Thread: Progress Update

Well, nearly two months into this experience and am still making good, steady progress. I have learned how to comfortably shave everything except my lip areas down to the chin. My shaves are inching toward that magical BBS state. Not quite there, but tantalizingly close to it. I am able to do WTG, XG and ATG in most areas now. I have tried to do the area from my lower lip to the chin once. The results were not very encouraging. In all honesty, it was physically painful. The razor did not cut the beard (one I picked up on the classifieds that was shave ready, more on that below), rather it just bounced on the whiskers. Since it was a shave ready blade, and worked fairly well on other facial areas, it might just be that area of my face is not acclimated to the straight razor. I do have a fairly coarse beard in that area as well.

I am finding that I need at least a 6/8 razor to get a good shave. My skin isn't all that sensitive, but my beard is coarse. The whiskers under my lip are like metal spikes. The heft of the heavier blade provides the momentum needed for it to plow through the whiskers without the bounce I feel in the 5/8 that I purchased in the classifieds (as mentioned above). I am not going to blame it on the blade not being sharp, nor a cheapo blade either. I fully trust the person who I purchased it from, and it is a Bengall (5/8 round point).

Now that I have learned to properly manipulate the blade, I wish I could describe just how good it feels to shave. I feel I have attained something special. The shaves I am getting with the straight are getting better than I ever had with the nice Merkur twin, and that was a nice razor. However, I am getting a consistently sharp blade with the straight everytime I shave. The Merkur balde would begin to dull within a few days, and even new blades were not consistent in their sharpness. It's amazing just how much I pay attention to these details that I never gave much thought to, or paid attention to.

For those who have just started and have doubts, or misgivings, after just a few shaves have heart. It does improve!!

Good going! As you mentioned, the whiskers in the chin area are typically the densest and thickest, so it is usually the toughest area to shave.