Thread: Yet another new guy

Alrighty, gave that baby a test drive today.Here are my thoughts...

So I opened up my package to find the sight unseen and poor man's strop kit. Took a few minutes just examining everything, from the balsa, to the blade itself. The strop came rolled up, so I need to find some way to flatten it out. For the time being, I've looped it on my towel rack.

Of course, the most important part was the razor itself. It came covered in oil, which was as expected. Opened it up and gave a few different grips a try. So far only the standard grip seems the most natural for me to hold, but we'll see what happens as time progresses. Either way, wiped off that oil with some toilet paper and slapped some shaving gel on.

First use was...Well, it wasn't a disaster. I didn't cut myself, nor did I feel any stinging sensation when I rinsed off, which seems to be an occasional occurrence when I shave with standard blades and I'm either in a rush, or not using water/lather. That said, I'm not quite sure how effective the shave was. Perhaps it could be that I didn't see much of a difference due to having shaved only about 12 hours prior, but at the same time, I still feel a tiny bit of the sideburn that I shaved on. I'm going to attribute this to inexperience though. It would be completely unrealistic to expect anything more at this stage. I still don't know how much pressure is too much, so in all likelihood, I may have been going at it a little too gently.

Shaving was also a bit awkward. Though I mentioned that the standard grip felt the most natural, it was still quite a bit of a task trying to get the sideburn done. Using my left hand, I did the left sideburn, but it was hard to see where I was going due to either my hand in the way, or some part of the razor itself.

At that point, I felt like trying something a little more difficult, and attempted the 'stache area. Keyword here is 'attempted'. I don't think I managed to successfully do anything. I'm probably going to need some advice on this. Hardest part was directly under the nose. I'm guessing WTG is not the right way to go about it here. I briefly attempted ATG, but I kept snagging hairs, so I stopped.

Anyway, that's all for now. With regards to maintenance for the razor and strop, any tips there? Should I cover the razor in oil again after each use? If so, anything in particular, or can I just use something like cooking oil? With the strop, I read somewhere that you can rub leftover shaving lather into it to keep it from drying out, if you run out of that neatsfoot oil. True?

Sounds like for a first shave with a straight razor you did superbly.

You'll be surprised how quickly things improve for you. I found the benchmarks for me were after 20 shaves, had a handle on what I needed to do, practice was what was required now. After 50 shaves, things started to really get good and that feeling of why hadn't I been shaving any other way started to settle in.

For a first shave, you did very well, and now you have to suffer like the rest of us - willing your beard to grow faster so you can shave again!

I think the single, very best advice I received when I started straight shaving was this: 'Shaving with a straight razor is beard reduction, not beard removal.' That's why multiple passes are required. You will get the hang of it. For me personally, it took about 3 months of shaving 3 times a week to become comfortable and proficient. Stay the course.

I don't oil my blade after every shave, but I don't keep it in the humid bathroom either. When I oil the blades in my rotation, I use a light coat of mineral oil (yes, the laxative). It is cheap and effective. I also use this on any oil stones I rarely use.

For your strop... rub your hand on your greasy neck and face occasionally and rub it into the leather. That should keep it good for a while. Every once in a while, hit it with you shave soap or some good old fashioned saddle soap. I wouldn't oil it with anything not approved for that strop and/or leather.

My two cents.
Welcome.

Chris
(14 month straight shaver)

I have been shaving with a straight for a few months now. I think my best advice is watch your angle of attack. For about 3 to 4 months I was focusing on everything but that and I would get close but uncomfortable shaves even to the point that I thought that my razor was dull. I had good beard prep and good quality überlather and thought that I was doing good. And then all of the sudden one day without realizing I reduced my blade angle and I noticed how smooth it felt and shaved even better. I was probably shaving at about 45° thinking I was at 30°. So now that I am focusing on a lower angle I'm now getting that nice Baby-butt smooth shave without the irritation I was getting. So I would say if your first shaves are harsher than you like, it may be your angle. Reduce it and see if that is your problem