Thread: Handedness

Hey everyone,

I've been shaving with a straight for a little while now mainly just doing a single pass with the grain. I've been venturing into across the grain and against the grain passes and ran into something a bit strange. I'm right handed in everything I do but I've noticed that using my left hand I shave a bit better against the grain. I'm thinking this might be because I'm not as confident with my left so I end up using a lighter pressure than my right hand. Has anybody else noticed this?

David

As wrong as it sounds, a person's "weak" hand is better for fine control, while his "strong" hand is better for gross control. Ever notice how a pilot controls the planes throttle with his strong hand and steers with his left?

True, so true. My weak, left hand has more finesse in it than my heavy hammer right hand. Besides training my weak, non dominant left eye to be dominant when I shave the left side I'm working on how to make my right hand think it is a feather in terms of pressure applied. I'm at 50-50 to date.

I'm the same way. My shaving motion just seems more comfortable in my non-dominant hand. I use less pressure and am smoother. Odd isn't it?!?

Same here!! It's the oddest thing but I get such better control with my left hand

There is an awesome video somewhere in this forum showing the gentleman shaving the left side of his face with his right hand, then switching the razor to his left hand to shave the right side of his face.

I am left handed and I noticed that when I use my right hand for the right side of my face, my touch is much lighter as your describe. I am not 100% confident in shaving with my non-dominant hand.

pmburk,

I think this is the video to which you refer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIM0Coix6Gg

Gentlemen,
I, too, sometimes feel my left hand has better control when shaving against the grain, but I have not figured out why.

Well it's good to see I'm not the only one experiencing this.

Obie - thanks for posting that video.

Obie,
Yep! That's the one! Thank you for posting it. The gentleman in the video is excellent!
Patrick

Originally Posted by Obie

pmburk,

I think this is the video to which you refer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIM0Coix6Gg

Gentlemen,
I, too, sometimes feel my left hand has better control when shaving against the grain, but I have not figured out why.

Originally Posted by BDRebel

As wrong as it sounds, a person's "weak" hand is better for fine control, while his "strong" hand is better for gross control. Ever notice how a pilot controls the planes throttle with his strong hand and steers with his left?

While I agree that one's weak hand can be better for some things (I shave better with my "off" hand), I don't think that your aircraft generalization holds.

That observation really only applies to planes with a control layout that's conducive to using one's hands that way. Single seat military aircraft typically have the throttle quadrant on the left, so that leaves the stick to the right hand. In tandem seat commercial aircraft, the throttle quadrant is located between the seats; this means that the pilot operates the throttles with his/her right hand, while the co-pilot uses his/her left hand on the throttles. Many civil aircraft place the throttle quadrant centrally on the dash, which obliges the pilot to operate it right-handed.