Thread: Finally passed 50th shave

Having finally performed my 50th shave this past week, I think it is time to pass along a few thoughts to the noob's.

First: When I decided to begin str8 razor shaving I went on line and watched every video and tried to read every article I could so I could get myself up-to-speed on the subject. While on vacation in Wooster Ohio, about 30 min from SRD, I ordered my equipment so it would be waiting for me on my arrival home in Arizona. Sure enough when I got home there sat my new stuff. Later that evening I lathered up and tried out my new Dovo 5/8 Tortoise. WOW! First shave was pretty uneventful with just a few seepers but what a burn. Went immediately to the SRP forum to ask a few questions and found the answers I needed instead. This forum has a great cast of members with excellent mentoring abilities. I soon found that most every question I had was in the archives already, and someone like me with ADHD and dislexia, at 63 has learned to reread most every instruction several times because the answer is there I just need to twist it around to get it. Anyway the morning of day 2 was a disaster. I somehow managed to cut myself twice. Once below the right nostril and once next to the right side of my mouth. Seems I must have had the blade almost verticle while pulling down, OUCH! Came home that evening and shaved again just to get past the hesitation. No problem since.

The second milestone came when I finally figured out that I had to use both hands to do this correctly. Now, I am so lost with my left had I can't hardly hold a water glass with it let alone do precision work like shaving and yes, in my mind putting a 3" str8 razor on one's face and moving it about is precision work. So several shaves after the disaster I decided to give my left hand a try. I put the razor in my left hand, stretched the skin with my right, and watched the razor tremble as it touched my face. Then suddenly and without hesitation I began to shave. To my amazment I discovered my left hand had the ability of a skilled surgeon. It was almost like a virtuoso. I shaved my face, down over my jutting jaw and down my neck, and was even able to get a close shave under my nose (coup de matire) without any issues. When I finished I rinsed my face and discovered I had a razor burn on the right side but not the left. Bingo!!!! I now had the answer to how much pressure and the correct angle to use and transferred that information to my right hand. Since then I have not had any razor burn. This also managed to give me the CONFIDENCE needed to move on to shaving XTG and ATG. Shaving ATG on the cheeks was a no brainer but impossible on the neck because the jaw gets in the way. So one day I decided to try XTG on my neck. I spent some time in front of the mirror going through all kinds of contortions to get the skin stretched out and as flat as possible. WhenI figured it out I lathered up and stretched the skin and put the blade on my lower neck and went to move it up I couldn't get it to move. I couldn't tell if it was stopped by the beard or if I was about to cut myself. End of trial. So I decided to not strop the blade after shaving and try again the next day. In my mind I figured the blade would be a bit duller than usual. I tried the XTG and pushed the blade through the beard and up and around the chin and jaw with no problem. The next time I tried it with a sharp blade and had the same results. Again more CONFIDENCE!

The third and final epiphany came when I realized that my beard was more like fine wire then hair and no matter how hard I tried I needed to shave more than once WTG, ATG, and XTG. I now shave twice minimum in each direction and can even do straight up under my nose and under my lower lip without issues.

BBS shaves are now the norm and I must extend my thanks to those of you on this forum who continue to hand out both encouragement and solutions to those of us in need. To those of you just starting out I can only say hang in there and don't give up. Work your way through the issues one at a time so you don't become overwhelmed by them all.

Hope this information was helpful.

Ray

Originally Posted by rayman

To those of you just starting out I can only say hang in there and don't give up. Work your way through the issues one at a time so you don't become overwhelmed by them all.

Originally Posted by rayman

Hope this information was helpful.

Sure do think it is! Straight shaving isn't something for instant success, but for that all the more rewarding when one persists.


Congrats on your success!

glad to hear it

nice to see newbs keep at it and then tell of their success

The Title says all I have to say.

THX Mikel

Originally Posted by rayman

Having finally performed my 50th shave this past week, I think it is time to pass along a few thoughts to the noob's.

First: When I decided to begin str8 razor shaving I went on line and watched every video and tried to read every article I could so I could get myself up-to-speed on the subject. While on vacation in Wooster Ohio, about 30 min from SRD, I ordered my equipment so it would be waiting for me on my arrival home in Arizona. Sure enough when I got home there sat my new stuff. Later that evening I lathered up and tried out my new Dovo 5/8 Tortoise. WOW! First shave was pretty uneventful with just a few seepers but what a burn. Went immediately to the SRP forum to ask a few questions and found the answers I needed instead. This forum has a great cast of members with excellent mentoring abilities. I soon found that most every question I had was in the archives already, and someone like me with ADHD and dislexia, at 63 has learned to reread most every instruction several times because the answer is there I just need to twist it around to get it. Anyway the morning of day 2 was a disaster. I somehow managed to cut myself twice. Once below the right nostril and once next to the right side of my mouth. Seems I must have had the blade almost verticle while pulling down, OUCH! Came home that evening and shaved again just to get past the hesitation. No problem since.

The second milestone came when I finally figured out that I had to use both hands to do this correctly. Now, I am so lost with my left had I can't hardly hold a water glass with it let alone do precision work like shaving and yes, in my mind putting a 3" str8 razor on one's face and moving it about is precision work. So several shaves after the disaster I decided to give my left hand a try. I put the razor in my left hand, stretched the skin with my right, and watched the razor tremble as it touched my face. Then suddenly and without hesitation I began to shave. To my amazment I discovered my left hand had the ability of a skilled surgeon. It was almost like a virtuoso. I shaved my face, down over my jutting jaw and down my neck, and was even able to get a close shave under my nose (coup de matire) without any issues. When I finished I rinsed my face and discovered I had a razor burn on the right side but not the left. Bingo!!!! I now had the answer to how much pressure and the correct angle to use and transferred that information to my right hand. Since then I have not had any razor burn. This also managed to give me the CONFIDENCE needed to move on to shaving XTG and ATG. Shaving ATG on the cheeks was a no brainer but impossible on the neck because the jaw gets in the way. So one day I decided to try XTG on my neck. I spent some time in front of the mirror going through all kinds of contortions to get the skin stretched out and as flat as possible. WhenI figured it out I lathered up and stretched the skin and put the blade on my lower neck and went to move it up I couldn't get it to move. I couldn't tell if it was stopped by the beard or if I was about to cut myself. End of trial. So I decided to not strop the blade after shaving and try again the next day. In my mind I figured the blade would be a bit duller than usual. I tried the XTG and pushed the blade through the beard and up and around the chin and jaw with no problem. The next time I tried it with a sharp blade and had the same results. Again more CONFIDENCE!

The third and final epiphany came when I realized that my beard was more like fine wire then hair and no matter how hard I tried I needed to shave more than once WTG, ATG, and XTG. I now shave twice minimum in each direction and can even do straight up under my nose and under my lower lip without issues.

BBS shaves are now the norm and I must extend my thanks to those of you on this forum who continue to hand out both encouragement and solutions to those of us in need. To those of you just starting out I can only say hang in there and don't give up. Work your way through the issues one at a time so you don't become overwhelmed by them all.

Hope this information was helpful.

Ray

Great info....i'm hoping my first straight razor shows up in a week or so. I will keep this advice in mind as I take the plunge into SRS! Thanks again brother!

+1 on using both hands. Since shaving with a str8t is such a new action from a muscle memory point of view, it is actually easier than it seems to learn with the non- dominant hand.

-Chief