Thread: First shave (such as it is)

Originally Posted by jakoblah

In the end, I can report continued progress!

That's the name of the game.

Dude....great posts! I'm a newbie and a knucklehead all rolled into one. I read your post and thought, "I would totally do that". In the anticipation of getting a blade, strope and all the rest I can see myself trying to do something when I should probably wait.

So who's Max?

Thanks again for the great post!

Originally Posted by lowrideriggi

his gear didn't include a strop. but you can struggle through with out one.

I think struggle is the right word. It might be advisable to wait until you can get one. The bare minimum is a shave ready blade,decent soap and a servicable strop.

travec -

Glad to see I'm not the only one.

Max is SRP member Maximilian - He does top notch restores and customs.

Brilliant. Thanks for the info!

- travec

I know many think I'm a heretic shaving without strop but it has brought a certain delicay to my honing skills. I'm having too much fun to quit now and wait for conditions to be perfect.
Shaving with a straight razor is like life, you go with what you got!

Swirlies are a pain in the neck! My beard grows in swirls along my right jawline from my earlobe almost to my chin. My beard is normal except for the swirlies, which are very tough and coarse. I take care of the majority of the swirls with an ATG scything stroke. I shave the two small patches that remain by stretching the skin from four directions. I stretch the skin up and shave the swirl, then stretch down and shave the swirl, then stretch right and shave the patch, and, finally, stretch left and shave the patch. Each direction is ATG for some part of my swirlie patches.

It's very easy to cut yourself with the scything stroke. Use no pressure. It took me at least 2 or 3 months to gain the confidence and coordination for the scything stroke.

Make sure your razor is off your face when you shift your stretch or you will cut yourself.

I appreciate the advice, dave!

Not to turn this thread into a total shave diary, but I figure it's worth it to document the start for other n00bs....

Shave #4 this morning was with the DD Special No. 1 I got from the classifieds here and that I used for shave #1. This time I stropped it, though! I still think it needs some real honing, but it wasn't horrible.

I felt pretty comfortable and did a fairly decent job of it - even on the neck swirlies.
More importantly I may have found that a grip with the scales straight out from the blade (rather than perpendicular) is best for me when working the neck.

Always learning!

Shave #5 was good.
I tried the scything motion a bit and it seemed to make sense.
I still have some areas that feel awkward, but I managed to do the whole shave (minus the goatee, still).
Nowhere near BBS, but I'd call it 3 o'clock shadow or better.