Thread: First SR Shave

Congrats! Glad to hear you received your razor and are off to the races! It is a fun and very relaxing ritual shaving with a SR.

Originally Posted by Robini

Congrats! Glad to hear you received your razor and are off to the races! It is a fun and very relaxing ritual shaving with a SR.

Not relaxing yet, but I can see myself getting there, when I'm adept enough to not worry about slashing myself...

I understand. For my first few shaves with a SR, I had sweat pouring down my face!

Congrats on the successful start. Remember it is beard reduction with wet shaving hence multiple passes. Good luck with your shaves

Sounds like your doing fine. My 2 cents worth would be just shave the lather and pull the skin tight with your non razor hand. My shaves got better and more comfortable after pulling the skin tighter then I thought I needed to. And welcome aboard.

It took me a good while before I was getting close shaves with a straight. I did a clean up with my DE razor for a few weeks before I could show my face in public with just a straight shave.

You are doing the right thing taking it slowly, don't worry about not being ambidextrous. I went with using both hands right away and I was surprised at how quickly I became comfortable using my left hand.

Keep at it and don't be discouraged when the shaves aren't great, they will improve. I have to just add that when I let my beard grow out for a few days the first shave is never as comfortable as when I shave every day. That could just well be me, but worth considering in the future.

Good luck and enjoy.

Just one other thing and not everyone agrees with this one, but personally I am not a fan of the stands that put my razor close to my brush. They look great, but just be really careful that the wet brush doesn't allow your blade to become wet or even damp as rust will get a hold very quickly. My razors are left out to dry after I have cleaned them and stored away from the bathroom.

With using your light pressure does the blade easily cut your beard hair? Try not applying the pre shave oil to one cheek but leave it on the other?

Also another confirmation that it takes many attempts to get a close shave with a straight razor but there is nothing else like it when you get there! Keep at it, you are learning a tradesmen skill so don't be so hard on your beginning steps. The more you do those little steps keeping it slow and steady the less likely you will cut yourself and the quicker you will learn when to move to the next step.

Originally Posted by eddy79

Congrats on the successful start. Remember it is beard reduction with wet shaving hence multiple passes. Good luck with your shaves

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought of it that way, since I've only made it to one pass thus far...

Originally Posted by dshaves

With using your light pressure does the blade easily cut your beard hair? Try not applying the pre shave oil to one cheek but leave it on the other?

Also another confirmation that it takes many attempts to get a close shave with a straight razor but there is nothing else like it when you get there! Keep at it, you are learning a tradesmen skill so don't be so hard on your beginning steps. The more you do those little steps keeping it slow and steady the less likely you will cut yourself and the quicker you will learn when to move to the next step.

Actually, what I found out today (my third shave) was that I had the blade at too shallow an angle on my previous two shaves. It cut much better at a slightly greater angle (still under 30 degrees). In fact the cheeks were a breeze...

Had my 3rd shave today. Definitely a lot easier than the first two. Adjusted the angle of the razor to one that was a little more aggressive (still under 30 degrees)...I guess I was really tentative in my first two attempts after hearing about the #1 newbie mistake of using too sharp an angle.. The cheeks were a breeze. Even the neck went relatively smoothly, but it got tricky on the cheeks as I got close to the mouth (I learned to puff up my cheeks a bit). My chin took a lot of time and many, many baby strokes, and resulted in an Ok shave, but not as good as the cheeks.

Where I had a lot of trouble was above the top lip. Either my razor was too wide (6/8") for my skill level, or my nose is too big, or both! After receiving my first nick, I called it a day and used my electric above the top lip. I was pretty happy with the quality of shave all around. Pretty smooth; in fact, it was smoother than my electric even at my current SR skill level and with only one pass. Going to have to find a solution for the top lip though, so I'll look around for some videos.

Stropping was more comfortable today as well, more rhythmical with repeatable sounds. The lather was definitely much better also, and I think that it really made a difference in the smoothness of the shave compared to my first two shaves. Watched a bunch of videos to improve my face lathering skills beforehand and made a makeshift scuttle (until mine arrives). With the number of re-lathers that I did, the lather on my brush was kept warm, and it felt good. Had never used face balm before (had only used after shave) and found it to really help. In fact, my face had a nice glow afterwards...

Overall, good day. Skin was not beaten up with the number of strokes that I made over the same area. Face felt smooth. Looking forward to the day when I can try going across/against the grain to see just how smooth things can get.

I'll give my face a break tomorrow and see if a day off helps with shaving above the top lip.