Thread: Just a note of thanks!

Are these razors all carbon steel or are they stainless steel or some of each? They all look pretty darn great shavers each. Let me tell you that your tools acquisition disorder is quite common among us men. We all love working with tools and get a great sense of accomplishment from a job well done. And where is the satisfaction in holding a plastic thingy thats is a disposable razor? The cartridge razor is no betterthis this metal and rubber odd ball, does little to address the need for tools. Now the straight on the other hand, now that's a tool.

Well jbcohen, fortunately/unfortunately, I come from a line of men who benefit/suffer from TAD. We use our tools, and derive pride and enjoyment from our work.

I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the straight as a tool. It's a beautiful and elegant tool at that.


So, my girlfriend has known that I have been looking into straight shaving. She was interested to see them in person once I'd gotten one. So, on their arrival, I brought one over. We'd been talking about it a while back, and I'd showed her the strop I was going to be buying, the TM basic one. When I brought the razor over, she presented me with a TM latigo strop. What a girl. "You better get some practice with that, so you can do me next" she says. I like the sound of that.



FIRST SHAVE: I had to wait till midnight to give it a go.

So, I showered, rubbed some conditioner in the beard and on the face, and washed the face good.

I tried making my first lather, which didn't go well. I think I was making it too dry. It foamed up a bit, but not the cool whip-esque mounds of lather I've seen here in pictures. It still worked well.

After the initial trepidation of running a bare blade across the face, things went well. Small strokes, lots of angle checks, lots of trying different grips. WTG all over the top, with pretty good results. Smooth-ish

I got down to the neck, where my hair grows in weird directions. Hit it WTG, then some XTG.

I went back up to the cheeks, and hit them ATG. Good results. Smooth.

I'd been touching up with a dab of lather from the brush and rubbing it around with watery fingers. Worked well for me.


Only had one semi-nick. You know those muscles in your neck that run vertically just past the back end of your jaw? Well, mine stick out when I stretch to shave. After a pass, I saw a little blot of blood. I wiped it off and it didn't keep bleeding. Weird. I had the styptic at the ready though.



So overall, I very much enjoyed this 30 minute process. I felt great afterward, with very smooth skin in some areas and pretty smooth skin on the rest. Razor burn was minimal. I can't wait for it to grow back.

cool.
with time youll cut the time in half and have a better product

Second shave:

Tried the second razor. I don't like the way it handles quite as much. Still a great shave on the cheek areas, but having trouble with the neck.

My neck hair grows away from the center of my throat, directly pointing at the bottom of my ears. I can get it relatively smooth WTG, but XTG and ATG are really hard (read: I can't) to do.

The repeated tries caused a bit of burn just to the right and left of my Adam's apple.

Aside from that, shave time was down to 25 minutes with no hurrying. Comfort with feedback from the blade is growing and confidence (not recklessness, but familiarity) is coming smoothly.

For the first time in my life, I can't wait for hair to grow.... Maybe I'll have to shave my legs.....

Thanks guys for the good welcome and observations