Thread: I think I have got the hang of straight razor shaving

This morning was the first weekday that I have done a straight razor shave, previously I did straight razor shaves only on the weekends because I was still developing a prowess with the blade. This morning I did it under seven minutes with no cuts or nicks. I think that I have finally gotten the hang of this one. I have stropping down but will need to get honing down. My inox was professionally honed by Lynn Abrams not long ago and I have a very light beard so I will not need to hone for some time now and I plan to go ask my straight razor teacher at The Art of Shaving to show me how to do honing. Right at the moment I have a narrow paddle strop with no caps on the ends of it so I sort of role off the edges rather than doing a role on each edge. I hope that I can get this all down properly.

When I shaved with electric razors I used to get a 5:00 shadow by 11:00AM, cartridges pushed that back to 3:00PM, double edges pushed that back to 7:00PM. Then I threw in shave cream and pushed the 5:00 shadow back to 9:00PM, the straight razor with the shave cream has been able to eliminate the 5:00 shadow completely.

It's great to be able to use a str8 and nothing else. Good job. I know what you mean I'm able to have a beard in a week. I was the guy with a mach 3 in the morning and a electric after work to stay presentable. Now it's once a day and sometimes I'll switch off day and night giving me a day and a half between shaves. I may look a little rough but I think I get a better shave that way. Keep up the good work. I'm just learning to hone myself.

Glad you are getting it down. I love the effect of a the BBS shave and my face looks a whole lot better smooth and with growth than when I used the Mach 3.

I was just visiting my brother who challenged me to a shave test in disbelief about straight shaving. He with the Mach 3 and me with my straight. He was very impressed with my BBS results on day 1 and how I looked on day 2. He thought he got a good shave with the Mach 3, but he was blown away by just how much better my shave was and how long the BBS results lasted.

I think I proved my case and planted a seed in a potential newbie.

Pabster

I know what you mean about the quality of the shave. When I travel I have to use a Mach 3. Even freshly shaved with that, I can still feel stubble and I'm never happy with the shave. It only lasts a day too. With a straight, I can now get a perfectly smooth face, and even a day after shaving it's still superior to a fresh Mach 3 shave. I can go 2 or more days between shaves now, and find myself looking forward to every shave and planning them a day or more in advance while simultaneously cursing my slow-growing beard.

Congrats on the progress. If I were you I would reserve the razor Lynn honed for my shaves and get practice razors to learn to hone.

I used my disposable straight for my challenge and it already had two shaves on the blade. I highly recommend the disposable straights for traveling. After so many BBS shaves, its difficult to accept anything less.

Pabster

Congrats on your progress. I remember those early days when I too only used the str8 on the weekends. Fortunately it didn't take long to go to the week days. Keep up the good work!

I actually shaved the first time before work today as well. It went pretty good, i just did a quick wtg pass. I think that if i start shaving once a day (not every other) that a wtg pass will keep me looking presentable for quite awhile. I still have some tough spots that i need to figure out.

I do enjoy taking my time with a shave at night though, so maybe on the weekends i may skip a day of shaving so i can really attempt to get as close as possible.

Unforetunately Jimmy I have two, one of which was honed by Lynn before it was sold to me and the other is currently with Lynn for honing. So I do not have any at this point that have not been to see lynn.

Congradulations on your progress and your love for str8razor shaving. I must tell you though that this is the time when you should be the most careful in progressing further. I say this only because of my own experience with the faster shaving technique. I remember my 50th shave and was very happy that I hadn't cut, nicked or scraped myself for some time prior to that. The next morning I got up at my usual 4:00 am and decided to shave before leaving for work. So with this air of excitement still resonating from the day before I lathered up and started shaving. On the second pass I produced a nice 1/2 " cut to the underside of my chin that bled like the dickens. It has been some time since then and I can tell you,from that experience when I start to shave now I don't have the trepidation I had when I started, I do have much more experience to handle even the most difficult spots, but I continually gain more respect for blade when I place it on my face. I never lose the fact of where it is and how it is working. Just my humble input. Good luck.

Ray