Thread: Shaving help?!

Hi Everyone,
I got my first straight razor about a week and a half ago and have been shaving a bit more of my face with it every time. but i have hit a bump in the road. I am very right-hand dominant and due to this i can shave the left side of my face pretty well. I tried to do a bit of the right side and i just am not having much success at it. Any suggestions?

Practice, practice, practice.

Turn the razor over and "faux shave" with the spine of the razor against the skin.

there are quite a few members who use just one hand. i think i use mostly one hand, but haven't really paid attention lately.
what happens if you try your left hand? is it way more awkward than when you were first using the razor with your right hand?

It is quite a bit more awkward. I have to look in the mirror the whole time and even then i end up touching my razor to my face at an awkward angle.

well, then if you don't really want to get over the initial hump, the only way is to figure out how to get to it with your right hand.
it's a choice between two difficult ways and only you can determine which one is easier for you

Originally Posted by AB2ZZ

It is quite a bit more awkward. I have to look in the mirror the whole time and even then i end up touching my razor to my face at an awkward angle.

I had the same experience when trying to use the left hand. Then a forum member (dannywonderful) posted that he practiced while watching TV. I tried this with a dull razor and it did the trick. I found that one of my biggest problems shaving left handed was trying to align the razor correctly by looking in the mirror.

When I had no mirror I intuitively placed the razor where it needed to go. Thinking about it later I realized that I shave once a day for a relatively short time. Practicing (with a dull razor) for longer periods to manipulate the razor gave me an advantage when I went back to the actual shave. I only had to practice a few times before I was comfortable with it.

You might try it with your dominant hand and find that it helps to improve your razor handling with that hand before you attempt to go ambidextrous.

Hey Paul,

Did you check out the Wiki section on ways to hold a razor?

Different ways to hold a straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

I've been learning using one hand too (still a newbie less than 10 shaves in), and I think it helped when I started thinking about different holds to get the different spots...basically I experiment until it feels like I have a lot of control over the razor in whatever position or angle it needs to go to shave that part of my face.

I never thought about practicing with the spine of the razor against my skin...I'll have to try that, thanks!

HTH
--nick