Thread: YAFSS: Yet another first straight shave

Ditch Doc, I'm watching your progress with interest as like me, you've just started, you shopped with Lynn, and you post your progress without reservatioin. If not my inspiration, you at least cause me to think, if he can do it, I can do it! That's inspiration enough!

I can see how confidence would play a big role. I have very little (though it was higher today than yesterday -- I got through the first day and realized I hadn't slit my throat). When I switched to my DE half way through today to get a decent shave, I must admit my confidence was much higher. But I can remember a time when I started DE shaving that I was very tentative. But only a few weeks into that, it was feeling much more natural. I guess I owe it to myself, my straight razor investment, and all the helpful people here to keep at it.

Thanks,
Ray

Hi Ray,

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Don't expect things to be perfect over night. So much of straight razor shaving depends on getting a feel for it, and that just takes time. I don't know if this helps, but in my case, I shave with a straight with a different pattern than I do from the DE. What I do with the DE works best for it, what I do with the straight works best for it.

Here's my straight routine:

1) Shave straight down from top to bottom. One cheek first, then the other.

2) Shave neck, one side first, then the other, finishing up in the middle. Here I do something different. I start at the bottom, shaving with down strokes, working my way up.

3) Shave under the nose, then the chin. I use very short strokes here, esp. on the chin. The chin is round but the blade is straight. Don't try to take too much at a time.

4) Wet my face, and do a final pass from the bottom up. It took me a long time to get comfortable with this. DON'T try it unless you're really comfortable with handling your razor. Anyway, I start at the neck, taking up strokes all the way up the cheek. I use NO pressure, and yoiu'd think you weren't doing anything, but that's where I get my super-smooth shaves.

5) Final clean up: I run my wet hand around my face to pinpoint any stragglers. I have three spots I always have to hit again, but I always end up with a two-day shave (don't need to shave again for two days) and no irritation.

A NOTE ABOUT PRESSURE: I use hardly any pressure at all when I shave. I don't know if that's just me, or if my blades are sharpened just right. When I get to the point where I have to apply pressure to shave, I take the razors to the hone. They don't get a super heavy honing, just a few swipes on the 4000 side (I use a Norton 4000/8000) until I feel the blade pull smoothly, then a few on the 8000 side, and a good stropping. That gets things back into shape pretty quick.

Honing and Stropping are also very important. The guys in the group all give good advice on this so i won't re-hash it, but eventually you'll get a feel for that too, and that's when you get the best results.

Best wishes,
Mike

Thanks for your ideas, Mike. It seems like several people around here get the shave done in 2 passes, perhaps with the cleanup you mention. My DE shaves took 3 or 4 passes to get close, so I'm interested to explore this further.

In the pressure department, I think I needed to apply too much to get the job done. I'm going to do the sensible thing and send the razor back to Lynn and Don for a touch-up. It delays some of my progress, but I have to know what the right feel is. I probably screwed that up out of the gate, but that's one mistake that is easy to fix.

Undaunted,
Ray