Thread: First Shave, Not Good and it's getting worse

I've been at this straight thing for about a week and the learning curve has been substantial. Not impossible, it just takes some thinking and experimenting to get things right.

My first shave wasn't great. It wasn't bad either, it just wasn't one of those shaves that made me think "Damn that was a good shave."

Second and third shaves were better in terms of hair removal, but my face felt a bit rough after.

Then I figured out a few tricks:

1) Don't be shy with the lather. I have no problems re-lathering an area and going back over it. Doing this without lathering just hurts.

2) I played around a bit with how I held the razor. Gave me way more control.

3) Used a lighter touch than I thought I should be using. I tend to stand a little too close to the razor anyway so this helped. Lets the cutting edge do it's work.

4) Mange the edge. I've taken to starting out where my beard is toughest and the work is most delicate: around my mouth. This way, I'm starting with a sharper edge. Once this is done, I take a quick pass on my cheek to see whether I need to re-strop or not.

And finally, I've found that I get more confident each time I take the implement in hand. It's been said elsewhere but I'll say it again. It's like any other potentially dangerous implement (including a woman): it must be approached with confidence and respect. Do otherwise at your own peril.

I actually got a few(3) str8, but to have a point of reference I had one honed by Lynn and use it as my first str8 razor shave - it was awful!!! I stropped it after a day and use to shave just my cheeks only for my second shave, it was a bit better. Stropped it again after 48 hours and my third shave was ok. I also got a Boker off e-bay, that my wife restored for me, and it shaves ok too, but after lots of stropping, I managed to hone it myself :-)
So far all of my str8 shaves are not close or anything to brag about. I still get a better shave with shavette or DE, and I understood honed by professional will not really shorten the learning curve. When I do not have time I just do first 1-2 passes with str8 and one with DE and set full str8 shave for one of the weekend nights when I can really concentrate. I still happy to take a blade out of shavette and practice just how to move it around my face, that was a great help to stop getting nicks, of course that will not teach you angle of a real str8
Also after shaving with a real str8 it became much easier to shave with a DE somehow, I use to give myself a razor burn once in while with it, now it just does not happen anymore, like it moved to str8 razor territory. My shavette shaves are easier too, go figure.