Thread: What is the first thing you did?

The first thing I did (and needed to do) was calm myself down. I was absolutely ecstatic about my first shave, and if I would have went into it with the excitement I had leading up to it, I would have been in pretty rough shape. As such, it was still one of the worst shaves of my life (not during, just after...used too much pressure and did too many passes), but they have only gotten better from that point on.

The first shave is awkward to say the least. You have no muscle memory for straight shaving yet.

Watch the videos can help.

Go light and slow is the best advise.

You'll get a couple nicks, so have a styptic ready.

Once you get the knack, it'll be the best wet shave you can get. There is a learning curve, so stick with it and go slow.

Well this thread is doing what I wanted, kill some time and get some insight. However we have missed my main question, what did YOU do when you got all your bright and shiny stuff. There has to be some good stories out there.

Just saying, this form has not been around for ever so some people probably jumped right in and learned via the school of hard knocks.

I WAS SCARED TO DEATH!!! I WAS CONVINCED THAT THE BLADE WAS THREE FEET LONG. WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD DO THIS?

I did watch Lynn's DVD and I did read the suggestions for newcomers, and I followed those suggestions. First shave was only on the left side of my face (I'm a lefty) and I only cut myself twice, hand was shaking. But I did just a little more and with time got the hang of it.

Have fun

I restrained myself and started with the easy bits--the cheeks and maybe the sides of my neck. Chin and adam's apple were just too scary, dangerous, and protruberant. That is, easy to cut off. I wasn't ashamed to keep using my disposable on the difficult spots for a while.

After I looked at the razor (a 6/8s TI) a long time then I built up the courage to use it and then just shaved thinking it would be easy and straightforward (boy was I wrong). This was before this site existed so I had to do it all by my lonesome.

I shaved in the shower with a Straight razor once.......ONCE!!!!

You can read all about it here. I wanted to document my learning experience for posterity.

My VERY first week shaving with a straight razor...

1. Honed uncertainly on waterstone. Stropped a bit less uncertainly on old belt.
2. Received razor-burn.
3. Repeated steps 1 & 2 for about 3 days.
4. Let face recover. Hone the living crap out of my razor and strop until my arm dropped off.
5. Had another shave. Actually managed to shave! Going was slow and a bit tricky, and it the razor still needed a bit more stropping perhaps, but I was getting there.

By the end of the second week, I reckon I'd mastered the basics. I hadn't yet achieved a ***perfect*** shave, but I was getting there.

It's all overwhelming when you start, just like the first day when you bring home your iPhone when you have only used StarTaks before. After a week, you are a pro.