Small Milestone

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.

Good on you! I really appreciate these success stories among the many trouble shooting threads. I am still a newbie, but have been at it a while now and its always nice to see where other newbies had the same trouble I did.

-G

You brought up some good points. Jockey's shaving video helped me out a lot when I first started out straight shaving. It is a great feeling when you can shave with out having to touch-up with a cartridge or DE, Congrats!

There are a few good points there that will indeed help.
The note on stretching is something that can sometimes take a while to work out. If you can't get at it where it is supposed to be, move it to where you can!

I wouldn't call it a small milestone. I think it's a big deal!

You seem to know where your stumbling blocks are with stropping and blade angle, and that's half the fight.

Just wait til you get into honing!

Congrats on the milestone! I can't wait until I'm there too. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the support ladies and gents. And to those who are still looking to complete their full first straight "only" shave, I can tell you to just keep at it and it will come.

I really feel the "hone" bug will be starting. Just can't help digging a deeper hole for myself.

Thinking a finishing stone first to try and "touch up" my first razor that is now tired from poor stropping.

Nan 12k alright for this?

Oh man is it a good feeling to walk out the door knowing you did not have to touch up after the str8.

Good going and congrats on sticking with it.

Also, those are excellent points you make.

Keep it up...and touch it up. When you feel like younger sliding back, it's probably the blade...