Originally Posted by Lynn
For your first shave, I would again recommend that you use a 30 degree or less angle with your razor and for the first time only shave from one sideburn down to the jaw. That's it. You want to develop a sense of how the razor cuts and work to perfect that feeling and the feeling of using a straight razor. After a couple of days, you can then move over into the cheek and work on that side of the face for the next couple days. When comfortable with this, you can then experiment with crossing to the other side of the face using the same hand or try the other hand which is easy for some and not so easy for others. From here, I normally recommend trying the down stroke on both sides of the neck and then trying the chin and then under the nose. When you start to feel comfortable with the process, you can then try going across grain from the jaw to the chin and then finally going up underneath the neck. By taking the time to learn to use the straight razor with this approach, you will be able to determine where and when to stretch the skin and to find out which areas you will need to go back and touch up.