Thread: first shave report, a big thanks, and a few questions

First a huge thankyou to all of you who have made his forum what it is. Because of your encouragment and wealth of info here you made my first shave pretty successful.
OK so, hot towel, 3 min lather, a good stropping, relathered and off I went. No problems with gripping the razor with my right hand, and shaving the left side of my face. things were going so well, i even did the left side of my neck. The problem came when i had to switch and hold the razor with my left hand. I didnt feel like i had a stable grip. Trial and error?ONCE AGAIN THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO AVAILABLE HERE ON SRP!
Oh just a side note for any gun enthusiests here. I picked up a rock island 1911 clone today. Cant wait to get out and shoot it.. taz/mike

Mike, do not let lack of dexterity in your non dominant hand take you away from the pleasure of straight razor shaving. If you change hand, probably the grip should be the same, right. It takes skill but you will master the technique. I think that your experience was excellent, overall. One thing that helps is to start shaving the easiest parts with the straight first and leave the hard parts for your usual shaver at first. As you get confident with your technique, you can start increasing the area that you shave with the straight, until you do wtg, atg, etc., comfortably. As I said, it takes time. I think that you got it. Congratulations!!!

Al raz.

congrats on the shave, one tip I learned was to brush my teeth with my off hand

Originally Posted by crankymoose

congrats on the shave, one tip I learned was to brush my teeth with my off hand

I tried that, but the 6/8 cut the heck out of my gums....got any other tips?

Just keep practicing with both hands.

I am left handed and my first pass on my right hand side of my face using my right hand is not as close as the first pass on my left side. However, on my right side when I do my second pass across the grain on my cheek and against the grain on my neck, because I am using my dominant left hand, I get a good close shave correcting any shortcoming in my first pass. Vice versa for the left side of my face.

Keep at it, it will improve.

sounds like your off to a great start shaving with your non dominate hand takes practice hang in there it will become second nature with enouugh shaves

Originally Posted by taztoo

Oh just a side note for any gun enthusiests here. I picked up a rock island 1911 clone today. Cant wait to get out and shoot it.. taz/mike

Well just dont confuse your gun and your razor...either you will cut yourself on your index finger or worse..

Welcome to the straight path!!

I found that shaving with my left hand is something I just got used to afters a couple of shaves so no real problem there.. It is important to make sure the soap on your face doesn't dry out. This happened a couple of times during my first shaves... because I was a bit slow on my right side, when I switched hands and got to my left side, the soap was dry and the razor didn't "glide" over my skin. That didn't really help my clumsiness of my left hand.

Well have fun!!!

Maarten