Thread: My First Shave - A Short Photo Journey

I went out to my mailbox today, and what did I see?



And what might be inside?



Oh my! What is it?



Hurray! It's my frameback from holli4pirating!



And it's good to see I have been prepared for this day



Got my bowl all lathered up and ready!



Here I am, fresh out of the shower, with a hot towel around my face



All lathered up and no place to go....

Except in, full force! (don't worry, the blade is a few inches from my face, it's just a pose)

I opted not to put any "during" pictures, in interest of not ruining my iphone.

All finished!




I nicked the hell out of myself, I won't lie, but nothing that a cold rinse didn't fix. Didn't need to bust my stypic pencil out for anything.

Things I learned:

The Chin is level 2 work. It's not an easy area to shave.

The neck also isn't very easy. My neck has a bunch of little dips and valleys in it.

I rinsed and relathered a time or two, things cooled off a lot and I wanted them to stay warm and creamy.

Afterwards, I used a post-shave lotion, and that might have been the most painful part of the whole process. I am raw as all get out. I wouldn't doubt a lot of that came from exfoliation.

The only spots I missed were right along the edge of my lower lip, and around a mole on my upper lip.

I don't have a strop yet, what do I do now?

oh, wow
you jumped right into it!
well, first it gets much much better with practice

and now you wait till you get a strop - your face would definitely appreciate it.
skin grows fast, but it still needs a bit of time.

you can strop on a smooth leather belt, or perhaps newsprint.

Congrats Philly! Looks like a very successful first shave to me!

My advice as to what to do next is to leave off shaving again for a day or two to let your face recover a bit. If you have a smooth leather belt, you can use that as a strop while you await the arrival of your strop.

Good work mate

James.

Before my strop came I tried a leather belt, but didn't like it. I went to Lowes, bought a decking spindle and cut it in half. Then I went to a local craft store and got some hand america leather strips. Voila! paddle strop. 10 bucks.

Kool Philly Glade you get it... Happy Shaving.

Thanks for the kind words! Yeah, I'm about to make another trip to the lotion just for the sake of alleviating this razor burn!

Am I right in my thinking that it's the exfoliation that's left me so raw?

Yeah, basically. Plus you may have gone over a few places more than once or twice, and your stretching might not have been as good as it could be, etc. etc. A lot of things go into making a smooth shave, and a lack of any one of them can leave you feeling a bit tender.

But given this is your first shave with a straight, I'd say it is just your skin adjusting and feeling a bit delicate. You should expect that for a few weeks as you get into it.

James.

You got a much closer shave than my first try with a straight (or my second or 3rd and quite a few more tbh)
I find that the lighter the touch, the less razor burn you get. I imagine a light brushing effect rather than scraping. And 50 laps of stropping before shaving helped me in so many ways.

I also had the problem of having to do my own honing. Did you buy yours shave-ready?

Can you say blade angle and lighter touch..............good first go thought!