Thread: flat blade round face.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Yup, I also posses several 90 degree angles on my face, was quite the learning curve, but you learn what you have to know.

The video that got me inspired to get into straight shaving, which still amazes me, was done by Wulli (sp?) who is was a member here...and the video was not sped up, and he gets one little weeper from a pimple on his chin...I think he exemplifies, "keeping it simple".

The video was titled, "The Manliest Shave", and when I first saw it, I thought he was going to shave with the big knife hanging on the wall. Enjoy!

very nice, I hadn't seen this one before. definitely not a video id recommend for a beginner to try emulating, haha, very confident strokes with a razor though. what I do like very much is this video demonstrates the different angles a razor is held at when doing wtg, atg strokes. notice how his wtg passes have more air between spine and face, his atg passes he has the spine very flat against the face. something very worthwhile to practice at.
to the original poster- don't be in a rush to be a pro shaver since you are handling the cheeks fine try picking one side of the face to tackle the jawline to neck angles. just practice adding that one side in for awhile (with your dominant hand) and let your hand gain some muscle and razor memory before going gung-ho

It's the chin bit that I find the most challenging, closely followed by the upper lip.

stretch your skin with your other hand

Just to add one more voice... I'm almost a year in and I still change things (sometimes by accident) and find a grip or angle that works better. I also still have "off days" where I just can't get it going right. Three days ago, I had an absolutely blissful shave. The next day it was so bad that I gave up and finished with a DE razor. Yesterday I didn't shave at all...I cut the lawn instead.

So, I'd encourage you to keep adjusting and trying different things based on the videos. Also remember that the whole blade doesn't have to be in face contact all the time. In some areas you might use only the toe, in others only the heel..and use short strokes at first while you're learning.

I believe one of the misconceptions about Straight Shaving is that you use the whole blade at one time.
You will only shave with about an inch of the blade at a time, either the toe, middle or the heel.

If you try to use the whole blade you will cut your self.

Even when shaving from the sideburns down, the flattest part of my face, I am using just the 1 inch of the tip. On my neck I use just the middle.

So as said, look at the videos and just try to use one inch of the blade at a time.

thanks for the tips gents!!!
will be headed back to the videos for sure..I wish my beard grew quicker so i could practice more!!

Noobs its the fear and hesitation. I too was scared my first few and those were the shaves where u got cut the worst. Then came the phase of being more confident than skilled which resulted in patches of raw skin I'm just now (~45 shaves) getting to the nice comfy blood free zone. Its worth it