Thread: First Straight Shaves

My first straight shave sucked.

Let me clarify. As the razor came to me "shave ready", I did not strop it. My thinking was that I wanted to establish a baseline/starting point, and I will strop tomorrow to see if there is a difference. I have been practice stropping with a dull practice razor for a few days, so I hope to see some improvement in the actual razor.

I did as Lynn Abrams recommends: one easy little pass down from my short sideburns to the jawbone. On each side. Nothing tricky. Just getting a feel for the razor. Not comfortable at all, pulled like hell. Was conservative, so no cuts or blood. Completed with a DE. Wiped the razor down with a tissue, also ran the tissue through the scales. Trying to develop some good habits.

I recognize this is just a start, part of the process, and I will try to do a little better tomorrow. I guess this thread will be journal of my straight razor infancy. Feel free to point out the error of my ways - I take coaching well.

Many acronyms around shave forums. One that pops up often; YMMV.
There are too many reasons why Your Mileage May Vary.

If not passed, I'm nearing my 6 months into wet shaving. I don't blog my experience so the 100th shave came and went. Point is you have made your First Step! Take your time. Read everything about any questions you have. Start new threads if you don't find the answers. You will do as good as you can if you put your mind to the task.

Since you referenced Lynn, am I correct in assuming that Lynn honed the razor? If so, then it is shave ready. If not, then who did hone it? I ask because you need to get to the bottom of whether it is the tool or the user or both. Unfortunately for too many beginners they buy a dull razor and don't know what they are doing with it and so they fail miserably and give up.

IF the razor is shave ready, then the most likely culprit is using the wrong angle. The spine needs to be very close to your face. Touch the spine to your face and then lift if off just one, or at most two, spine widths and then take your shaving stroke.

Do not get discouraged, there are so many possibilities for a poor shave experience the first time out that it is almost impossible to accurately say why you had a poor experience.

If you can assume that the razor was indeed shave ready and you did a good thing by not stropping it before first use that leaves poor technique as the main culprit. Try keep a 1 to 2 spine widths gap between face and the razors spine and try and use no weight on the blade. I found getting those right were my biggest problems when I started.

Bob

Slow and steady is a good path to follow! Been straight razor shaving for about 8 months or so and just recently attempted an full face ATG as holding the razor in that position just felt so awkward for me. Used to do 2 or 3 WTG and XTG passes and still got a very nice, close, clean shave. Rapidly getting quite comfortable with ATG now. So hang in there and add new technics slowly, there's plenty of time to improve.

Newell

Experiment. The first number of shaves are usually not comfortable. Pressure could be the culprit; remember to just shave off the cream, the whiskers will follow. Shaving angle could also cause an uncomfortable shave...one or two spine widths is all the angle you need.

Once you figure out how to shave this area comfortably, you will be prepared to move on to more difficult and sensitive areas.

Regarding the shave readiness of the razor: I purchased the Ralf Aust 5/8 secondhand from a gentleman on TSN. He purchased the razor from SRD, but developed some health problems that didn't allow him to use it. He used it 2 or 3 times to my recollection. He sent the practice razor and an old strop with the Ralf Aust as a bonus (he also threw in a stick of La Toja, but I am not holding that against him). Great guy.

Therefore, the actual sharpness of the razor is a variable which needs to be nailed down. My best newbie guess is that I have a razor which is in basically good shape. A good stropping should help, perhaps a little tune up on the balsa strop with the ChromOx. If not, I will be hunting for a mentor in Virginia.

Lynn's recommendation came in his beginner straight razor shaving video; I have had no contact with him whatsoever. On the other hand, I would know him anywhere due to my obsessive watching of his videos.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I really enjoy my shaving hobby, so I will take the time to get this right.

OK, so we don't really know if the razor was really shave ready as in fresh from a honing session so you are right that could be another variable. Can't hurt to give it a "good" stropping and see what gives. If that fails try a few swipes on the crox coated balsa strop and another good stropping. Sounds like you got a good plan. Let us know how you make out with that.

Bob

Yeah bad stropping can quickly trash an edge and good stropping can great improve an edge. Now you need to figure out how to strop well before you can shave well!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Yeah bad stropping can quickly trash an edge and good stropping can great improve an edge. Now you need to figure out how to strop well before you can shave well!

Maybe I should just put in a new blade. Gotta find out where it goes. What do I twist?