Thread: Yet another first self-administered straight shave!

Got the SRD honed Dovo 6/8 Special and Lynn DVD yesterday evening. Watched the entire video last night and this morning. Heeded the enclosed paper that said I needed to strop the razor, so I did about 20 laps on the palm-rubbed Filly, which had seen practice earlier in the week with a butter knife.

The sideburn to jaw WTG on the dominant right side went pretty well, so I tried it with the terribly uncoordinated left arm/hand and was surprised how easily the whiskers wiped off. I decided to do the rest of the face, against Lynn's advice. With a couple of nicks that didn't need styptic (and I'm on aspirin therapy), I finished it up WTG. It was at least as good a barbershop straight shave I wasn't impressed with 40 years ago, and maybe even better than my typical first pass WTG with a DE.

I should've left it at that, but I couldn't. I was having fun and not BBS yet. I lathered up and did a XTG. That was a bit more challenging, but didn't get as smooth as my typical DE XTG. I started to do ATG, and except for the neck (which worked fine), that felt like a really bad idea, so I did another XTG pass. End result is I have about the same smoothness as after my single XTG DE pass, but some irritation/razor burn on the jaw and cheeks, something I've never had with DE. Nivea is helping with that. Not BBS, but what's that they say? Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing?

Wiped and dried the razor, stropped it about 20 times, coated it with mineral oil, and put it away. I have quite a sense of accomplishment, with trepidation replaced by anticipation of another exciting adventure. Thanks to all here for the tremendous amount of knowledge and experience shared with newbies! It's helped immensely!

Congrats on the shave. Glad you recognize that it's a learning experience instead of expecting the best shave of your life right from the start. When I started, it took me a week or so do get a really nice shave and about two months to get a true BBS shave.

If you're getting some irritation, it's still likely to be your technique, though I'm sure you already know that. It took me six months before it dawned on me that straights cut just as well using no pressure as it does with tons of pressure. Even now, the technique come natural, but I have to keep reminding myself to ease up.

For me, XTG is the easiest and fastest pass since I never did it with the M3 and as such, never picked up any bad habits. Learning that pass is essential in a smooth ATG pass. When I started, I did WTG, ATG, and a combo XTG/cleanup pass, but that was pretty uncomfortable on the ATG pass so I adjusted to the way everyone else was doing it and BINGO!

You had to go for it and I was the same way. This experience will move you up the learning curve faster.

It is all in the shaving technique and it should get better with each shave. Always use a light touch.

Congrats!

Pabster

Way to go, Moe. It's all downhill from here.

X

Today marks my one week anniversary. I let the razor burn heal last Sunday, then used the DE on Monday and Wednesday, but only two passes and not BBS. Tuesday and Thursday (days I have a bit more time), I used the straight WTG, followed by one pass with the DE. I skipped shaving on Friday.

I had a bout of RAD and HAD this first week, picking up an inexpensive Red Dog 4/8 wedge and a pretty much hopeless 5/8 that I took the edge off to practice finding good positions to place a blade with left and right hands. I think that helped. Even though I probably won't need a hone for a very long time, I also picked up a couple of near mint barber hones.

This morning I spent some time with the Dovo 6/8. The first pass, with heavier growth from skipping a day, had some pulling that led me to believe the edge wasn't sharp enough. But the second and subsequent passes were smooth. That probably means it's a technique issue and once I personally got warmed up, I got better. But I have to wonder if the extra growth had anything to do with it and maybe I'd be better off not skipping days?

I tried the "old barber--hold loosely-no nicks" trick described in someone's signature here, and I believe it helps. It certainly discourages anything other than a very light touch, which is a good thing.

Holding the elbows and upper arms in and on the chest when possible, as with steadying a camera, seems to help especially on the non-dominant side.

I'm still having some trepidation about ATG, but did a bit more of that today than last week. Overall, it's a better, closer shave than last week, with almost no razor burn. I'll be able to get another one in tomorrow. I finished up with five passes on the CrO side of the Filly and about 25 passes on the leather side, then oiled and put 'er away.

Well...woot to all that!

As for the concern that the longer hair is causing problems with the edge...nah, don't count on it. I've used my Special for nearly half of my shaves in the last month, and it's nowhere close to being ready for a touchup. Once you get your first two passes done, the ATG pass is pretty easy. You will feel a little resistance, but nothing that hurts....it's the same resistance you felt when you mowed down that couple days growth.

Sounds like you're right on track...feel free to try an ATG pass. I start at the base of the neck and go up until I get to the ramus of the mandible.

I always nick myself a few times on the XTG pass