Thread: Finally had my first straight razor shave!

A blond 6/8 DOVO "Best" was my weapon. A little samurai sword. Chin scruff beware.

I think I did alright. No cuts or weepers of any sort. However, I wonder if that's because I was playing it a little too safe. My face isn't smooth at all. It feels smooth going down, but when I run my fingers up my cheek it's definitely got plenty of stubble left on it. Should I give a Tiny bit of pressure on my cheek or adjust my angle or something, or do I need to go ATG to get totally smooth? I'm not going to try ATG yet (I kind of like my pretty un-scared face), but I'd like to know if this is normal when only going WTG or if I can get it totally smooth once I get better.

I did my chin too, but wasn't good enough yet to do a good job at all. It kept catching and pulling when I got things short(though I did get the bulk of it off), so I let it go before I cut myself. I was gonna give my neck a go, but it's much more sensitive. I could feel the crazy sharpness of the blade there and it was making me nervous, so I let that one wait until another day.

Lastly, the warm cream is kinda nice. And my lather sucked. I can't wait until I learn to do everything well. It's like a manly man's spa treatment. Nice long hot shower, hot lather, have at your face with a large bare razor blade. Fun fun. Thanks to everyone here for helping me get going.

Jeremy

If you do everything right, you will feel no stubble at all.
You need to go wtg, xtg, atg , but remember to stretch the skin.
You need also to do the right beard prep as this will enhance the shavebility of the beard.

It takes time and patience to learn to shave "well" with a straight. Keep up the practice and you will be rewarded with the best shaves of your life. I would NOT use pressure on your next shave. The trick is to learn the right angles to use the razor on the face and then to do the passes that get all that scruff off. Keep it slow and you will know when you are progressing enough to do the other passes. I can admit to you that when I started I had to finish off the shave with a mach 3. Now I can't remember what that is like. Once you master this ,,,you will never go back.
ENJOY!!

Well done, Jeremy.

Save the pressure for later. And stop messing around with your face. You will have micronicks, and your fingers will be dirty, and horrible infestations will ensue.

The great thing about straight razor shaving is that there are so many variables. From wrong beard preparation, to wrong cutting angles, to dulling your edge while stropping. It's just lovely.

So, hang in there, and keep the pressure down to a minimum. It took me months to get my first real BBS shave, and I don't think I did too many things wrong. At least not at once. As I said, so many variables...

Good luck, keep us posted, and, well, hang in there!

Robin

i really liked what alan posted one day:
"a little stubble is better than little irritation"

don't use pressure, be pateint, it takes months. comfort should be your goal, closeness will come as you get better at this.

Congratulations, don't worry too much about BBS it will come in time. Stay patient and learn a little more with each shave. Play with the angles, and how you stretch your skin. Let your whiskers grow a bit and then try to figure out the direction the hair grows in each section of the shave area. Believe me the more time you spend learning what works best for you the closer you will get to those great shaves.

Now that you guys mention it, I think stretching is the thing I could stand to improve most right away. I guess I'll stick to making sure I use no pressure and stretch more and just keep working at getting my chin well. Then leave it up to ATG to get it smooth once I get good enough to try ATG. I'll hate having to use the old multi-blade to get really smooth. Guess it'll have to be good motivation. Thanks for the advice.

Jeremy

Originally Posted by BeBerlin

And stop messing around with your face. You will have micronicks, and your fingers will be dirty, and horrible infestations will ensue.


Robin

Are you just referring to running my fingers up and down feeling the stubble/smoothness? What would happen? Infestations don't sound good.

Jeremy,

I'm glad to hear that your first shave went well. It's my opinion that both your hands, and your face, get accustomed to the practice of shaving with a straight razor. You are, after all, scraping off a thin layer of skin cells with the crop of stubble. Take it slow and take it easy and the learning curve will be flattened out considerably.

Get your stropping stroke down and you'll probably be able to keep a shaving edge on the razor for quite a while. Maybe a month or so. Do you have a barber hone or something such-like for touching up the edge? I do have 3 - 3" x 12" balsa paddle strops left over from the Upper Midwest's Straightly Shaving Society Annual (or more frequent) Assemblage, and none of those unable to come have taken me up on my offer for one. So if you would like on of these gizmos for touching up your razor, let me know.

good luck, good shaving

Oh, and it's available gratis.

Originally Posted by TheFinerThings...

Are you just referring to running my fingers up and down feeling the stubble/smoothness? What would happen? Infestations don't sound good.

Infestations from the steel mites. About 10 years ago there was a lab messing around with nanotechnology, and the steel mite was born. They only live on the edge of carbon steel razors (so if you use stainless you should be ok). If you run your fingers up and down your beard, the little vibrations from the stubble attract them and they can jump from your razor (up to 10'!!) to your beard. Symptoms include uncontrollable giggling from the tickling senstation as they run around. The best way to get rid of them is to mist your face with water-- they usually rust to death in a few hours.



-Chief