Thread: first straight shave-well almost

Great start, Ryan! As others have said, your pace is your own. Enjoy each discovery. They are what keep you from bad shaves so pay attention to them all.

X

thanks guys. i am having fun already. i do think that i will switch from morning shaves to night shaves to give me more time to work on it.
i received the otto deutsch yesterday. really nice looking razor (i will have to borrow a friends dig cam). blade is short-2.5". started to hone on the set from tilly. i will take this part slow also. after a half hour i was able to get the blade to pass the thumbnail test but put it down to work on it later.
this morning i shaved my cheeks with more confidence but didnt have time to go much furthur-finished with my de.

cheers,
ryan

Ryan,

I'm right there with you. Been using a straight for almost a week now. Usually one slow WTG pass all the way around. Then I finish with a couple more passes with my DE. For now, seems to be working for me. Like you, I am working up the skill to go XTG and eventually ATG.

nice jeff!
glad that i am not alone doing the one very careful pass and follow up with de. i just hope that by the end of a month i will be able to have good results with a 2 pass shave. what razor/razors are you starting with? have you started to hone any project razors yet? i know that for me to really get into straight shaving i will have to be able to put a good edge on a blade. hopefully i get the hang of it prior to needing a touch up on my primary blade.

cheers,
ryan

jeff-
ohps! i have read your posts. sounds like you worked through the minor honing problems and had a good shave this morning! very nice.

cheers,
ryan

update!

i did a full 2 pass shave last night. very passible but i still finished up with my de. first pass was okay, i have a hard time starting the momentum going. i have to concentrate on confident smooth firm passes. second xtg pass was a complete pleasure-very smooth starts and very little sticking. i did manage to get a nice little scrap right under my nose though. do most people shave every day?

cheers,
ryan

Ryan,

No project razors at the moment. I want to get my technique down and really know what a sharp edge should be before I begin restoration efforts. The light "honing" that I've done has all been on paddles (1 micron and .5 micron paste). I've experimented a bit with those and my shaves have become progressively smoother.

Just purchased two barber hones to play around with as well. I'll probably purchase a norton and a coticule within the year as well.

My razors: 9/16 W&B Spanish Point, 11/16 Chris Johnson, 5/8 Dovo Special from eBay that Lynn has now, and coming from JoshEarl is a 6/8 American Barber spike point.

nice jeff. great little collection you have going. i am looking forward to trying out other razors. last night i finally put a passible edge on my ebay find and did a 2 pass shave and a bit of touch up. first time straight shaving without reaching for the de. not quite as close as my merkur 38c/derby but a whole lot better than the thing fusion thing.


cheers,
ryan

Ryan,

Learning is part of the fun; at least it is for me. Attempted a 3 pass shave the other day, with the 3rd pass an ATG all with a straight. Even though I gave myself a pretty good burn my face had never been smoother. I achieved a level of BBS that I had not experience with my DE; and I love my DEs.