Intro and First Shave

I wanted to say hello to everyone and that I'm confident this group is as helpful and friendly as those at B&B.

I've been DE shaving for a few months and have been enjoying it quite a bit. As a result of enjoying DE so much, I was confident that I would also enjoy straight shaving. I ordered a Wapi and Strop from Kenrup and Lynn's video. I received them all today and spent the morning looking up answers to some of my questions and reviewing the 'shaving' portion of the video.

And now... The result of my first shave.....

I'm hooked!!!

I made two passes, wtg and xtg, and started to brave an atg pass. I quickly decided that I was probably fatigued and not ready to take on a new grip just yet. I performed my last pass with my DE.

It had been about 48 hrs since the last shave on my coarse beard which may have made beard reduction a little slow. All in all though, my results were better than I had expected. If my 48 hr beard was 100%, my whiskers were reduced by 85% with the two passes.

My only concern is that there was more drag than I had expected. I concluded that the length of my beard was the cause but my second pass was just no better. The one stroke that I made against the grain, during the third pass, was extremely rough. I would not have been able to hold the razor lightly and perform a pass. I then picked up my DE with a fresh blade and easily continued my third pass with no problems.

Feel free to be critical as I am very welcome to feedback.

Thanks and I look forward to my next attempt!!!

Carrolll Ware

First, welcome to SRP!
Second, congratulations on getting a pretty good first shave with your new str8. I only shaved my cheeks for a while after starting.
Next, you may want to consider doing a couple of XTG passes in different directions vice trying to do an ATG pass. I find that I can get very close to BBS with a WTG and two XTG passes. YMMV and all that...

Again, welcome!!!

No need to be critical and no need for you to rush. If you are having some problems with 2nd and 3rd passes it may be stropping from what I can tell on your post. Either need more stropping, better stropping technique or if you do have a really rough beard you may need to strop between passes. All in all It sounds like you are doing fine, congratulations and dont let the learning curve(or a little blood) scare you, its just a matter of time and experience. Another thing, if you are going slow and taking your time you may need to do additional beard prep as the lather and beard tend to dry up in time. More hot water and lather or hot towel and lather may be needed to keep the whiskers supple and ready to cut.IMHO youre doing great, and I am sure in due time the others will show up to help. Keep it up and have fun!:tu