rbscebu
Mr. Strop
I had been shaving with a brush, soap and carts for decades. Never enjoyed it. It was just a necessary chore, so I shaved as little as possible, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
It was November 2019 and I needed some more carts. Was browsing Lazada Philippines (like their Amazon) and came across a nice looking stainless steel "straight razor" for about USD 5. Thinking it would be fun to try, I bought it, together with a real leather 45mm strop (USD 7) and a small 4k/10k whetstone (USD 6). I thought that I had everything I would ever need.
A couple of weeks latter all my SR shaving gear was in hand. My SR as received wouldn't even shave arm hair so I attempted to sharpen it on my whetstone and strop. Eventually it did shave arm hairs - just. Time to try shaving. What a waste of time. Not a single whisker was cut with that first SR shave. Back to the whetstone. I just could not get that SR sharp enough to actually cut whiskers. It was then that I turned to the internet for help. A popular wet shaving forum popped up. I read a few threads, registered and made a few posts trying to solve my problem. It was a member on that forum who told me the blunt truth about my pride and joy SR being a RSO (razor shaped object)
.
Not wanting to give up that easily, it was back to Lazada where I found a real SR, a Titan ACRM-2 T.H.60 with Madagascan mahogany scales and a 60mm wide leather and denim strop all for about USD 30.
The forum also pointed me in the direction of honing using lapping films. While waiting for my real SR to arrive, I read up on honing with lapping films and put together my lapping film system.
Once my new SR arrived, knew enough to see that the bevel was not fully set. Using my lapping films, I set the bevel and progressed through to the 1μm film. My first real SR shave worked - kind of.
From what I had read on the forum, I realised that my edge was still not shave-ready so back to the films to reset and progress again. It worked! Not great but it did shave me.
Over the next couple of weeks I shaved daily to develop my technique, read about and put together a set of diamond pasted balsa strops. Once the set was all done, I refreshed the edge on film and then put it through a full balsa progression. Oh, what a difference!
From then on, I was hooked.
Looking back on my SR journey, my sole reason for starting was just curiousity. Then it was the challenge of learning a new, relatively unknown skill. After over 700 SR shaves, I am still hooked and love it.
I am also still learning with every shave. I don't think that the learning will ever stop. I am now working on improving my ATG on the hollows of my neck. This involves shaving neck-to-throat. Almost "there".
It was November 2019 and I needed some more carts. Was browsing Lazada Philippines (like their Amazon) and came across a nice looking stainless steel "straight razor" for about USD 5. Thinking it would be fun to try, I bought it, together with a real leather 45mm strop (USD 7) and a small 4k/10k whetstone (USD 6). I thought that I had everything I would ever need.
A couple of weeks latter all my SR shaving gear was in hand. My SR as received wouldn't even shave arm hair so I attempted to sharpen it on my whetstone and strop. Eventually it did shave arm hairs - just. Time to try shaving. What a waste of time. Not a single whisker was cut with that first SR shave. Back to the whetstone. I just could not get that SR sharp enough to actually cut whiskers. It was then that I turned to the internet for help. A popular wet shaving forum popped up. I read a few threads, registered and made a few posts trying to solve my problem. It was a member on that forum who told me the blunt truth about my pride and joy SR being a RSO (razor shaped object)
.Not wanting to give up that easily, it was back to Lazada where I found a real SR, a Titan ACRM-2 T.H.60 with Madagascan mahogany scales and a 60mm wide leather and denim strop all for about USD 30.
The forum also pointed me in the direction of honing using lapping films. While waiting for my real SR to arrive, I read up on honing with lapping films and put together my lapping film system.
Once my new SR arrived, knew enough to see that the bevel was not fully set. Using my lapping films, I set the bevel and progressed through to the 1μm film. My first real SR shave worked - kind of.
From what I had read on the forum, I realised that my edge was still not shave-ready so back to the films to reset and progress again. It worked! Not great but it did shave me.
Over the next couple of weeks I shaved daily to develop my technique, read about and put together a set of diamond pasted balsa strops. Once the set was all done, I refreshed the edge on film and then put it through a full balsa progression. Oh, what a difference!
From then on, I was hooked.
Looking back on my SR journey, my sole reason for starting was just curiousity. Then it was the challenge of learning a new, relatively unknown skill. After over 700 SR shaves, I am still hooked and love it.
I am also still learning with every shave. I don't think that the learning will ever stop. I am now working on improving my ATG on the hollows of my neck. This involves shaving neck-to-throat. Almost "there".
