Thread: First Shave - Did not go well

Don't be disheartened. If you could just pick up a straight & get fine shaves where would you get the satisfaction from when you master it?

After my first straight razor shave this morning (which didnt go nearly as badly as I thought it would) what a great quote to read, thanks Ben!

I'm about 60 shaves in and I've found that moving the razor in a slight sawing manner cut the beard much smoother. What I mean by sawing is that the razor is not hitting the beard hairs straight on but rather pulling across them in a downward motion thus sawing.

Originally Posted by WineGuyD

I'm about 60 shaves in and I've found that moving the razor in a slight sawing manner cut the beard much smoother. What I mean by sawing is that the razor is not hitting the beard hairs straight on but rather pulling across them in a downward motion thus sawing.

That is called scything motion shaving.(if you search you should be able to find some information about it on srp)
that is the correct way to use straight razor.( use as a saw instead of axe)
Stretching is very important part of this shaving.
if you are learning after 60 shave scything you are way front many of people.
Soon you will find you don't have to shave ATG to get BBS shave.
good luck and have fun.

Be encouraged. I think your story is pretty typical of all of us who started out recently.

One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned is just the fact that your razor is straight and your face has undulations. I find I do better if I let the "swaths" overlap. So I work down from the sideburn letting the sections overlap maybe a third. Different parts of the blade will engage the whiskers with different degrees of "bite" depending on the dips and curves in your face.

I also realized I was not really maintaining that angle consistently. Going slow, being gentle, using short strokes of maybe an inch or so did better.

Also be careful about stretching the skin. I have found generally that stretching the skin from the "beginning" point of the stroke works better than from below. That is, if the whiskers grow downward, in a WTG stroke I stretch the skin from the "up" side but in the ATG stroke I stretch from the other side. I hope that's right--I know others will gently correct if I'm mistaken!

Be patient. Don't even go for the whole face at first. Don't let it ruin your day!

I like short strokes "sawing motion". Also experiment with blade angle. You will get the hang of it