Thread: First shave

Dear Diary, ha! only kiddin, but today I did have my first shave an actual straight razor and not a shavette.

First I acquired my straight razor from my friend who is also on the forums under the naem of thegeek. I recently found that the blade he gave me - which was expertly honed by Gary - is tiny, but still shaves pretty well.

So after my scorching hot bath I started my shave with a newly acquired Omega shaving soap - produced by Prorasso - which produces a nice lather relatively quickly with my synthetic wilkinson sword brush (hopefully I will get a boar or badger brush but right now this brush is quite good in my opinion)

I use a plateaued glass dish which makes it easier to get a lather as opposed to a round bowl, in a sink of warm water to keep it warm. I started my shave, lathered up and started with the sideburns stretching the skin and shaving downwards. My technique is good up until I start trying to attack the chin area which is very thick and I couldn't get through it at all. so I chopped it down to stubble with my electric shaver (I know I'm ashamed) and shaved it without any further incident.

After, my shave I cleared up all my nics with a stiptic pencil and I'm using aqueous cream which is quite good right now for an moisturising cream, but I'm going for the coral/rose skin cream or the sandlewood if my wallet will stretch.

well I did my first shave and found out that I need ALOT of improving on my technique and my equipment which will have an addition of an illinois strop hopefully in the next week or two.

so thats it my first shave and with the exception of some nicks it was surpisingly painless.

regards alex

Great job. There's no shame in using your electric to help you out with the chin.

Short partial repeating strokes will help with the chin. 1st pass is about reducing the beard. The chin is challenging for everyone.

Pabster

Welcome! The chin is probably the most difficult place on the face to shave with a straight razor... you'll get it sooner or later. Feel free to use the forums as you progress.

Thanks for the info, I'll try that next time. I also have a bit of sensitive skin around that area as well so I didn't want to put alot of pressure on the blade and end up cutting up my face.

Well done!

Definately dont put pressure on the razor. Down that road lies razor burn and cuts! Just keep practicing and eventually you'll get there. There is a bit of a learning curve with straight razors, but once you start the shaves just keep getting better and better!

Good luck and keep us posted!

Well with Alex being my good buddy, I kinda dragged him into this (not too much dragging involved lol) but I did offer him a borrow of a strop today because he's still waiting for his to come in.... Also alex, I have put my phone down and cant find it lol, would you like to borrow my DE body and some baldes for cleanups till you're comfy with the straights?

Geek