Thread: First shave down, ∞ more to go..

Alright just used my Tuckmar Best silver steel, Soligen, 5/8 str8 that I bought from the classifieds, thanks Pete, and I have to say it wasn't that bad. Granted I was going through Lynn's First Straight Razor Shave in my head while making my lather.

There were a few things I noticed while shaving:

When I started my first pass I noticed what most newbie asks about, the dreaded tugging/pulling of the razor. (Read that last part and then click the drama button.) As soon as I felt that tug I remember reading the different threads about dropping the angle of the razor and whadda ya know it magically disappeared. Once the right side of my face was bare, it is then did I notice that "Wow the right side of my face is really small." On that thought I became a little excited and decided to try off handed.

Now I understand what people mean of their off hand doesn't work like their dominant hand when looking in a mirror. To overcome this problem I took a deep breath and stopped thinking I quite "looking at the mirror" and thought about where the razor was in space with respect to my face. Weird I know, I'm going to school be an engineer that should be reason enough.

After my confidence was built up enough I decided to keep going. Went ahead and took care of my mustache and the upper part of my chin along with my neck. Now I decided to skip a few spots because I could not figure out how to go about the right angles and what to do. So a couple of questions:

1) The Adam's apple. Mine sticks out like a second nose. Because of that even with using the 15 blade cartridges (joke in case some missed it) I still nick it every time. Normally I swallow to move it up and out of the way. Is there a better way to go about this?

2) The chin. More specifically the very edge of it. Its fleshy it move under a shearing force and there really no good way to tighten it. Thoughts?

3) Soap. The soap that I use, I have used since I first started shaving. Its ok stuff, makes lather, slippery, but it dries out my face like that of rubbing alcohol if I leave it on my face for extended periods (5-6 min). Is that typical for most soaps, or are their better moisturizing brands out there? I've been looking at mama bears soaps, good reviews and such, thoughts?


And after all of that I only nicked myself 3 times.

_Will

Originally Posted by Wfaist

1) The Adam's apple. Mine sticks out like a second nose. Because of that even with using the 15 blade cartridges (joke in case some missed it) I still nick it every time. Normally I swallow to move it up and out of the way. Is there a better way to go about this?

as today was my first shave with a straight this is the only one I'm able to answer. Sounds like you have an Adams apple like me. What I've found that helps is to just pull the skin as far as ya can to the side on one side then the other. Helps me. I tried the whole swallowing thing too but didn't help much.

Welcome to SRP

Originally Posted by Wfaist

1) The Adam's apple.

You should be able to move the skin to the sides of it and shave it there.

Originally Posted by Wfaist

2) The chin. More specifically the very edge of it.

Perhaps skip it altogether for the first 5-10 shaves, use something else instead.

Originally Posted by Wfaist

3) Soap. The soap that I use

Sounds like you need some practice making better lather. Spend 30 minutes making lather over and over. Add watter slowly and observe the changes. Take a look at the various videos online.

Hi _Will,
Welcome to SRP!

Concerning your chin, keep practicing different ways of stretching your skin and different techniques for varying your razor stroke. Your right brain will search out the best technique for your chin as you go. Just give it time.

As for your Adam's apple, I agree that stretching the skin off to one side or the other is the way to go.

For quite a few years (when I used cartridge razors) I used Williams Shaving Soap. It's pretty much comparable to VdH. Fine for whipping through a single pass with a Gillette Sensor 3 but it just does not stand up to the amount of time it takes me with a straight (I'm new to straight razors as well).

After watching the videos, I decided to switch over to making über lather. My next step was to purchase a Dirty Bird shaving scuttle and making über lather in it solved all my lather problems.

Hi Wfaist,
Congrats on your first shave!
Here are a few pointers,
1- adams apple-as already advised best way is to pull the skin to the left and right as your blade passes over it -use very light pressure.In time you will do this automatically.
2-chin-There is no easy way around this -you just have to keep going until it clicks-If you have a pointed chin (as i do) the only time i reached anything like success was when i started doing ATG passes.Of course you may be quite some way off from doing these so don't rush into it.(My learning curve was long,painfull and at times bloody.Nowadays i notice that on second passes WTG or XTG i can go from left to right side in one stroke.I complete it when i bring the razor up on ATG passes passing from the neck under the chin up to the point and then up towards my lower lip,manipulating the skin as i go, watching the angles and using short strokes).
3-Soap-Whether you use a cheap or luxury soap,it is advisable to make a study of how to make a good lather.(I didn't bother with this at first and i think it affected my shaves).To overcome "drying out", lather and shave one side of your face at a time.
There are several videos and articles in the wiki on this subject.
Keep going and enjoy your shaves!!
Hope this helps-
Regards
Noggs

Sounds like you need some practice making better lather. Spend 30 minutes making lather over and over. Add watter slowly and observe the changes. Take a look at the various videos online.

This is the typical lather I whip up before I shave. Its a quick whip up for this post, thus is not the amount I usually make. I know the basic goal is to make the lather look and act like whipped egg whites.

I see what you guys mean about shifting the skin both left and right of the Adam's apple.

2-chin-There is no easy way around this -you just have to keep going until it clicks-If you have a pointed chin (as i do) the only time i reached anything like success was when i started doing ATG passes.Of course you may be quite some way off from doing these so don't rush into it.(My learning curve was long,painfull and at times bloody.Nowadays i notice that on second passes WTG or XTG i can go from left to right side in one stroke.I complete it when i bring the razor up on ATG passes passing from the neck under the chin up to the point and then up towards my lower lip,manipulating the skin as i go, watching the angles and using short strokes).

Thanks for the ideas. I'll get something figured out for it.

Hi
There's nothing wrong with that lather at all!!-if anything it looks better than mine- well done!
regards
Noggs