Thread: Asking advice for the left side of my face...

Here's another suggestion: break your right hand or arm. I broke my right hand three years ago and my right arm one year ago and became much more coordinated with my left hand!

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

For starters, you may wish to download Lynn's shaving video from our Help Files section. I found it very helpful for my shaving technique.

I can't seem to find this video in the help files. Am I missing something?

Originally Posted by SteveS

Here's another suggestion: break your right hand or arm. I broke my right hand three years ago and my right arm one year ago and became much more coordinated with my left hand!

Kinda like my idea, just with more pain

As a newbie of 2 months I sympathsie !
I am right handed and can't seem to shave left handed, having badly cut myself twice trying.

So what I do is on first pass with the grain I hold the razor in my right hand in a 'pen grip' with the handle in inline with razor and passing through my palm , with my wrist locked I move the whole wrist down in vertical sweeps- i shave the whole left side like this with the grain.

then going across the grain I grip my ear with my left hand and pull it backwards this tightens up the skin on my left side, so I can shave to about mid cheek, when I reach mid cheek I then stretch the skin with my left hand fingertips pressed against the section I just shaved and pulling back to my ear;

then to do my jaw line I pull the skin up onto my cheek by pressing my left hand fingertips against my cheek bone and pushing up and then shave across .

fianly to go against the grain I reverse my grip so the blade is edge upwards and the handle is held down through my hand at 90 degrees to the blade ( basicaly the normal grip upside down), then locking my wrist I make vertical sweeps from bottom to top of the neck and cheek.

I don't know if it's correct but I have found it easier if I stretch the skin from behind the blade so it's sweeping away from my tensioning hand .

obviously this is my way and i'm still learning, but I do get a good shave and it's the way I am comfortable with so far

I have a similar problem, but the other way around....

I'm a left handed newbie, and shaving on the right side of my face with either hand more often than not yields knicks....

So I've defaulted to LEARNING to safely shave as much area as possible on the LEFT side of my face with my left hand.... and only trying the best that I can do on the RIGHT side of my face a little bit at a time and then as soon as I get or feel shakey...I STOP.... and then proceed with my MUSH 3 and finish up....if I'm alert enough, lucky, or smart enough, I'll STOP before I knick myself...usually my first knick is my "early warning system" to stop shaving with the STR8 and proceed with the MUSH 3...

What I've noticed is that with each shave, the area that I can safely shave with my STR8 razor has gradually increased, as my motor skillls and muscle coordination have improved with either hand....

That tells me that if I'm patient and just allow my brain, hands, and eyes the time needed for my body to TEACH itself what it needs to know...I'll eventually be fine!

The knicks come without fail whenever I rush, or push too far...., or lose focus on what I'm doing...

"Easy does it", has really worked best for me...

Tony

I too have been struggling like crazy with this, and have been following this thread with keen interest to work out how to do it. I am not able to use my left hand for much, despite having had my right arm in plaster twice (broken elbow and carpal tunnel problems). I tried it once with my left - it felt so unsteady, and I nicked myself.

I had a epiphany this morning though. The razor has a heel too!!! Though I was already using the heal quite effectively on the right side of my face, just next to my goatee, I had not considered using the back edge of the blade on my left cheek.

Just hold the razor like normal, as you would be doing the right side of your face, but with the heal of the blade against your ear. It actually happened naturally - whilst I was concentrating on the shave in that "zen" way that I am sure everyone here associates with - my hand sort of did it automatically. I had to stretch the skin whilst pulling my ear out of the way that involved some left hand contorions, but it worked!!!

Probably will bring sighs from the pros... I guess whatever works for you works though

Sunsi, I tried your method and it works for me. By using the heel of the razor, I can actually see in the mirror without my hand and wrist blocking the view. It may not be the most orthodox style of straight-razor shaving, but it seems to work for me and is much better than slicing my face due to an unsteady left hand. I'm going to keep practicing with the left hand to develop skill, but, for now, this is a much better solution than reverting to the Gillette "Fusion" to finish up. Kudos!

That's great Bob - happy to share.