First straight razor shave
Just wanted to give a report of my first straight razor shave!
A while ago I got my Wapienica razors honed by LX_Emergency here on the forum (I wanted to start out with a properly honed blade). It took a while for me to get around to it, but yesterday I had my first shave.
After my shower, I lathered up some Proraso (one of my favorites after some months of wet shaving with a DE Saftey Razor) and started out. First pass (WTG) went perfect without any problems at all. I did a second pass, XTG and had a hard time getting the blade angle correct at a few places. No cuts or major issues though.
Then I got to the third pass - against the grain. Firstly it wasn't a problem, but after a while I noticed that the blade was getting a bit dull and tugging. I stropped a bit (10x) and the sharpness was improved, so I could continue. Did all of the left side of my face, perfect, not a single nick or cut. The chin was also perfect. However, at the right side of my face, I had problems maintaining the correct blade angle, and at the same time the blade was getting a bit dull again. I managed to finish shaving and got a few very small spots of blood at the right side of my face, along the jawline. Had I done some more stropping, I could probably have managed the whole shave without a single nick.
So, what is my impression of straight razor shaving? With a sharp enough blade, it was very enjoyable. I was never afraid of the razor, which probably helps. I think I will continue to shave with the straight every now and then when I have the time, but it's a bit too much time consuming to be a part of my daily routine. Maybe in the future if I pick up some speed :)