Thread: First Shave....Finally

Well about a year ago I rediscovered how enjoyable a good shave could be. I switched from shaving with from the can cream or gel to soap, got myself a good brush, spent more time on prep, and got some good aftershave balm. However, I was still shaving with my mach3.
Now I do get good results with my mach3. I can get a BBS shave, and with little to no irritation, but I remembered a couple of years ago getting a REAL shave at a barbers shop and how much I enjoyed it. So in early December I ordered a straight. Well it came today, so naturally I showered and lathered up right away.
I'm not gonna try and blow smoke up anyone's ass here, cuz its not like I expected to be perfect out of the gate. It wasn't the smoothest shave I've ever had, or the least irritating, but it was the most enjoyable.
I spent a good 25 minutes shaving WTG, XTG, and ATG twice. 2 small nicks and very minor razor burn on my neck. All things considered very pleased. The results are better than my mach 3 before I started paying more attention to shaving, and my technique will only improve.
If I can offer one word of advice to any newbies creeping this forum (like myself) before diving into straight shaving, its take your time. I definately attribute my lack of any major problems to a very slow methodical shave.

Glad to hear about your experience. We tend to forget that shaving is more than just removing hair. Prep time together with proper technique and using good products make the difference . Patience , as you say, also helps. By the way, that is what I call snail mail... where do you live, Mars? ;-)

Al raz.

ahh the first shave sounds like it went well. it will take a little while for your face to adjust to the blade, most people have razor burn the first few times. rest your face tomorrow and shave again on friday. i am guessing you also have a strop? use care when stropping to avoid rolling your edge and always pay attention to your blade angle. too much of an angle and you will be scraping your face instead of killing whiskers.

Congrats on your first shave!

Originally Posted by jszabo

ahh the first shave sounds like it went well. it will take a little while for your face to adjust to the blade, most people have razor burn the first few times. rest your face tomorrow and shave again on friday. i am guessing you also have a strop? use care when stropping to avoid rolling your edge and always pay attention to your blade angle. too much of an angle and you will be scraping your face instead of killing whiskers.

I do have a strop. I figured best to get a handle on things before diving in to quickly. So I creeped this forum for quite some time, and ended up picking up a DOVO extra wide strop, some classic shaving soap, which I later upgraded to TGQ soap, and a razor. I ordered two razors, one which is a DOVO ebony spike point, which is what I used today for my first shave after getting it professionally honed, and a double arrow so I could teach myself to hone and strop without recking my DOVO. At least if i end up screwing up the double arrow its only $10.