Thread: First Shave

I wanted to be with the cool kids and post about my first straight shave tonight. It went... well... not bad. There were two surprises in store.

The first surprise is that I didn't cut myself. I went into the shave thinking that I was going to cause myself some serious damage, despite the fact that with proper preparation, angle, etc., lots of other guys do this all the time. I was a bit shaky, but I'm pretty sure I actually cut some hair with the razor. A couple of times I had to reposition the razor because I was afraid I was going to drop it, or that I was going to cut my hand. I shaved the cheeks twice WTG, and on the second one I did the neck too. Other than being awkward, it was alright. Not close, but I used my DE to clean up afterwards.

The second surprise is that the razor actually felt more comfortable in my left hand than my right. I went into it thinking that I was just going to shave with the right hand, but when I got to the left side of my face, seeing around my hand and the razor was really difficult, so I gave it a shot. My left hand felt more confident, and I also wasn't getting shaving cream all over it either.

I hope I get more confident with it the next time. I think my nervousness was making the razor skip which meant it wasn't cutting the hairs very evenly. Next time I'll be working with the strop too.

Thanks to JimR for the razor.

Tim Congrats on your first shave.

Congrats and no blood to boot! Definitely keep using both hands it will get easier.

Nice job! The first shave was also quite daunting for me also.

I honestly feel more comfortable with the razor in my left (non-dominant) hand also! That came as a surprise to me too, but I also have an easier time shaving the left side of my face for some reason....

Confidence will indeed increase the more times you shave, and what may take a lot of concentration and thought now will eventually just become routine and intuition. Practice makes perfect!

Congrats on taking the first step into the real world of shaving.

wow, that's over 2 years since you joined srp!
glad you made it

Originally Posted by StraightRazorDave

Confidence will indeed increase the more times you shave, and what may take a lot of concentration and thought now will eventually just become routine and intuition. Practice makes perfect!

So true.

If somebody had told me how quickly I could comfortably shave my neck with a little practice back when I first started, I'd have told them they were nuts.

Originally Posted by StraightRazorDave

Nice job! The first shave was also quite daunting for me also.

I honestly feel more comfortable with the razor in my left (non-dominant) hand also! That came as a surprise to me too, but I also have an easier time shaving the left side of my face for some reason....

Confidence will indeed increase the more times you shave, and what may take a lot of concentration and thought now will eventually just become routine and intuition. Practice makes perfect!

Congrats on taking the first step into the real world of shaving.

When this starts to happen I found that you may start getting a couple of nicks.

Hey Tim, I'm glad to hear it's going ok! Keep at it, and don't fear the razor.