Well... that could have gone better...

Well, I just finished my first tentative straight razor shave. It's harder than it looks, and it looks kind of hard.

I have made a bit of a mess of myself, including a small cut on my chin that was actually dripping. Also a fair few scrapes where my blade angle was wrong. I did a "sort of" one pass and then tidied up with a DE. Sigh.

A few notes about the things that hindered me.

Trying to be ambidextrous in the mirror. At first I started using just my right hand. Then, on my left side, I found my hand and wrist covered my eyes! Doh! So now I have to learn to shave lefty too. I might practice that with a safety razor for a while.

Also, I should not have tried this with a three day beard. I think the longer hair was a bit harder to mow through, causing me to have problems applying the right pressure on the blade. Next time, just stubble.

Also, it takes a long time. For me, anyway. This can cause my lather to dry out a bit before I get to certain bits of my face. Does anyone else have that problem or just me?

I'll keep at it. I'm nothing if not stubborn to the point of ridiculous. I see this being a long learning curve, though. Maybe I'll try doing different bits of my face each time with the straight and then doing the rest with a DE. I do try to rush things sometimes... :shrug:

Welcome. I had the problem of the lather drying on my face when i was just starting out as well. I, just like you and alot of others, was taking along time to shave. After having the lather dry out a few times, i got to the point of only lathering half my face at a time. I was shaving half my face before the lather dried. IMHO, only lather the amount of your face that does not dry out while shaving. If you can shave half of your face or a quarter before the lather dries, then only lather that area. When that is done, then lather the next area that you can shave before it dries. The more you shave, the faster you will become until you can lather your whole face and it not dry on you.

Good luck.
Ken

It's definitely not just you taking a long time. I'm only two shaves in myself. My first shave my lather dried out quite a bit on the left side of my face before I got to it and it was pretty much useless on my neck and I needed to re-lather before I could finish.

I did my first shave with a couple days growth and the second with just a day and it was much easier for me, so hopefully you'll have similar results.

Good luck!

We're both kinda similar in that I'm stubborn and had a hard time being ambidextrous. I used mostly my right hand for the whole shave (and only so far). I lost count at 9 nicks and a cut. haha Still excited for the next shave though! Too much pressure and a poor lather were my biggest issues. Good luck with the next shave!

Legion,

The first time I shaved with a straight it took me about an hour... to give myself a really crappy shave. So yes, the lather absolutely dried out. Good advice I found here was to rinse off the dried lather and apply fresh lather, but don't apply new lather directly over old dried lather. Beard prep is definately key, keep your face slick with fresh lather. Once the foam goes bad so does the shave.

Please read the Wiki beginner's section. If you cut your chin on your first shave,you either have not read Lynn's First Shave tutorial, or you are ignoring his advice.

First straight razor shave - Straight Razor Place Wiki

There is a lot of information in the Wiki that will help you,but you have to 'read and heed'.

Don't rush.....the journey is half the fun.


Gary

I've never really understood guys who start out with a straight razor and put shaving lather over their entire face. It's way too optimistic for a beginner and it just dries out. I would just lather a single cheek and shave that, for like, a solid week.

The cream in the brush stays moist and can be reapplied often, again and again and again.

First of all, welcome. Second, Congratulations on your resolve to stickwithit. Third, you didn't say what kind of soap you're using. Something like Williams will dry out faster than a nice glycerin soap. As for getting used to the cumberson practice of using both hands and not blocking your view, read the wikis, watch the videos (Lynn's is on the opening page of the site) and practice slowly. Something I've always thought might be helpful although I didn't try it when I was a noob, since I didn't think of it until I was well practiced, would be to fashion a dummy razor out of paint stirrers, cut down to size and practice wiping the soap off your face to get used to holding it. Just a thought.

Pat

Yeah, I was actually only planning on shaving one cheek but, once I started, I just thought "in for a penny..." and kept going. Possibly a bit too optimistic, in hindsight. Oh well.

I think Ill just practice doing a little bit at the start of each shave, gradually expanding the amount of face I do with the straight each time.

i was so slow the frist few months that i would lather my chin ,lather right side of my face. lather left side,right neck, left neck.broke it down to 5 patches. and it was awile until my left hand came into play also.give it time and it will all come togeather for you. theres a boatload of things to learn and imo. frist comes getting your stroping down then lather making and then figgiring how to whip that so very sharp piece of steel around your face and only cut wiskers. use your mk.3 when you feel you should.

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Originally Posted by cutalot

i was so slow the frist few months that i would lather my chin ,lather right side of my face. lather left side,right neck, left neck.broke it down to 5 patches. and it was awile until my left hand came into play also.give it time and it will all come togeather for you. theres a boatload of things to learn and imo. frist comes getting your stroping down then lather making and then figgiring how to whip that so very sharp piece of steel around your face and only cut wiskers. use your mk.3 when you feel you should.

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I'm about half way there (well, a quarter) since I have been collecting and using DE's and SE's for years, so my lather making and prep is pretty good. But yeah, the actual shaving part is a whole new story. I'll get it. I just have to remind myself that it took me a little while to get a BBS shave with a vintage safety razor and that is easier than this. I just have to go slow and be patient.