Thread: 2nd shave

Woo! Got my razor back from Lynn. Checked out its keenness for my benchmark. First time I've ever seen the hht work! Definitely the closest shave I've ever gotten. However my skin is pretty irritated And there are some red spots. Along with that I got quite a few cuts... One thing I definitely need to keep in mind is this requires a very light touch. Every time I didn't think to myself, "go lightly, go lightly," I didn't go lightly. ATG was definitely the easiest pass, and XTG was the most difficult. It would definitely help to be in a smaller bathroom so that it's hotter and more humid from my shower...

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By the way, the sharpening service I requested from Lynn is slightly different than what he normally does. I requested him to not use the shave test since I seem to have a phobia of other people using the same blade(s) as me.

It seems that this str8 razor shaving is all about a light touch . Light touch on the hone , light touch on the strop , and light touch on the face . By the time you get to around your sixth shave , things should start falling into place . And if your like me , around your sixteenth shave you will become overconfident , thinking that you've pretty much mastered shaving with a str8 , and give yourself a good slice or two .

I actually have a few cuts on my face from the shaves. Today was better in respencts that I had a lighter touch, but I missed more spots on my face. Had to go over them again. Anyway, this is definitely more difficult than when I first heard about straight razor shaving. People in the videos make it look so easy... I'll get there soon enough, I hope. Maybe by the time I get back to college, I won't have as many nicks and cuts.

It takes a bit of practice, but I think most would agree that they experience fewer nicks and cuts with a str8 than with a DE. I know I do. It's a more difficult technique, but the nicks and weepers are far fewer for me. Keep going - you're just working out your technique for your face.

Maybe I am just a freak, but I really do not use a "light touch". I hone with my tilly barber hone, then use my diamond paddle strop, then my 3 inch strop. I take my shower (usually) use any hair conditioner my daughter left in the shower, then badger silver tip with Walgreens shaving soap. I go DOWN then ACROSS then UP. I usually judge my how close my neck feels. Then I use the Walgreens generic Aqua Velva after shave. If I had a dull blade the fire trucks are called. I do use pressure when needed. Not a lot, but pressure. Also, I do not go nearly as slowly as I used to. Once I start actually shaving I would guess 5 minutes.


Jerry

Heh... takes me half an hour to shave so far... It's getting faster. I've actually had the closest shave with less nicks yesterday. Today I actually didn't shave... So I suppose just in general it's getting better. The only problem I had with my last shave was it was really irritating after a few hours. Maybe I didn't put enough aftershave on?

I can't answear the aftershave question , because I really don't know . I can tell you that you can expect your first few shaves to be kind of rough . I didn't start to get even half decent shaves until after my sixth shave .

Dave, I have found pretty much the same thing, I guess as I get better at honing the touch will get lighter, I did get a couple of passes on one cheek that were as easy as a safety razor, ie just wiped the wiskers of with no scraping.