Thread: First straight razor shave!

Got the last of my gear today and dove right in after watching for anything new on Lynn's dvd (great resource btw!).

Used a 6/8 Double Arrow razor (courtesy of Kenrup), Tweezerman badger brush, and a tub of SRD Blood Orange shaving soap.

Seeing the lather form after a few seconds of swishing in a bowl brought a smile to my face I have to tell ya. Even if I don't end up particularly good at straight razor use, I'm gonna keep using the brush and soap.

Now to the shave:
Pre-shave was relaxing in that I used two hot towel treatments, first without lather and the second with lather. The shave started well at my sideburns and eventually the neck, switching hands when I changed sides. Started having problems at the chin where the hair seemed to not want to be cut. I think I screwed up when I added some more water to my lather thinking it wasn't as creamy (could still see little bubbles throughout) as it should be, and it ended up dropping off in chunks from my face when I relathered the face. Either way I decided not to push my luck and finish my chin and upper lip with a disposable safety razor. Finished up with another hot towel to the face over the rest of the lather and applied some Nivea's after shave balm for men. Saw 2 spots of a little blood oozing out at lower lip and side of the chin so used my styptic pencil on em.

I have to say it was a wonderful experience! I feel some razorburn and stubble but its actually a bit better than what I usually get with a safety razor. Once the new brush loses its funky smell of badger and I get better at my technique, I can only imagine the shaves I'll be giving myself. I even gave my can of Barbasol to my mom as a gift (barely used, I hated shaving that much), I enjoyed myself that much.

Thank you to all the members for the vast amount of information, goods/services, and general being of gentlemen. I look forward to the years with this group very much.

Glad to hear it went fairly well with first. Keep at it and all will be well

Nice! Congrats!

Congrats on the first shave!!! I'll never forget my first...It wasn't pretty but I still enjoyed the heck out of it. It says your join date was June of "08? Have you been trying to decide if you're going to start sr shaving this whole time? Trust me, I'm not trying to be rude, just wondering how you held off for so long?

heh found me out.

I've been a lurking member since 08 just taking in info at my leisure and getting some finances straightened out before I invested in all the gear I would need. Plus figure out who to get it from.

Not long ago I got fed up with my disposables enough to check the classifieds finally and saw gugi had a very old and nice wostenholm frameback for sale at a nice price. Small communication blunder on my part lead me to snagging one of the last Kenrup newbie kits thinking I had missed out on the wostenholm, but lo and behold, I get a PM from gugi and in the end got both the kit and the wostenholm.

After that, it wasn't long before I got the rest of the gear and to the point I'm at now.

Congrats on your first straight razor shave!

Excellent, glad you started! Sounds like a success to me - you're hooked and everything else will fall into place

Well done Ian! The shaves just keep getting better
and better, enjoy!

- Scott