Finally Got my Str8! And 1st Shave!
Hello Everyone! First post here, I've been lurking around for a few weeks and I absolutely LOVE this forum. I've been looking between SRP and B&B for weeks and I have to say that this forum takes the cake (simply for the higher amount of Str8 users).
So, last Friday I got paid and decided to finally order my straight razor and accompanying gear.
I was un-aware of SRD at the time so I ended up ordering from Vintage Blades LLD. I was slightly unsatisfied with the customer service but that is a different thread entirely.
After a week of waiting I get a knock on my door from a man dress in a brown UPS outfit :-) I was very excited and I think the delivery man could tell!
I came inside and diagnosed the package. Cut the tape with my car key and slowly pulled out each item. Everything was there!
- Dovo Bismarck 6/8 Full Hollow (black scales)
- TOBS Lavender Soap
- Vulfix 1000a Pure Badger Brush w/ Acrylic Brush Stand
- Vintage Blades 2" Black Latigo Strop
- And of course a Styptic Pencil!
I studied each item as if I've never seen anything like it. I opened the TOBS Lavender soap to have a smell, and I had to pause for a moment. I always see people on this forum talking about how their soaps smell so good, and I was finally able to experience it myself. It was amazing.
Of course when I got to opening the razor I was super cautious opening the package and examining the blade. And yes, I cut some hairs on my leg as I couldn't wait to shower and lather up to test it's might.
Well, after dinner my girlfriend wanted to watch a movie so I sat down to watch it with her. It didn't last long as I couldn't pay attention to the movie, I just wanted to SHAVE! ... She understood :-)
I cleaned my new brush with shampoo, then let it soak in hot tap water while I showered. In the shower I scrubbed my beard with soap and slicked some conditioner on my face so it could soak while I washed the rest of my body. After the shower I filled the included wooden TOBS soap bowl with hot water and let it sit as I got my jeans on (heard some good advice to not shave naked!).
I poured the water out of the TOBS bowl, flicked the excess water from my brush and started loading the brush with soap. I dumped the water from the bowl the brush was soaking in and started to build a lather in said bowl. I added small amounts of water bit by bit until there was a nice rich lather. I've never made lather before but from all of the advice and videos I've seen it seemed very nice, and quite fluffy (almost like whipped cream but with more lubricity).
I applied the lather to my face with the brush, taking time to work lather into each individual area of my face. I then dried my hands and cautiously opened my shave ready Dovo Bismarck (of course I had cleaned the oil from it early)....
At this point I'm a bit nervous, but confident. I had no fear of the blade, but I respected what it could do to my face. I used my dominant hand (left) to begin shaving my left sidburn and cheek area. It was awkward and I didn't take off much hair with the first few strokes as my angles were way off.
I then moved to my neck and also switched to my right hand for the right-side of my face. Surprisingly the right hand wasn't much more awkward then using my dominant hand. I was going slow, and had to relather a couple of times as my face was drying up. Towards the end, my face was getting quite uncomfortable in many areas, particularly the areas that I had gone over already. I Skipped the chin entirely, and went XTG on my mustache area.
Afterwards I rinsed my face with cold water and took a close look at my results.
It was definitely not the greatest shave of my life, but this is purely due to inexperience with a straight. There were a couple of areas that looked like they were barely touched with a razor and my skin was very uncomfortable. My cheek areas weren't BBS but there was definitely beard reduction lol...
I'm sitting here typing and my face feels as if I was at the beach all day (salty burning feeling). But all in all I'm proud. I have both my ears and I had no cuts besides some blood from small bumps already on my neck.
I think with lots of practice I'll be on the road to a great straight shave!
If anyone actually read all this then thanks! And thank you to everyone on this forum for all of the great information, and the great community!
