Thread: The learning curve, What next?

+1 for a facial-hair-growth-map. that's always a great thing to do.

I've found its really helpful (YMMV) to create the shaving equivalent of a pre-shot routine, like you see golfers doing before a shot, or basketball players doing before a freethrow. So I always do the same things before I shave, and I try to shave the same places, the same way, in the same order, every time. Its kindof a zen thing, cause once I got it down, it took some of the mentality out of it, and now i can listen to music, or NPR, or just do nothing while I shave, and let my thoughts drift.

The next step may be buying an inexpensive razor from ebay and attempt to learn honing. Or try stropping with additional speed. Or try making uberlather. Or maybe experimenting with different soaps or creams.
Or anything.

Thing is, once your stropping and shaving technique are good, you can really experiment and explore. That's one of the things that drew me to straight shaving: The amount of things to learn is endless, and once you have the fundamentals down, you can go anywhere with it. Enjoy the journey.

Originally Posted by winterkid

Two things:
1. Wes, where is Xmans video?
2. Do you guys do ATG on your necks too? I tried it last night and got a major hack job. So I'll stick with WTG and XTG for now on my neck. But my checks are fine with ATG. I know everyone is different, so I'm just getting an idea from others.

1. sorry about that, i am no good with links, and thanks TonyJ for helping.

2. for me it is really hard to do and ATG as the hair grows from left to right. so really i do 2 XTGs and then a very light ATG on select areas that i can get to. i find with short strokes and a sharp razor the XTG gets me a nice shave on most of my neck though i am still perfecting a BBS technique for the lower part. but still better then any other shaving method i have tried, and funner.

Finally a qualified expert to respond
I hope I am not too late

Your main problem, which is our same problem, is that your razor is not sharp enough. I know because as I progress, those places get tighter on my face. No lather, oil, stretching, prep or anything will make a more radical difference than having a perfect edge. Have you tried different grinds, sizes? (Ultimately I don't think it matters as we learn to use one, but we pick favorites)

For the longest time I knew i was getting something from stropping, so I thought that was it.
There are lots of strokes and movement to stropping. Honing too. It seems rather common to each make some less than optimal strokes along the way. Leaving a mostly good clean shave- that's me. Sounds like you Stropping as you shave- should always works toward a closer cut.


There is always more to learn, I hope.