Thread: Another First Timer

So here I am, sitting admiring my freshly shaved neck and I am absolutely over the moon. Today was my first time picking up a straight, it just came in the mail, and I couldn't be happier with my decision to get into this. Although I'm young (21) I've been unhappy with my shaves for years now. Electric razors could never get close enough and cartridges never did a good job trimming around the various facial hair I've decided to grow out. About two weeks ago I was googling better shaving options and came across this site. At first I didn't even consider it, but the information and discussions drew me in. For days I read everything I could until I finally pulled the trigger. I picked a weird time to get into straight shaving because I'm styling a full beard at the moment, but still need to shave all of my neck and touch everything up.

I ordered stuff from different sites so the deliveries are all scattered out. Yesterday I got my strop, and I sat there stropping my pocket knife to practice and try to stave off the anticipation. Well today I got my razor, a Dovo Best Quality 5/8, and some Col. Conk soap. I held the razor telling myself to wait for my brush to come, but I couldn't. I ended up going for it, using a washcloth to attempt a lather. Everyone says start with the sideburns but I really had no choice, so maybe foolishly I threw caution to the wind and went against pretty much all of the recommendations. I was determined to get a full shave without taking my cartridge out of the cabinet.

I stropped my razor, probably 30 strokes on the canvas, and 50 on the leather. I took a nice long shower, and then it was time. I had a hard time lathering up with the cloth but I did my best and went to it. I started with my right hand, and the left side of my neck WTG to get a feel for everything. It was scratchy, and tugging but I attribute most of it to the fact that the lather was barely there. Even so I was amazed at the control I had. It took no time at all to get nice lines around my beard and a fairly close shave (comparable to a cartridge). I was also amazed at how comfortable I was with the blade in my left hand. I tried doing the right side with my right hand, but was better off going lefty. I finished my first pass and everything went so well that I decided on a second. My neck hair grows out towards the back of my head so I guess this next pass was XTG, north to south. This time I started to feel the closeness. I took small strokes and watched my angles till I was done. At this point I was having so much fun I figured why stop now? I went for the ATG pass and I still can't believe the results. Its like I never grew hair in some spots. On the third pass I did skip a couple of the tougher sections, namely the sides of my adam's apple. Other then that though I believe my neck is BBS, and I love it. To finish up I touched up the top of my beard on my cheeks, and was amazed again at the control. I felt like I could pick off a stray hair from 100 yards.

Through this whole thing I nicked myself once on the third pass, but it dried up by the time I noticed. I did get a nice razor burn going too but I slapped on some Bay Rum aftershave and was fine. I have to say there are very few things that can live up to their hype, but for me straight shaving exceeded my expectations and anticipation. I was seriously considering getting rid of my beard so I could keep going. Next time I just might. Now I have to sit and wait for my brush to come in so I can get some nice hot lather going.

Although this is my first post I've been reading everything I could on this site and wanted to thank everybody here. Without this community and the great information available here I would have never picked this up and definitely wouldn't have had such a good experience doing it.

-Andrew

Congrats on your first shave with a straight, and welcome to the community! Great first post!

congrats
if you want real precision with the beard lines try square point instead of the round.

Sounds great! Welcome and thanks for sharing your first experience with us.

Welcome to SRP!!!

Welcome to SRP and congrats on the first shave!

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody. Gugi, it gets better?? lol I have seen some very narrow razors, most places call them trimming razors. Would those be a good option for trimming up my lines? I guess a regular square point would be good because I could use it for a full shave as well, I think there are going to be some late additions to my Christmas requests

Andrew,

You will find that there are varied opinions about spike (square) points (see Shaving Techniques - Straight Razor Place Forums).

I've never had a problem with spike points. As a matter of fact, I learned to shave with a DOVO Bismarck spike point. When the spike really helps is when I'm establishing/maintaining the lateral margins of the hairs that join my stache and my goat. When shaving other parts of my face I've been mindful of the spike, and granted I tend to shave more with the middle of the blade. This may be one of the few benefits of having a skinny face. I'm not sure what the dynamics are on guys with fuller faces.

But as Ben said in the above thread:

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

... a lot of guys will blame spike points for their own mistakes.

Although I also have some round points, I find that the rounded toe gets in the way when establishing edges. YMMV

How do you guys do your sideburns? I try to go north to south but the blade is in the way of where I am trying to look and align.

Thank you,
--Shoki

Be part of the pack!
We need more younger members!