Small Milestone

[Elendil]

Today I finished my first full shave and didn't have to use the Mach III for touch ups. Really feel good about it! ( Like I just kicked off the training wheels.) Not fully BBS, but better than the Mach III ever shaved.

However, I have learned some things doing this for a week + that can hopefully help some other noobs like me who are just starting.

1. Stropping is not easy to learn. I can read every post out there, watch the vids, and today I believe I have been stropping with too much pressure since I started. How do I know this? My razor is dull and I did it by stropping incorrectly! I hope I have figured this out, as I really don't want to dull my razor anymore. I am now stropping so light that the only pressure is the weight of the razor. That feel took a while.

2. How do I know my razor is dull? I bought a second from SRD and shaved with it today. The comparison between the two is night and day. The first razor was also SRD, and very sharp to start. The problem was that I was not good with it, so the sharp razor was wasted on my learning curve, then dulled by my stropping. Today I also took my time to compare the two blades by shave testing both, and doing the TPT on both so I can learn the feel of a sharp blade/dull blade.

3. Blade Angle - watch Jockey's Shaving Close Up Vid. I learned that I was too flat. Opening it up a bit really helped. I also learned the "buttered toast" sound from this vid, and some various shave angles. Good stuff.

4. Stretching - makes it soooo much easier to deal with jawlines, etc.

5. Keep reading! There is so much to learn, but you can only process a few things at a time, and hopefully practice one of them.

Each day I now look forward to my next shave. It still takes me a while, but I don't mind getting up a little earlier to start the day of right! Thanks to all the members who have posted little and big pointers. They really help.