Thread: first shave

I've been using a straight since about July or August of last year. Only in the past month or so have I been getting fantastic consistent shaves. I am by no means saying that you'll take that long (I think I was just a slow learner ), but don't get discouraged if you're not getting the kind of shave that you want by the first shave.

Trust me when I say this: if you stick with it, it will only get better from here, and you will love it when you get to that happy shaving place. And you WILL get there.

One thing to remember is bear preparation. You may want to make sure that you prepare your bear for the shave.A hot shower, pre shave oils and hot towels all help this process. Also the angle used for shaving depends on a number of factors, including: the region of the face that you are shaving, the type and size of blade, the pass (with, across or against the grain), etc... This link from the wiki may be helpful:

Category:Straight Razor Shaving - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Also, you may want to take a look at your stropping technique. I think you asked about the stropping earlier but not about the technique itself. Incorrect tropping is the cause of many of the problems reported by new users. I think you can find some useful info in this thread and the threads mentioned within:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/newbi...tml#post330701

Good luck and do not heistate to ask again if you still have questions.

Al raz.

Originally Posted by Alraz

One thing to remember is bear preparation. You may want to make sure that you prepare your bear for the shave.

Ahahaha. I can just see it now. A big grizzly being shaved with a straight razor.

This one might get me another ban, but I found it interesting. From a purely linguistic perspective.

Don't fret. I just started shaving with a straight razor 6 days ago and I see a huge difference between my first day's shave and my sixth's days shaving. Just keep up with it. You will see a difference.
Concerning the razor burn I experienced the same problem. I found that my lather was too watery. I would review lather techniques in the wiki.

Thank you every one . Think i might have a problem with my stropping . I am doing a 12 hour shift today so was looking forward to giving it a go tonight . I was going to look at my stropping and take it slow and give it 50 odd passes would that dring the blade to readyness? If not and its still a bad shave , i have a 12k natural waterstone would about 100 passes on that help ? If not back to steve at invisable edge to have a touch up? Thanks for any advice

Thank you every one . Think i might have a problem with my stropping . I am doing a 12 hour shift today so was looking forward to giving it a go tonight . I was going to look at my stropping and take it slow and give it 50 odd passes would that dring the blade to readyness? If not and its still a bad shave , i have a 12k natural waterstone would about 100 passes on that help ? If not back to steve at invisable edge to have a touch up? Thanks for any advice