Thread: First real success

6th SR shave tonight, on about 5 day's growth. Only used set straight on my dominant cheek, but for the first time, no nicks, no cuts, no burn, and no cleanup necessary on my WTG pass.

Used hot towels, CO Bigelow (Prorasso) cream, my Boker Tree Brand, and finished up with a Fusion. AOS ASB after Thayer's Lavender Witch Hazel. Forgot the alum block this time.

My neck is challenging--the hair grows up and to the back corner of my chin. Not sure how to approach that....

Good job and keep at it. I have just recently started my self and the best advise I got was to shave with the straight until you feel uncomfortable, then switch back to the old way of shaving. Doing this your comfort level will rise and will soon be doing the entire face with your straight. It took me about a month to get to this point. Just stick with and enjoy yourself, and enjoy the landmarks you hit.

Welcome aboard! What you may want to do is go without shaving for a day or two so you can really get a good idea of your beard's growth patterns. This is incredibly important when SR shaving. What you think is WTG, may in fact, be XTG or even ATG.
As for the issue w/ your neck, just remember to stretch the skin, go with short strokes and watch your angle.

Something that works for me is what I call mock shaving. Get in front of a mirror, open your razor and hold it about 1/2" from your face. Examine the growth pattern on the area you want to shave, then pretend to shave. This gives you an opportunity to become familiar w/ the growth pattern in that area, as well as finding a grip that's comfortable for that area, and building muscle memory.

Welcome to your new obsession!

Originally Posted by LAsoxfan

Welcome aboard! What you may want to do is go without shaving for a day or two so you can really get a good idea of your beard's growth patterns. This is incredibly important when SR shaving. What you think is WTG, may in fact, be XTG or even ATG.
As for the issue w/ your neck, just remember to stretch the skin, go with short strokes and watch your angle.

Something that works for me is what I call mock shaving. Get in front of a mirror, open your razor and hold it about 1/2" from your face. Examine the growth pattern on the area you want to shave, then pretend to shave. This gives you an opportunity to become familiar w/ the growth pattern in that area, as well as finding a grip that's comfortable for that area, and building muscle memory.

Welcome to your new obsession!

Outstanding advice, and in fact it's what I did right before shaving last night. I had about 5 days' growth so it was pretty easy to tell which way the whiskers grow and I was surprised. I think that understanding is part of why I wasn't more shredded last night (as I usually am).

I had thought of taking some blue painter's tape to cover the cutting edge of the razor and practicing that way. I've used that trick to cover the cutting edge of my chisels and plane irons before, and I'm pretty particular about the edges on my woodworking tools. Do you think that would adversely affect the edge on a razor? Having to spend a few minutes re-sharpening a chisel would be one thing. Going a few weeks while this razor is being re-honed would be a pain.

I'd be wary of doing that, as a SR has a much finer edge than a chisel. As you pointed out, a few minutes spent resharpening a chisel is nothing compared to the week or two it may take to get your razor rehoned. I've only been doing this for about 2 months, so some of our more learned members may have a different take. I'm cautious about doing anything that could possibly damage the razor's edge.

Congrats on your development! The chin is always hard because for most men the hair is a little thicker, there are a variety of growth patterns, the difficulty in judging the angle properly on such a rounded/angled area.

It gets easier with time, but it is always the hardest part.

Originally Posted by Wortmanb

Outstanding advice, and in fact it's what I did right before shaving last night. I had about 5 days' growth so it was pretty easy to tell which way the whiskers grow and I was surprised. I think that understanding is part of why I wasn't more shredded last night (as I usually am).

I had thought of taking some blue painter's tape to cover the cutting edge of the razor and practicing that way. I've used that trick to cover the cutting edge of my chisels and plane irons before, and I'm pretty particular about the edges on my woodworking tools. Do you think that would adversely affect the edge on a razor? Having to spend a few minutes re-sharpening a chisel would be one thing. Going a few weeks while this razor is being re-honed would be a pain.

Wouldn't it be more easy to shave with the spine and practice that way? You wouldn't get much of a shave, but you wouldn't cut yourself and wouldn't compromise the edge.

Originally Posted by ace

Wouldn't it be more easy to shave with the spine and practice that way? You wouldn't get much of a shave, but you wouldn't cut yourself and wouldn't compromise the edge.

I had thought of that, then settled on the tape idea. I think I'll revisit the spine thing again.

After some practice holding the razor backwards and studying grips, this morning I did my whole face WTG, using my non-dominant hand about half the time. Only two weepers and a bit of burn, and nowhere near BBS, but it's a start. I'm thinking I'll stick to WTG only for a while until I feel like I've got it before attempting any XTG or ATG passes with the str8. I'm also trying not to use my Fusion for cleanup unless it's really bad.

Thanks all for the generous help!

Excellent job on the shave. Welcome to SRP!