Thread: New here, looking for advice in general.

There's a lot of threads on how hard your water is, versus how good a lather you can produce. I would have to say this is correct. My water is so hard, I'm amazed it doesn't crack the sink when it comes out of the faucet!

I find "uber lather" helps--50% soap, 50% cream, and 5 drops or so of glycerin. The glycerin has to be adding something here, but I'm not sure what.

Because of the hardness of the water, I also use a shaving oil (about 5 drops or so, rubbed into the whiskers, followed by splashing water on your face); I use "Shave Secrete" for around $2 plus change from Walmart.

I think it was Glenn who said to try and rub the lather into your face with your fingers after the initial application from the brush. I do this and it seems to work out really well for getting the lather down into the base of the whiskers and on the skin. I then apply a second application of lather before shaving.

Because I use the shaving oil, I find in trying to stretch the skin, my fingers slip accross my face. I don't remember the web site, but the dude in the vid giving a shaving tutorial used a small cloth folded over and placed it against his skin with his finger on the cloth for stretching. I cut out a 3" square to use for this purpose and it works really well for me.

I personally don't care what my shavers look like. Stains, spotting, scratches, etc., I don't care. All I care about is how it shaves.

But active rust?? Man, I don't think that's good. Remove that before you have to get a tetnus shot!! (I"m not a doctor, so I don't know, but shaving with active rust seems like a REALLY bad idea, IMO. I don't know if that's what you're saying, or if it's just spotting and staining you're referring to).

"Practice makes perfect":

When I was younger, my martial arts instructor told me the Chinese have a saying, "Do it 10,000 times, and it's yours."

I've pretty much adopted that in all aspects of my life. The Wiki says do one cheek, finish with DE (or whatever). Next day, do both cheeks, and finish as the day before, etc., until you complete a straight shave.

I guess that works for a lot guys, but that philosophy just doesn't fit my personality. When I do something, I jump in the deep end of the pool. So, when I started with a straight, I did my whole face. Results? Pretty dismal for about 2 weeks.

As far as wasting your time before you understand the "correct" way to shave with a straight, let me pose you a question: Until you have practiced with a straight and learned your face, how will your determine what the "right " way is?? The right way for you is what works for you! And what someone else does might not work for you at all. It's your face, after all, and it's unique to you and only you. Even the way you hold your razor and all the angles of the blade will be determined by your face, your razor, your hands. The only way to find this out is to use a straight and experiment. (Having a styptic pencil on hand might be a good idea, too!).

Moreover, I didn't do just one pass, or two passes, but up to 6 trying to learn my face and how to handle a straight.

Did that produce irritation? YEAH!!! And LOTS of it!

But, that's me and my process. I was willing to have that happen in order to shorten my learning curve.

Whether or not you should do the same depends on your perspective, how long you want to take to learn a straight and your face, how sensitive your skin is, etc.

I came off a DE, so my face was already "toughened up." But, if you're coming off a cartridge or electric, then what I did might not be something you want to do. And, stop when your face says, "AAARRRRHHHH..."

But, again, that's just me. No one can determine what is right for you, but you.

Kent