Thread: First straight razor shave

Today was my first straight razor shave. It was fairly awesome! I first questioned my choice of razor. I got an very nice razor from the classifieds section. It was important to me to get a used razor. I got a really nice Case Brothers razor. Very happy with it. However, I didn't realize how much trouble that spike point was going to be! Wow, that professionally-honed blade is SHARP! I started off reading about stropping. I used my new strop without any trouble.

I set about getting my lather worked up. I thought it was too thin, but I used it anyway. No one ever accused me of having a lot of patience. I Did what has been suggested, going down the right side of my face from the sideburn to the jaw. Then I did the left side of my face. I had two cuts on the right side from the spike point. I went over the sides of the face fairly well without any problems. Then I decided to stop and complete the shave later in the day with my DE safety razor.

A few hours later, I picked up a couple articles/ sources I had downloaded from SRP and printed. I thought I figured out what I was doing wrong with my angle, the lather and the spike point. The bleeding had finally stopped, too.....

So I went back into the bathroom and reshaved with the straight razor. Shaved with the grain and against the grain, with only a very minor cut. I was very proud of myself for completing the shave! And it is such a nice, close shave to boot!!

Kudos to this site and all those who have contributed to it! It has enable me to do something I have wanted to do for quite some time. I hope that the shaves get better each time!!

Thats a nice razor !
Congrats regarding the first shave -it's a great feeling of achievement and should set you up nicely for the next shave.
The spike point is a hard taskmaster-I cut a lump from each of my earlobes when I first used mine-but when you have mastered this baby you'll be able to shave with anything.
The cuts and nicks will soon fade away as you use it.
Well done !!
Regards

Noggs

congrats on the first one! Cool that you finished it, the urge to do that is strong, even though it is said (for good reasons) to refrain from it!

Maybe we can all start a club about newbie's that do a "full" first shave

Congrats on the first of many. Read my sig below and you may avoid more cuts and nicks.

Sounds like you're on your way! Good job.

Congratulations on the first full shave and +1 on the kudos for those on this site!

I am only four shaves in, and have yet to clean up with anything but the the straight. I am also experiencing the same thing as I bought a restored Dubl Duck with a spike. That thing commands respect, but I'm confident I'll be better in the end for having learned with it.

Best of luck in your journey!