First Shave!!! Well, first shave attempt if I am being honest...
So tonight I attempted my first SR shave and I must say, I was really nervous!!! I figured I would share my experience here with you all, for better or worse...
First thing, I bought a vintage Bismarck razor and honed it myself. I will say that I didn't do too bad a job sharpening. I have good stones, strop, etc already as I am a handtool only woodworker, so I felt pretty comfortable just working it out slowly. Once finished, I had no problems popping hair with no effort or pull...
I took a nice hot shower and then even hot toweled one more time before I pulled out the Dr Harris Arlington shave soap and badger hair brush I picked up earlier today and had no trouble whipping up a nice frothy mixture. Next I started on the left side from the top of my sideburn and down. I took my time and inched along and was pleased to see my stubble disappearing without issue. I did start to have trouble along my chin line. It seemed I just couldn't attack it from an angle I felt overly comfortable with. At this point I resigned myself to the fact I would be finishing up with my old fusion so I figured I would just move down to my neck more, and again it seemed to go much easier again. Tried my upper lip a bit and while I was able to get some results, it wasn't stellar. The chin was tough and I gave up on that for the moment.
Now the OMG moment...
For some reason I never clued into the fact that my blind right eye would surely cause me some sighting issues, but when I started trying to shave my right cheek, I realized quickly that I would need to rethink my approach. After a bit of experimenting with grip and switching hands a couple times, I was able to get some results, but MAN it was a lot tougher than dealing with the left side!
In the end, I ended up somewhat successfully shaving my left and right sideburns/cheeks, and my neck on the left side and some of my neck on the right side. Begrudgingly I finished with my old fusion. That said, even though I have identified a pile of issues such as grip, sight line because of my blind eye, angle and technique, and overall nervousness/razor respect, I am pleased to say I never cut myself nor did I frustrate myself to the point of not wanting to continue down the straight razor road. I know I will get it figured out with more practice and can't wait to try again!
Anyways, I am not much of a story teller, but there is my story anyways. I hope it might encourage someone who like me was maybe sitting on the fence and is a bit nervous about jumping in... I made it out alive!!! :o
