some major mistakes

Hello fellow members,


I would like to share some experiences I recently had with a straight razor. About two weeks ago, I was in a rush to get ready for work. I should have known better and just used my mach 3. Well, I did most of my shave with the straight and the rest with the mach 3. As I was hurrying to clean my razor, I let my thumb get too close to the edge and oops! I had a deep cut to my thumb pad. I tried everything to stop the bleeding, but it was not good. I had to drive to the ER and get four stitches.It is almost all healed , thank god. I attribute this to trying to go too fast and not paying attention. A few days, I cut myself on my jaw line as I was again in a rush. The moral of this story is GO SLOW AND TAKE YOUR TIME. If time is short, wait until you have time to take it easy and slow. This is the best advice I can offer a newbie. I will most likely have a small scar on my jaw line, but I am going to try to minimize it. I have noticed that pressure and angle have to be perfect or else you risk a nasty cut. I have learned a lot from these experiences. I just wanted to share this with everyone. Take care.

we all get nicks and cuts at the start. just remember to slow down and pay attention to what you are doing. do not get in a hurry. i always make time to get a proper shave. once you get used to setting aside time to shave you will notice other things in your life start to be easier to get in order(least it did for me) good luck, slow down, enjoy each and every shave

Slow and steady, be sure to leave enough time to do the job correctly and to ENJOY the shave.

:)

Shoulda thrown the Mach3 in the trash
then you know you aint got time to shave and wont be tempted to rush

10 - 4 am listening and will heed the advice.......mh

Never hurry a shave with a straight. You've realised that!
The 3 blade razors are fairly nasty. If I've not got a lot of time I'll use a Merkur DE. You might want to get hold of something similar for when you just have to shave, but there's not much time.
As you get more experienced you'll find that you can get a decent shave with a straight in very little time, but it's still nice to be able to relax & enjoy it!

Whether you're shaving or stropping or just handling. You need to be deliberate in what you do. As soon as you start simply 'going through the motions' you will bleed.

Hard way to learn a lesson but sound like the SR got its point across... hope all is well and continue to enjoy the shave not rush.:)

Wow that sucks! My wife imposes a very strict no rush rule on my straight shaving. That's why I've started shaving before I go to sleep. I've found that my shave will still be fine for work when I wake and I can take my time. Make a ritual of it and relax.

You always here guys saying that they're worried about deep facial cuts or slicing their throats open, but ironically the worst SR cut I've had so far was on my pinkie finger!

I rarely cut myself while SHAVING. By that I mean, I rarely cut myself while in a shaving stroke. When I cut myself, it is almost always between shaving strokes, when I am adjusting position and angle and the like. My shaving stroke is fine. But, if I am in a hurry, I find I rush the transition from one position or stroke to the next.

No hurry! (Easy to say.) I also shave at night.

But, by way of encouragement, I find my speed is increasing fairly dramatically while at the same time I don't cut myself much. I'm just shaving away, and suddenly realize that I'm cutting, say, around my chin and am moving pretty quickly. My mind is somewhere else. But, it's happening.

As we all know, just like hitting a baseball, it has to eventually become muscle memory.

the more I shave and improve, the quicker the shave has gotten... for example, when I started, it would take me 3 full passes WTG, ATG, and XTG plus some touch up to get a BBS shave... now i can usually get there in two passes with touch up, which takes about half the time... as your technique improves, so will your speed... keep your head up!

Alotting enough time for your shave, is the only part of the straight razor shaving curve I have mastered, as of yet. My first full shave was three full passes with one touch up, took about an hour. Now my first pass is exponentually better then that whole process, and I could do it in 10-15 minutes if I really had too. Now I do 2 full passes, one touch up pass, and one expermental pass (a pass that I attempt different angles, pressure, ect on areas that I'm not satisfied with). It still takes me an hour but it is now more enjoyable, so I choose to take my time and not rush it.
By the way it only took one rushed shave to learn not to do a crazy fast shave.