Straight Razor shaving - worth it?
Hey guys I've been shaving with a straight razor for a little over two months now. I'm starting to wonder if this is going to work for me long term. I expect to give it another three or four months but I'm not really seeing the results that I expected to see.
At the beginning I saw quite a bit of progress. I used to nick myself on a regular basis and that is pretty much a thing of the past. I also was unable to shave my chin for the first week or so and now I can. I have also learned to shave with my off hand which was something that had never occurred to me. On the technical side I also feel pretty comfortable sharpening an ebay razor purchase and have done that successfully with two of them. That gives me three razors in rotation including one that was purchased from one of our vendors here ready to shave.
My main issue is that the shaving process is more time consuming than what I had experienced with either a double edged Gillette razor or my favorites the Gem JR single edged razors - I expected that. I am also not seeing a real improvement in the quality of the shave - I did not expect that. I can get some really really nice shaves off those Gem JR razors. The straights on the other hand require more time and a lot more attention than those other razors and I am not really seeing a closer shave. If you are not paying attention it can be much worse. I have to admit that I cannot get as close a shave on my chin with the straight as I can with the others. I also have to pay a lot of attention under the jaw and a spot on my throat to get a close shave there.
Maybe it just takes a longer time to get the process down. As I said I am planning on putting another couple of months into it I'm just venting here with you.
One thing that I have found interesting is that the straights will ride over facial imperfections - such as an occasional acne blemish without slicing it off. I find that very unusual.
Ed