Thread: Newbie's first attempt at straight shaving

I recently came into possession of a straight in decent condition (http://straightrazorpalace.com/newbi...o-halifax.html) that I sent to Dr. Moss who generously offered to check and hone for me (Thanks again Chris!!! ). I received it back today and couldn't wait to give it a try - I didn't shave this morning knowing that the straight should arrive back in the mail today.

I only used the straight on my cheeks and used my Tech on the rest. I was somewhat disappointed in the result .... I'll try to describe the process and maybe someone can point be in the right direction.

Not having had a preshave shower like my normal morning routing, I wet a wash cloth with some hot water and let it sit on my face for a few mins, constantly reheating the cloth and applying.

I whipped up some lather (that in my haste turned out to be a bit dry so rehydrated it to get it to the right consistency). I gave my face one last soak and applied the lather in same manner as I do when DE shaving letting it sit for a few mins before going to work.

I stretched the skin and took a few light hesitant strokes on my cheek. Once I figured out my depth perception I took strokes of approx 2 inches. The sound of the razor cutting the hair didn't sound right (almost a scraping sound) so I adjusted the angle of the blade a bit and took another couple of strokes. The blade felt like it was tugging instead of cutting. I didn't want to screw with the angle too much for fear of slicing my cheek open. I was taking off quite a bit of hair but the stroke process didn't feel smooth ... almost like the blade was starting and stopping as it moved along.

I did a couple of WTG passes and one XTG. The XTG "felt" better than the WTG which wasn't totally unexpected as much of my beard was reduced.

Is it possible that my light touch was too light? How can you determine how light / hard of a touch to use? Is this more of a personal preference than a science?

Blade angle may have been really out of wack. While I think I was in the 30 deg range, could the scraping sound have been too steep of an angle <30?

Thoughts? Comments? Kick in the ass? all welcome.

Cheers,

Rick

Welcome!

Angles might be wrong. I would respectfully submit that you probably don't have the experience to know that the "razor didn't sound right".

Maybe turn the stereo up next time when you shave.

I was basing the sound on what I am used to hearing from my DE shaves. It is very possible that, because it sounded different from what I am used to hearing, that my strokes were more hesitant than they should have been.

Hey Rick,
I'm a newbie too. I just switched to shaving with a straight a couple of weeks ago from 4 years with a hd/feather blades and I had the same experience during my first shave. At first I thought something must be wrong. It seemed to be pulling horribly. Since then I just keep trying to work on angle and touch and in a short time I'm already noticing a big difference. I think its just the natural learning curve in getting used to the difference between shaving with the straight vs the de. Just keep at it and Good luck. Also I think I may have gotten a bit better at stropping, maybe that helped as well.
Dan

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Maybe turn the stereo up next time when you shave.

Alan, I sort of took your advice on this one!! I went back to the straight today for shave number two. This time around I left the fan running in the bathroom to take my mind off the different sound.

I did a WTG on whole face except for a few areas that I couldn't quite get the blade placed right - rather than tempt fate I skipped these few areas and took care of them with my DE. I also did a XTG pass on my neck and cheeks, then feeling a bit ballsy did an AGT on the cheeks. For the left side of my face I switched to my left hand as I kept "losing" the point as I crossed my right hand across.

All in all, I had a decent shave - no blood loss and a fairly smooth shave. I am already looking forward to shave number 3!!

Cheers,

Rick

Did you strop at all?

Different grinds sound different too, don't worry about the noise...

Congrats on the shaves. The more you do it, the better it'll get.