Thread: First shave: a failure, but I'm not discouraged

Well, I sure am glad that I've been reading these forums and knew not to expect a clean shave on the first try. I sure didn't get one. If you're a newbie like me and you're thinking, "I'm going to get a straight razor and I'll be getting a shave as close as I would with my Mach3/electric razor/DE/whatever on my first try," you're most likely going to be disappointed.

My girlfriend has been bugging me to grow back my goatee for a while now, and I decided that doing so would be a perfect opportunity to learn straight razor shaving, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it means that I won't need to worry about shaving the most difficult portions of my face for quite some time, allowing me to concentrate on technique on the easier places, mainly my cheeks and neck. Second, in the past it was difficult to get really clean lines with my mach 3, owing mostly to the fact that I couldn't really tell where the blade actually was. I figure that once I can use a straight razor proficiently, this will no longer be an issue and I'll be able to look less scruffy.

On the actual shave, I had a very hard time getting the blade to cut my cheek stubble at all, and I don't have much. Having been warned that pressure was most emphatically not the way to get more out of a straight razor shave, I attempted to vary the angle and got slightly better results, but still nothing stellar. I went from looking like I hadn't shaved in 3 days to looking like I hadn't shaved in two.

Now, I didn't strop the razor because I had just gotten it hand-honed, so I know my stropping mis-technique is not at fault. While attempting to shave my jaw line, I accidentally managed to properly shave one very small region under my ear -- I suspect I was concentrating on another region and the tip of my blade glanced that part of my skin at just the right angle. The result, there, was very clean -- cleaner than I ever managed to get with a mach 3, going with the grain (I typically shaved against). Not as good as an against the grain pass, but still, this is encouraging. I don't know how I did that part, but experimentation and time will tell.

There is clearly a lot of technique involved.

I had some problems, too. Once lathered up, how do you folks stretch your skin? I ask because my skin is all slippery when lathered, so grabbing and pulling is quite difficult to do.

In another thread, people talked about scything motion, and someone linked to a barber school video demonstrating the idea. I attempted to mimic the motion, but it's rather different when you're shaving yourself -- you can't "lead with the tip from the sideburns to the chin," for example, because the tip is facing the other way. How do you guys do it?

Now, it wasn't all bad. I had never experienced a proper lather before, never used a brush, etc, and that was fantastic. I used my awesome scuttle and Simpson Duke 3 to build the lather and keep it warm (I bought the scuttle from schwarzweisskeramik.de, and the Simpson from Lee's Razors). I used Colleen's Leatherneck soap, which has a smell I really like, and then some Nivea aftershave to clean up afterwards. I may not look clean-shaven, but I sure smell nice!

I'll try again tomorrow, I think, and hopefully the results will be better. I'm definitely more confident now that I've tried it once myself and have a better idea what it's all about.

Don't lose faith yet. You are doing the right thing by starting slowly. My understanding is that stropping is important, especially now you have a sense of the blade.

Remember that the "right" angle is quite flat (about 2x the width of the spine). I switch hands when I shave, and reach over my head and stretch the skin pulling upward. Don't try too frequently at first, to give any razor burn a chance to heal. As your skin gets used to the blade, you won't get it any more.

Good luck.
Jim

When I started out the best advice I received was
FOCUS ON TECHNIQUE. DON'T WORRY ABOUT BBS
I took that to heart and, I think, let me look at the various contortions and hand grips needed.
Don't worry about the result. clean up with a DE if needed after three passes with the straight.

Face prep is important as in DE. hydration. Everyone here has told me to strop...SO I STROP before a shave.
Have fun!

Originally Posted by atpinak

Well, I sure am glad that I've been reading these forums and knew not to expect a clean shave on the first try. I sure didn't get one. If you're a newbie like me and you're thinking, "I'm going to get a straight razor and I'll be getting a shave as close as I would with my Mach3/electric razor/DE/whatever on my first try," you're most likely going to be disappointed.

My girlfriend has been bugging me to grow back my goatee for a while now, and I decided that doing so would be a perfect opportunity to learn straight razor shaving, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it means that I won't need to worry about shaving the most difficult portions of my face for quite some time, allowing me to concentrate on technique on the easier places, mainly my cheeks and neck. Second, in the past it was difficult to get really clean lines with my mach 3, owing mostly to the fact that I couldn't really tell where the blade actually was. I figure that once I can use a straight razor proficiently, this will no longer be an issue and I'll be able to look less scruffy.

On the actual shave, I had a very hard time getting the blade to cut my cheek stubble at all, and I don't have much. Having been warned that pressure was most emphatically not the way to get more out of a straight razor shave, I attempted to vary the angle and got slightly better results, but still nothing stellar. I went from looking like I hadn't shaved in 3 days to looking like I hadn't shaved in two.

Now, I didn't strop the razor because I had just gotten it hand-honed, so I know my stropping mis-technique is not at fault. While attempting to shave my jaw line, I accidentally managed to properly shave one very small region under my ear -- I suspect I was concentrating on another region and the tip of my blade glanced that part of my skin at just the right angle. The result, there, was very clean -- cleaner than I ever managed to get with a mach 3, going with the grain (I typically shaved against). Not as good as an against the grain pass, but still, this is encouraging. I don't know how I did that part, but experimentation and time will tell.

There is clearly a lot of technique involved.

I had some problems, too. Once lathered up, how do you folks stretch your skin? I ask because my skin is all slippery when lathered, so grabbing and pulling is quite difficult to do.

In another thread, people talked about scything motion, and someone linked to a barber school video demonstrating the idea. I attempted to mimic the motion, but it's rather different when you're shaving yourself -- you can't "lead with the tip from the sideburns to the chin," for example, because the tip is facing the other way. How do you guys do it?

Now, it wasn't all bad. I had never experienced a proper lather before, never used a brush, etc, and that was fantastic. I used my awesome scuttle and Simpson Duke 3 to build the lather and keep it warm (I bought the scuttle from schwarzweisskeramik.de, and the Simpson from Lee's Razors). I used Colleen's Leatherneck soap, which has a smell I really like, and then some Nivea aftershave to clean up afterwards. I may not look clean-shaven, but I sure smell nice!

I'll try again tomorrow, I think, and hopefully the results will be better. I'm definitely more confident now that I've tried it once myself and have a better idea what it's all about.

First let me say , your first shave was NOT a failure . It is the first step on the road to learning to use a straight razor . It will take time to develop your technique , and you will learn more every time you shave . Start your shave , with the razor flat against your face , and see how it shaves , you will be surprised to see how smoothly it will shave . Increase your angle slightly and you will see that the razor will shave closer . With experience , you will learn to feel when you have the blade at the correct angle .

Granted, technique is likely to be part of the problem. However, I'm wondering about what you said about having the razor "hand honed." Are you certain that the honer knew what he was doing? Just because someone claims to know what they are doing doesn't mean that they actually do. Did the person who honed the razor shave test it? If not, then I would have doubts about their honing job.

It's just another thing for you to consider.
Good luck and have fun with it.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Granted, technique is likely to be part of the problem. However, I'm wondering about what you said about having the razor "hand honed." Are you certain that the honer knew what he was doing? Just because someone claims to know what they are doing doesn't mean that they actually do. Did the person who honed the razor shave test it? If not, then I would have doubts about their honing job.

In this, I am relatively certain there is no problem. The honing was done by Lynn via classicshaving.com, and he shave tests all his blades. No, I'm pretty much 100% it's my lack of technique.

Thanks for the troubleshooting tip anyway, though. I appreciate it.