Thread: New straight user with question

Hi there,

I have been a wet shaving all my life, been DE shaving the last three years and moved to starting out with a straight last weekend.

So far I can do a pass on my left cheek, not a perfect pass but improving, My biggest hurdle is my very dominant left handedness. Holding the razor in my right hand I can get the angle on my right cheek no problem but don’t have the dexterity to do a nice confident sweep. With my left hand holding the razor on my right hand side I just find it too clumsy and awkward.

I know the only answer is practise but does anyone have any tips to help me along? I have started DE shaving the right hand side of my face with my right hand and that is helping me gain strength and dexterity but is there anything else I can do or is it just patience and perseverance?

Any thoughts much appreciated and a great forum, I have learned a not from just using the search, you have built up a good knowledge base so thanks to everyone who contributes to this. I will try to help rather than hinder but I know nothing…..so to speak.

I do have a lot of knowledge about soaps, cream sand brushes which may or may not help someone one day.

Cheers.

Martin.

Questions are always welcome!
Most people find the use of their non dominant hand awkward at first. It is indeed just practise and persevarance.
Make a concious effort to use your right hand more for other tasks. Making lather's a good one.

Good idea, lather, stir the coffee and try every day tasks to build the confidence.

Thanks for a good suggestion.

Welcome to SRP. Here is a post by SRP founder Lynn Abrams with recommendations on the first straight razor shave. I have been at it for a year and a half and still shave entirely with my dominant right hand. It does take time to develop the coordination to comfortably manipulate the razor around your face. The good news is that it is well worth the effort as there is no better way to shave.

Hi Martin ..welcome back fwiw I'm also left handed and even to this day I have to conciously remember to change hands , as a rule I start with my right hand and my right cheek, in my head this seems to keep things balanced then i move over to the left hand . left cheek .. Imho theres no hard and fast rules here if you can get a bbs shave using only your left hand , who says you need to use your right :-) albiet you do get into some real funny face contorsions .

talk soon cheers Garry

Hiya Martin,

Welcome to SRP!

+1 to what Ben suggested I would also suggest looking at some shave videos to get an idea of different grips or just shaving entirely w/ your left hand.

different grips
http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...ion-video.html

one hand shaving
http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...technique.html

good luck!

I'm very right handed and for the first three weeks I attempted to just use my right hand for shaving with my straight razor. Eventually I realised that I'd always be working against myself if I didn't at least try to use both hands when shaving so I practiced holding the razor in my left hand and just moving it about while watching TV. Sometimes I'd pretend I was doing shaving strokes with it, but never near my face and never when anyone else was wandering around. For the last couple of weeks I've been shaving with both hands and my technique is coming on in leaps and bounds. I'm still more comfortable with my right hand, but I only really notice it now when I'm doing my ATG pass and I'm sure even that will come together in time.

Thanks everyone,

Some good reading material there for when I should be working tomorrow.

Cheers.

practice practice practice
I will say I'm slightly ambidextrous, but at first I got like 6 gazillion cuts on my left cheek. However, the more you practice, the more you acquire a skill. I've found dominance to be more of a "predisposition" thing than anything else. In most areas you can train co-dominance just fine, with practice.
If you'd rather not cut up your face, here are two options.
a)Buy the cheapest POS razor you can find that is still in good lookign condition, with similar properties to yours. SOOOO... lets say you have a Dovo 6/8 round point, go find a Zeepk 6/8 round point. Take a knife steel or a hone or something and literally dull the edge. Ninety degree sanding. Make it a butter knife. Now you have something to pratice with that won't cut.
b) Easier method, more dangerous and not as accurate. Flip the razor and "shave" with the spine to get the hand motions down. Won't work as well though for angles and feel as a mock up would.

When I started straight shaving I was very nervous using my non-dominant hand. I actually tried a couple of shaves with only one hand. I know there are several people who shave with one hand. Personally I prefer to use both now, but you don't have to.
In terms of developing dexterity, it has already been said.... practice. Complete various tasks opposite handed. When I was training myh other hand I started brushing my teeth and making lather opposite handed. These two tasks seemed to help me the most. Good Luck!