My first straight shave, on Father's Day.

Well, I finally did it. I previously bought 2 straights (in sig) at an antique store and had them honed by hi_bud_gl. He said they were ready to shave and I should not strop them before my first use. Since I don't yet have a strop this was good to hear. My intention was to wait until I made a strop to start using them, but Father's Day rolled aorund and I felt like treating myself to my first straight shave.

I decided to use the 5/8 Curtin & Clark first. I figure the 11/16 #1 Hess is a better razor and wanted to save that one for later. All in all it wasn't too bad of an experience. THe actual shave went easier than I expected. I had read a lot on how you should only do 1 pass down your cheek for your first few times, until you get used to it. But I did my whole face WTG. I felt my face after wards and didn't think that it did as good of a job as my DE on one pass. I decided to try XTG and did my whole face again. Not too bad, but not as good as after my XTG pass on my DE. It didn't glide across my face as smoothly as I expected it too. And I was able to be more aggressive with it than I expected. I did have some difficulty using my left hand. That will take some more practice. I only had a couple nicks, not too bad.

I decided to try ATG and I could not do that. Too much skipping and pulling. I don't think I had worked my beard down enough to try that. I got some razor burn on my neck, but not too bad. No more than I'd get from a Mach 3.

I'm sure most of the fault is in my technique, but I'm wondering if I did need to strop first. Next weekend I'll try my Hess to see how that one shaves. Overall I really enjoyed the experience. It was not nearly as scarry or difficult as I was expecting. I know the shaves will get better as I get more practice holding the razor and shaving.

My intention is to make my own strop, but I'm having difficulty getting to a leather store. I went to a Tandy leather last weekend when I was out of town, but they were closed when I got there. It'll be another few weeks before I can get to another Tandy Store to get the stuff I need. It sucks living out in the boonies!

Looks like you are off to a good start!

When a razor is professionally honed, the honemeister usually strops the razor, as Sham had, so you do not need to strop for the first use. You do need to strop it before you use it again, so the sooner you can get your strop, the sooner that will be.

Good going on the choices you have made so far. Don't worry about that ATG pass - it will come with time.

What a great fathers day! I'm new myself, and finding that with every shave my technique improves as do the quality of the shaves. Now, even one wtg and one xtg gives me as smooth a shave as I ever got with my mach3.

Welcome to the club, been having my own challenges as well with eight shaves under the belt...or should I say strop.

On that note, I can tell you that aggressive stropping on a razor honed by Lynn himself has yielded better results for me. As long as your stropping technique is correct then a little stropping couldn't hurt...like chicken soup.

Keep at it, as I am finding out, shaves get better with time. Do take your time stropping as rolling the edge is easy to do.

Great start and welcome to straight shaving!

Pabster