Thread: Very First Shave

Originally Posted by Wayne1963

?...Practice lather even when you're not going to shave and look for these qualities. If you don't bowl lather, use your palm for these practices. Enjoy and have fun.

+1 for this comment. There are so many skills to be learned in the beginning. Lathering is one of the few where you can practice and if you mess up, you haven't damaged your edge, your strop or really anything. There is something about making a really good lather that is very satisfying.

Okay, second shave down! Moved to non-dominant hand and neck. Haven't done Adam's apple or chin yet. No bleeding, but I sense that I may be going over the same spots too many times. Rather than one pass, two pass, three pass over the whole face, it's more like check four times, jawline three times, left cheek twice, neck gingerly twice, side of chin two times. I think my expectation of first pass may be too high. Like it'll be baby butt smooth in one pass.

I think the razor's honed. I got it from a guy here in the classified, but I'm nervous that it's not quite sharp enough. And I'm having a lot of strop anxiety ("oh, it doesn't sound right;" "crap, I just rolled the blade;" "were the spine and the edge touching at the same time just then?" "am I pressing too hard or not hard enough?") When I run it through the hairs (not on the skin, of course) on my left forearm, the hairs "pop" off the edge of the blade as it trims them. Though when I shave my face, it's just not taking the hair off all the way down to the skin (I can still see the stubble a tiny bit, though stroking with my finger WTG feels smooth).

So am I overthinking it? Do I get the razor honed by a professional before doing anything else? Am I doing fine and I ought to just proceed as I'm going?

I vote that all is well. Keep going. Learning a motor skill is at least a bit about turning your brain off so you can hear your body talking to you. Relax and enjoy the sensation...

Originally Posted by bkoplin

Okay, second shave down! Moved to non-dominant hand and neck. Haven't done Adam's apple or chin yet. No bleeding, but I sense that I may be going over the same spots too many times. Rather than one pass, two pass, three pass over the whole face, it's more like check four times, jawline three times, left cheek twice, neck gingerly twice, side of chin two times. I think my expectation of first pass may be too high. Like it'll be baby butt smooth in one pass.

I think the razor's honed. I got it from a guy here in the classified, but I'm nervous that it's not quite sharp enough.

So am I overthinking it? Do I get the razor honed by a professional before doing anything else? Am I doing fine and I ought to just proceed as I'm going?

I think you've answered your own question, at the end. I would counsel you to work toward getting a DFS (Damn-Fine Shave) first, and later on, a BBS shave. A professionally-honed razor will only take you so far; the rest of the way requires you to learn and refine your shaving technique... which will come... "practice makes perfect" (and a DFS does not require a "professionally-honed" razor: if it pops arm hair, it's "good to go").

In the meantime, Smooth shaving!

Originally Posted by TaipeiJake

I vote that all is well. Keep going. Learning a motor skill is at least a bit about turning your brain off so you can hear your body talking to you. Relax and enjoy the sensation...

+1 for this. I Completely Agree with TaipeiJake. You're doing great. Keep up the good 'work'

Thanks again for the tips, guys. And the encouragement.

I will say the whole process is mesmerizing. I spent an hour stropping, lathering, wiping, stropping, testing, shaving, aluming, slapping, patting… I slept really well afterwards. It was a thing of wonder.

I want to reiterate comments on previous post about shaving technique.When I first started SR shaving, it seemed to me that my shaves were not particularly close and comfortable. My assumption was that my razors were not honed sufficiently. I received a honed razor from the sponsor of this forum and experienced the same poor to average shave with that razor. The light finally came on and I realized that a good shave takes more than a well honed razor. After a few weeks, as my shaving technique improved, I began to get an occasional GREAT shave. As time went by, these GREAT shaves became more frequent and finally occur every time.

Technique will come from practice and a little patience. Concentrate on using light pressure and find that perfect angle for each part of your face.

One other observation is that if you feel some stubble after your first pass, don't attack it by adding more pressure with a pass in the same direction; rather continue with light pressure and try a pass from a different direction ie across the grain.

The main thing is to enjoy your new endeavor and take it slow

John

Home runs don't happen the first time you swing a bat but keep in the game and you will get there. Expect at least a month for good (not great) shaves.

Originally Posted by jmac123

One other observation is that if you feel some stubble after your first pass, don't attack it by adding more pressure with a pass in the same direction; rather continue with light pressure and try a pass from a different direction ie across the grain.

This was invaluable advice. I had been avoiding the across the green stroke for fear of cuts, but it's actually been so much easier on my face to clean up stubble across the grain rather than pressing down harder with the grain…