Thread: Good Right Hand-Bad Left Hand

Well I am definately not a lefty. I have been working hard on the two handed shaving method. What I have noticed is my right side ( I'm right handed) just about always comes out pretty smooth and nick free and minimum razor burn and usually just two passes is all I need. However my left side is a different story, the opposite is true. My shave is not as close, that's where I get nicks and weepers, I outright cut myself yesterday with my left hand for the first time. I know its for me to figure out but has anybody else had this problem?

Thanks for all your thoughts!

I started out shaving with both hands and am strongly right sided dominant. What I would recommend is to start with a single stroke on the left side in the middle of the left cheek. Stay away from the sideburns, ears, nose, mouth and chin. As you develop confidence with the left hand add more area to the shave, but stay with a straight WTG pass. This will allow you to gain confidence, avoid nicks, eliminate cuts and enjoy the process. Muscle memory is sometime slow in coming.

Lewis

Originally Posted by Lewis

I started out shaving with both hands and am strongly right sided dominant. What I would recommend is to start with a single stroke on the left side in the middle of the left cheek. Stay away from the sideburns, ears, nose, mouth and chin. As you develop confidence with the left hand add more area to the shave, but stay with a straight WTG pass. This will allow you to gain confidence, avoid nicks, eliminate cuts and enjoy the process. Muscle memory is sometime slow in coming.

Lewis

+1

I am right handed as well. If I nick myself, it is with the left hand, but I have been doing this for about a month or so now, and find that it is getting easier to use the left hand. In fact, when I think about tying to shave the left side of my face with my right hand, it just feels weird.

To put things into perspective: It's been 18 months, and I am starting to get as good at buffing with my left hand as with my right.

Shaving with a straight razor is an acquired skill which can take a long time to learn.

PERSPECTIVE !!!!
I started with a straight in 1981/82 and I have yet to use my left hand with a razor in it
I have learned to use it as a paw to hold a bone on my plate

I never use my left hand, never saw the need. I can get a perfectly good shave using only my dominant right hand. My philosophy: If it works, don't fix it.

I use both hands and pretty much have been doing that since I started with a straight. Many just use one hand and there is nothing wrong with that. Personally I think its easier to use both hands but anyone using one hand will dispute that I'm sure.

I'm dominant right hand and shaved that way just swell for over a year and a half. I tried the left a few times but never went anywhere with it until Danny Wonderful posted that he practiced with the razor in his left hand while watching tv.

I started doing this and found out that my problem was that when I would look in the mirror while trying to place the razor against my cheek I would get disoriented. After practicing while in front of the computer or the tv I went in to shave and immediately became disoriented again when looking at the razor in my left hand.

So I stopped looking and shaved by feel just as I was doing when I practiced. Smooth as silk. Well, maybe not that smooth but it worked on the down pass on the cheek. Over the next few days I was doing more with it and now I am also on to the neck.

I'm not doing ATG or XTG yet but as I become accustomed to it I may broaden my horizons. Pretty cool for an old dog to finally learn a new trick. Keep trying and you'll get the hang of it. The practicing by feel was what really did it for me. I dulled the edge on a glass jar on the practice razor BTW.

I started off with just the right hand too. The left was really awkward until I just started doing it a little at a time. Someone had a great recommendation on here a couple weeks ago. They said that if you hold the razor in the non dominant hand and practice strokes and maneuvering it without shaving just to acclimate to the razor it helped. That was a really good one.

Have fun,

Lynn

I am ambidextrous, but I write with my left so it is a bit steadier than my right but when I started I made my self use my right to shave with and now I don't even think about it I just shave with both and its become natural to me! Many have proven you can shave successfully with one hand so I don't know that its that important to shave with both hands. It all comes down to how bad you want to learn to use your weaker hand!!!