Thread: First Try- I Went All the Way

I got all of my razor supplies in the mail this week and I was so excited I almost wet myself. I did all of my research for the stuff on SRP and I went to town on classicshaving.com

So here is the gear I used for my first shave (I bought more than this though and I am happy I did)
TI 5/6 Round Imitation Tortoise (honed by Lynn)
Tony's Hanging strop (red latigo)(40 passes)
Rooney Suoer Silvertip Brush
Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Cream

I watched Lynn's DVD several times and watched others shave on youtube.

When I got started I took an extra long shower. Then I lathered up with the sandalwood cream ( it smelled nice and the lather was easy to make). I then went to it on my right cheek. Everything went well so I moved on to my left cheek switching hands. I then decided to do the whole face. So, I completed my entire face only with a down stroke using both hands with only two nicks. It was a great shave and I think I will be keeping this one up.

I want to thank all of you for your help in deciding to take the plunge into the world of straight shaving.

I do have one question though. When I was shaving it felt more like a scraping than the smooth motions that my Mach3 felt like. It was not a pulling on my face at all and all of the hair was taken off but it did feel rougher than what I was used to. It was an incredibly close shave though. Is the feeling of scraping correct or might I be doing something wrong?

That sounds about right. You may get better with time. I don't think you can compare a straight to other methods without weird biases.

Continue practicing and watch your angle with the blade.

nice to hear man...

Congrats on a good first shave.

The straight is a little more aggressive than disposables, but it sounds to me like you might be using too much pressure on your face. Try going at it with a good stretch, but as little pressure as you can muster and see if there's a difference.

X

It's also possible your angle was a little high, that will contribute to the scraping feeling.