Thread: First shave at last

Yeah, another one of these posts from a newbie.

My first razor came in the mail a couple days ago and I got the time to try it out tonight. So, I went to it. After stropping it (very slowly to do my best not to destroy my edge), I prepped with a hot towel and then lathered up. I'm too impatient to wait until I get a good soap and brush, so I used goop in a can (bring on the reprimands). It went pretty well I think, quite a bit of pull on the first few strokes while I was still really working out the angle and hand positioning, but after a little effort I managed to do both sides of my face WTG.

I started to try my neck and under the chin, but it proved a bit much for my first go so I stopped there with the straight. My cheeks were far from BBS, but I've been reading the posts by other newbies on here for a while and expected as much. I finished up getting smooth with my Mach 3, then dried and stored my razor, threw on a little aftershave and now I'm here posting.

All in all I think I'm pretty pleased for my first try. No nicks, minimum irritation, and I don't think I wrecked my edge. About as much as I can ask for at this point, so I'll just call it a success and try it again tomorrow!

Congrats on your first shave! Can you give us more details? What razor, soap and brush do you have? And what kind of beard prep did you do?

I have a griffon 5/8 quarter hollow (pretty sure those are the measurements anyway, if I'm off it's only barely) with a slight spike point. I haven't gotten a brush and soap yet, as mentioned above somewhere, so I used gillette goop in a can. I know, I need to get a good brush and soap. As for beard prep I just did a hot towel before lathering. I think I'm gonna do the shave after my shower tomorrow also.

Originally Posted by Stylus

... It went pretty well I think, quite a bit of pull on the first few strokes while I was still really working out the angle and hand positioning...

No matter how sharp the edge, and how well you position the angle and so on, the blade will often give you a pulling sensation when you shave thru a thick thatch of whiskers. This was the case for me when I got a Lynn Abrams-honed razor, and razors honed by others well recognized here. There are techniques to use. But, the pulling doesn't necessarily indicate a problem with the blade.

On my first few shaves I experienced a ton of "pulling," "tugging," and "jumping." I have a very coarse, thick beard and have realized that this is likely to happen if attempting a long stroke.

I have found that short, quick strokes on my first WTG pass has solved the "pulling" problem for me.

Congrats on the first shave.

You are wise to take the whole process slow - including learning to strop. I didn't ruin the edge, I ruined my strop

Yeah, I didn't think it was a problem with the blade. After a little bit the pulling got better once I sorted out how I was holding it.

Thanks for the advice on short quick strokes, kinda counter intuitive for me since I'm still used to the mach 3.

Congrats on the first shave & welcome to SRP!

Read in the Wiki about beard prep. There's lots more you can do besides a shower and a hot towel. A more involved prep is what got me to a comfortable shave.
Namaste,
Morty -_-