Yesterday, I had my first ever complete straight shave. It went well, with the chin being the most difficult spot to shave. I was sold a beautifully restored razor that came shave-ready by a regular here, so I know it was sharp, but I had a few day's growth, and it pulled like a very dull DE blade, so I finished up the difficult spots with my DE. Oddly enough, my old trouble spot (my neck) with any razor (DE or cartridge) was a breeze with the straight: zero pain, close shave. I stropped the blade last night after the kids went to bed.

This morning, with only 24 hour’s growth, I stepped out of the shower, looking forward to my shave with the idea that it’ll be much easier because I didn’t have all the growth with which to contend. To my dismay, the shave was worse. I’d used Proraso with shave oil yesterday and just used soap today, which is my usual lather with a DE. Perhaps the oil and cream made a difference, but man, that sucker pulled like there was no tomorrow. It felt like I was dragging a rusty razor across my face. The bright spot was, though, that using the straight on my neck was still a pain-free delight. It was the rest of my face that bore the punishment. It’s not so much that I nicked myself a lot (I got a few), but the pulling and the razor burn are the killers. And the shave is nowhere near the smooth shave I get with a DE, but I chalk the lack of a smooth shave up to inexperience.

I know it’s impossible for anyone else to know what I’m not doing right, but I presume that a straight razor shave isn’t supposed to be painful. I’ve watched Lynn’s DVD, and I’m going WTG on most strokes and not shaving areas without lather. The only things I can think of are that I’ve got my angle wrong and that I tend to forget to stretch my skin because I don’t with the DE. I suppose I may have also messed up the edge with the strop, but I've really no way of knowing that. Any other possible tips? At this point, I'm tallying up what I can sell the razors and strop for, and I don't want to go down that road until I've given this a fair shake.



Many thanks...