Thread: First Shave: Hmmm

Hi Folks,

Well, this morning I tried my first straight shave. It wasn't really bad or good but that sounds like par for the course. The first time that I lifted the razor to my face... boy... I've never noticed before how HOT it was in the bathroom .

I did a downward WTG pass with the straight and finished up XTG & ATG with the DE. No nicks but I'm a bit red on my neck. Additionally, I have no idea how a "sharp" razor should feel. I purchased an inexpensive shave-ready (& honed) blade so I'm trusting that the resulting pulling/tugging was due to my own inexperience and not the fault of the blade.

I had a few questions: is it common for newbies to be TOO tentative with their strokes? I think that if I went at the shave with more "purpose" the results might be better. Also, how do you know if your stropping technique (or lack of) is helping/harming the blade? I stropped the razor slowly at the beginning and end of the shave. When stropping I kept the strop taught, used light pressure and tried to always keep the spine and edge in contact with the leather. Is learning to strop well really a trial and error process?

Anyway, I'm out of the gate! Hopefully I won't find the mud on the track to be too thick!

congrats on your first shave with a real straight its a great feeling isint it? and you actually did all 3 passes your first shave man you are off to a great start when you are stropping do not put any pressure on the blade or you will roll the edge if you are not careful other than that your stropping technique sounds right on as far as the tugging or pulling it could be the razor is not sharp enough and or holding the blade at the wrong angle make sure you prep your face good too if i dont shave right after a shower i put a hot towel on my face for a few minutes lather then let the later sit for a few then rinse i repeat the process two or three times

Congrats on breaking the ice without breaking the skin. If you go to the tutorials in the Wiki and read about the thumb pad test (TPT) you can get a feel for how sharp your blade is. Stay away from the thumbnail (TNT) test for an already sharp blade. I learned the feel of the TPT by practicing on a new DE blade.

If you have any old barbers in your area I would go in and explain that I am beginning to shave with a straight and ask him to show me how he strops. There are still some of them left around here and there may be where you are. Other then that I would take my time and use the TPT to see where your blade is. You can also try popping hairs off of your forearm. Don't go all the way to the skin but keep the blade suspended above just lightly touching the arm hair. Try it before and after strpping.

Sounds like a good first shave. Your experience sounds like my first shaves. Very tentative at first and I'm sure my inxeperience contributed to a very rough shave. I'm glad I took my time and didn't rush things. As shaves passed I grew more familiar to the feel of the blade in my hand and became more comfortable with my hand hold, grip, and angle of the razor to my face. I just sent my razor off to be honed, that should give me some feedback on if my honing has really hurt the edge. I've been honing like you described, and somewhere someone mentioned stropping the heck out of it so I've been doing just that. Trial and error here and so far I've kept my ears!
Check out the forums on beard prep and making lather. Very important and its a lot fun whipping up a bowl of lather.
peace
dannyr

Great tips! The exhortation to practice slowly being chief among them.

I had a better experience this morning. I think I did a better job of maintaining the correct blade angle and this made the shave more comfortable. (On the cheeks anyway... the chin is another topic in itself .) Additionally, I stropped ~100 laps before the shave which seemed to really smooth out the blade.

Thanks again for the tips... I'm sure I'll be seeking more of them.

Hello Frank, welcome to SRP. You are off to a great start. Remember to pay attention to face prep and do light strokes with your blade on your face. Oh, don't let your blade go sideways on your face.

bj

Hi Frank,

that doesnt sound too bad.. my first shaves were with a shavette with a feather DE blade in it.. every wrong move makes you bleed a bit..

A sharp razor shouldnt pull I guess (i'm also a bit new)..my first real shaveready razor(honed by Don or Lynn so no question it was shaveready) pulled a bit at first as wel but that was probably because I didnt strop well enough.. or just bad technique. After some stropping on a Cr0 strop and leather it didn't pull at all.. the stubles jump off my face in the lather to avoid the razor.

Maarten

Naw, be tentative and keep that blood all bottled up inside of you body. I had surprisingly few cuts and nicks when I started - it was not until I got a bit bolder and ****y and thought I could certainly handle going faster and more aggressively that I started getting cuts and nicks every time. It’s a game of nuance for sure.

Ditto on the stropping. It’s when you try to look like the barber on the old television shows who strops at 60 strokes a minute that you will be most likely to roll you edge or cut up your strop. Yes, there is a learning curve but it sounds like you are aware of the basics.