Thread: My face, and the meat grinder...newbies first attempt..PLZ HELP

Don't panic, as first times go that sounds a bit rougher than most. While you're waiting for your face to heal up I suggest reading the wiki and the stickies in the newbie forum again.

Particularly this thread...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/newbi...icipation.html

things will get better

Owch, That sucks, i agree with the guys. Take a break for a few days and do allot of reading upmaybe even try running the razor in a place like you leg to find a good angle and pressure. On your fist round of shaves, take you time, concentrate, but stay fluid and loose.

Absolutely - it will get better. The best news is that (barring anything...unusual) you'll keep growing a beard, which means you can take a crack at it everyday! You don't get that kind of opportunity always in other places in life!

I also started out in the "mauled by a badger" zone, but after a few weeks it all evened out. Beard mapping is another great way to fix up your shaves so you don't wreck your face. I won't say more, because you've come to the one place in the universe where people will literally trip over themselves to help you - you're in good hands! Courage et bon chance, mon frere du rasage!

Julian

OK three things you need to have...

A shave ready razor....
Proper prep...
Proper technique...

You have the first one, I checked you first threads about the razor, so unless you really messed up stropping, the odds for the shave ready part are high...

The second one didn't sound so promising, practice the lather part while yer face heals, practice the lather part for washing your face in the morning, and before bed, heck soap is cheap and the whole process is fun anyway...Don't forget the splash of hot water on the face before the lather....

The third that just comes with more and more practice, but as we have heard a 1000 times start with just your side burn to jaw line and then work outward as you get better....

Thank you again for your input and support. I do belive it was my lather, and too steep of angle. Lather was very sticky so after previous reply and video on lathers i now know mine was way too dry and cheap soap didn't help. My brush is no name walmart 5$ lol. Next paycheck I plan on getting a higher quality soap and a badger brush. Does silvertip make that much of a diff?

I like silvertip and it makes a lot of difference but mostly in water retention and the way it fells in your face. However, I have used those $5 Walmart Van der Hagen brushes (VDH) (with the green handle) and they are pretty good. One thing to bear in mind is that any brush boar or badger; large or small; cheap or expensive; has to be broken in first. Until it is properly broken in, it would not perform to its capabilities. Just use it a lot understanding that after a while it is going to perform better. how much better would it perform? it would depend on what you are looking for in the brush but definitely better than it does now. Some people love boar while most swear by the badger brushes. As I said, I can whip almost anything with the VDH brush. You can improve the tools later but, in my opinion, the secret here, and what you should probably concentrate on, is to practice and learn a lot before you send a fortune on things trying to obtain the magic bullet. Same thing with the soap, it is probably not the best but the trick is to get the best out of it. We can all tell you a lot about soaps too ;-).

Al raz.

Originally Posted by James1983

Thank you again for your input and support. I do belive it was my lather, and too steep of angle. Lather was very sticky so after previous reply and video on lathers i now know mine was way too dry and cheap soap didn't help. My brush is no name walmart 5$ lol. Next paycheck I plan on getting a higher quality soap and a badger brush. Does silvertip make that much of a diff?

Wow I'm sorry buddy. I'm a newbie myself and my first shave went badly as well. My wife found me in the bathroom superglueing a cut the first morning. So look on the bright side. At least all your cuts stopped bleeding with styptic.
Good luck.

I hate to hear of a bad first shave, but it's a learning curve too & you WILL get better with EACH shave...as long as you PAY attention. These guys are dead on on the advice & truely will do whatever they can to help you out.

One question: Do you place the blade on your face, then move it? I have gotten those little nicks when I had done that. That slightest movement parallel to the blade before I started my shaving stroke was the culprit. I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong until someone pointed this out.

I just started today. Along with the other posts, I wouldn't try to do your entire face. Take it slow. Once you heal up, just do a patch from the sideburns down and maybe a cheek. If you are having problems you won't tear up the rest of your face, and next time you can work on better prep and angles and stuff.

The flattest parts of your face are the easiest to shave, so work on those for awhile, and when you get those areas right move on to other areas.

Also, was the blade professonally sharpened before you used it, or did you use it straight out of the box? If it's never been sharpened that would be a good place to start and might solve a lot of your problems.

The brush i am using is a Wilkinson sword make from wallmart, same with the soap. its the blue soap bowl type. also got a Williams mug soap disk for $1.35. Did the arm hair test with my blade, bad luck today got my self agian, got out the stypic pencil agian... lol tho it hit me, none on my hairs were being cut.. and when i am stropping i keep gettin knicks in my leather. But after about 30 on linen and 60 on leather the blade finaly started to pop hairs lol now i got a bald spot on my forarm lol but i think it was a combo of bad stropping and horrible lather.... :P even after my previous butery of my face i cant wait to try agian. I am eager to get this right!

Any tips for stropping? and how do i fix the knicks in my strop? someone said use sandpaper but what grit?

P.S. I am in Ontario Canada, In case ppl are wondering why everything is so expsensive lol


James

Padiwan of the Light-Saber shave.