Thread: First shave

Just had my first shave with a straight. Bit of a mixed bag, but I've got that nervous first one out of the way so will be more confident next time, and hopefully get better results.

I used a shave-ready W.H Morley & Sons Barber's point from the classifieds (not sure of blade size, probably around 5/8) and some Col. Conk Bay Rum shave soap, but skipped the pre-shave shower, thinking a couple of hot towels and some hair conditioner would soften the bristles adequately. Turns out it doesn't, so I'll remember that in the future.

I decided to shave in my dorm room, since it has a decent sized mirror, but found I couldn't get close enough to the mirror to clearly see what I was doing (there's a dresser in front of it), so in future I'll be doing it in the bathroom.

The shave itself was a learning experience - I was very tentative at first, not wanting to use too much pressure and cut myself, but once I got the feel for the razor I got the pressure right and it went smoother. I shaved both sideburn areas (missed a fair few spots though, on post-shave inspection) and part of an ATG pass on my neck (I only really grow stubble directly under my chin, so it wasn't too hard to do - no odd hollows or crevices there). Then I chickened out and went back to the horrid Mach3 to finish the mo area and clean up a few patches.

I'm pretty proud of the smoothness on the sideburns now as well as the lack of nicks and slices from the spike point, and can't wait til my next straight shave, which won't be for about a fortnight - my lather was pitiful so I'm going to wait for my Tweezerman to arrive off Amazon so I can get a decent lather to improve the cushion and slickness for my shave, plus I don't have a strop just yet, so that'll be arriving with the Tweezerman brush too, along with a few shave-goodies I've decided to treat myself to.

Congratulations! Good thing you have a strop on order-- that is key.
-Chief

very good, keep the angle correct and the pressure low.

Congrats on the shave. Be careful getting too close to the mirror. If the scales bump the mirror while you're shaving, you'll most likely get a cut. I did it going around the contours of my chin and the scales swung into the mirror as I changed the angle. That was in my first month or so of str8 shaving and I don't need to be that close to the mirror anymore.

DON'T get more confident. My first shave was amazing. I was like "this isn't so hard" next shave: two slices, a patch of burn and a nick. Always be paranoid until you've got the muscle memory down pat.

Congrats!

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Don't be too ashamed about using the mach3 to finish off, I used my safety razor to shave the difficult areas (upper lip and chin) when I was first starting out. Just take it slow and you'll be fine, you'll be surprised how quickly your shaves will improve.

Congrats on your first straight razor shave!

I feel stupid right now...

Congratulations. Great experience. keep it going and i am sure at the end you will be happy straight razor user.

I don't mean confident as in thinking "I'm awesome, I'm going to do this perfectly now" on my second shave. I just mean that I'm no longer terrified of cutting myself like I was pre-first shave.