How is the straight delivering in comparison to DE?

 

[rbscebu]

@StratMan, I know everyone's face is different, otherwise we would all be as incredibly handsome as you.

It took me a while to learn to shave my chin area. There my whiskers grow straight out - there is no grain direction. I had to pay particularly attention in that area with shave angle, keeping it very flat and modifying it as a went around the curves.

 

[StratMan]

Hi @StratMan may be too early to tell but you are known for your coarse bristle and chasing the BBS with many ATG passes. How is the straight delivering in comparison to DE?

hey @Holiday yep my beard along with my never ending pursuit of BBS absolutely smashes blades, good thing I have a lifetime's supply

SR v DE and BBS? I would think it is definitely too early to give a conclusion cos im such a greenhorn AND i am in no way chasing BBS with SR yet. Dont even do ATG yet, but that will change at some point trust me.. the i'll know, but so far I would have to say that even without the ATG pass, one WTG and one XTG delivers pretty bloody close to BBS, only rubbing ATG gives any clue

so i reckon the potential for a close clean BBS would be easily achieved (if you have a sharp blade and you know what your doing) so I am a long way away and in no hurry to get there. Just having the concentrate to shave is heaven enough for now

 

[StratMan]

@StratMan, I know everyone's face is different, otherwise we would all be as incredibly handsome as you.

It took me a while to learn to shave my chin area. There my whiskers grow straight out - there is no grain direction. I had to pay particularly attention in that area with shave angle, keeping it very flat and modifying it as a went around the curves.

hey @rbscebu I had a crack at the chin tonight and also just under the neck/jawline

didn't push it just went as far as I was comfortable.. so yeah today's shave went very well again

today I felt confidence and as good as that was it got me right back onto my toes.. I read here somewhere about it, so I'll take my time learning to crawl

have to say I am absolutely enjoying this, it's sorta like just getting into DE shaving again, but the stakes are higher

cheers for the intro to SR shaving

 

[StratMan]

thanks to @bald as for the in depth training on honing yesterday..

and with that came the following stones on order to go along with what I had.. 1x Naniwa 12K, 1x King 6K, 1x Suehiro 3K to add to my existing 1x Naniwa 1K, 1x Naniwa 8K, a jewellers loupe and titan leather/denim strop.. should be decent enough to be able to get a shave ready hone, of course with a lot of practice.

have to say, learning to hone is as exciting as learning to shave with a SR

Naniwa NK-2291 Professional Whetstone (Kagayaki) #12000

King 6000 Whetstone

Suehiro 3000 Whetstone

 

[rbscebu]

I wish that I had someone guiding me when I had to teach myself to hone SRs. Then, I was living in the Philippines and the pandemic was just getting into full swing.

Just to complicate matters, I was simultaneously teaching myself to SR shave. The only SRs available were GD and Titan on Lazada.

 

[Gargravarr]

I wish that I had someone guiding me when I had to teach myself to hone SRs. Then, I was living in the Philippines and the pandemic was just getting into full swing.

Just to complicate matters, I was simultaneously teaching myself to SR shave. The only SRs available were GD and Titan on Lazada.

Me too. My last foray into straights was back in the noughties, when there was no YouTube as the fount of all knowledge. That shop in London Court in Perth had a few razors ranging from GD to Dovo to TI, and the GDs were a cheap if not good place for me to start. It took me a while to get a truly good edge though, and I had a much better time when I made my blade from scratch.

 

[CTP]

Aonru

I wish that I had someone guiding me when I had to teach myself to hone SRs. Then, I was living in the Philippines and the pandemic was just getting into full swing.

Just to complicate matters, I was simultaneously teaching myself to SR shave. The only SRs available were GD and Titan on Lazada.

Just running with that statement. If you could go back and talk to yourself again what would be the first SR and accessories you would have advised yourself to get?

 

[rbscebu]

Aonru


Just running with that statement. If you could go back and talk to yourself again what would be the first SR and accessories you would have advised yourself to get?

Like some good men, I have been taught to be cautious. When starting out in SR shaving, most do not want to overspend in case they find SR shaving is not for them. With that in mind, I recommend to my students the following:

Straight Razor

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2 x Titan ACRM-2 T.H.60 OR 2 x Gold Dollar 66 (not one of each). Both SRs, with their current (2023) grinds, are ideal for a beginner. Preference is for the Titan as it has better balance between scales and blade.​

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Send one of the SRs out to be professionally honed by someone who knows how to properly do it. The other will be used to lean to hone on.​

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Strop

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Titan leather/denim strop. Get at least two and preferably three. You will most probably cut up your first one or two strops.​

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Brush

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A Chinese synthetic badger.​

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Soap

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Either a tube of Palmolive shave cream or stick of ARKO. Either are good for SR shaving. Your favourite DE shave soap may not be as good for SR shaving.​

​

Honing

A set of lapping film sheets (size A4) of 30μm, 12μm, 9μm, 5μm, 3μm, 1μm and 0.3μm, together with a suitable substrate.​

Follow the written instructions on P&C precisely (the hardest part) and all should go well.

All of the above should cost you about US$100 (AU$150) plus the professional honing at about US$40 (AU$60) including shipping.

Once you have mastered the basics of SR shaving and honing, you can then go down the rabbit hole and spend a lot more.

 

[StratMan]

I wish that I had someone guiding me when I had to teach myself to hone SRs. Then, I was living in the Philippines and the pandemic was just getting into full swing.

Just to complicate matters, I was simultaneously teaching myself to SR shave. The only SRs available were GD and Titan on Lazada.

It makes all the difference in the world and reckon its saved me at least six months of trial and error, possibly more. Would of been tough but you worked it out for sure, your blades are very sharp

 

[rbscebu]

It makes all the difference in the world and reckon its saved me at least six months of trial and error, possibly more. Would of been tough but you worked it out for sure, your blades are very sharp

It took me over 3 years and more than 100 full honings to get there. Now I am working on improving my SR restoration skills.

 

[StratMan]

gave myself a lovely cut this evening, more like a golf divot on the chin.. no was not the SR but the WR2, bit me good.. totally my fault, was chilling after the SR passes on the cheeks so much so was drifting off listening to music and decided to turn my head halfway through that pass

the SR passes are starting to feel better but feel foreign in my hand to face, looking forward to some muscle memory kicking in.. love the experience so far

 

[StratMan]

the GD66 came yday so gave it the first round on the 1K. blade came truly shite and over couple hours + over two days on the 1K the bevel was finally set and the stones arrived today, perfect.. with bevel set ran through the sequence 1k, 3k, 6k, 8,k 12k + clean leather strop

was great to see the blade change through the progress, looks good to me but well see tomorrow.. not sure which I enjoy at this time more.. SR shaving (part time) or honing

 

[CTP]

Keen to see how this goes

 

[rbscebu]

@StratMan, one of the (many) things to watch out for in honing SRs is cross-grit contamination. Just a single particle of coarser grit on a finer grit whetstone can ruin a honing session.

It's an addiction I tell you!