Thread: At last... My first ever straight shave

Well I posted this in the beginner section for two reasons. 1) I am a beginner and 2)It may provide a little guidance to the fellow newcomer.

So this afternoon I gave myself my first ever straight shave with a very good outcome..... but I should start from the very beginning...

I am the sort of person who normally jumps in two feet... into the deep end so to speak.. all or nothing when it comes to me. This part of my personality took a bit of a change for the better when it came to Bloody Sharp Steel Vs Face.

My first bit of advice to the beginner is not to rush in despite being excited. I spent a lot of time on this forum reading as much as I could on all things from soaps and creams... to brushes.. pretty much everything on Wiki. I ordered my first straight razor and then a number of different soaps. cream, brush, pre-shave oil, after balm etc... all products pretty much based on reviews on this forum.

I then took to practicing lathering and using only a disposable BIC razor to shave. I practiced stretching the skin, and using left and right hand, basically pretending how I would be ultimately using a straight razor. I paid particular attention to which direction my beard was growing and by using all the same techniques described on the forum, used the BIC to make a three pass shave with my lather and brush. I could not believe that the best shaves I had ever had come from using the BIC and the aforementioned techniques discovered on the forum.

So my procedure came to be
A. Hot shower and use a flannel to soften beard and exfoliate skin.
B. Use basin with hot water and wash face with flannel while soaking brush
C. Dry face with towel and apply Pre-shave oil to face.
D. Make lather and lather up
E. WTG shave, Lather... XTG shave, Lather... ATG shave
F. Rinse.. towel off and apply Blue Beards Revenge Balm
G. Wait 5 min and apply general moisturizer.

This was all done using the BIC razor and ended up with no razor burn or rash.

So having done this for a number of weeks, I just came back off holiday and decided today was the day.

I prepared as before and took my time. The most difficult thing was swapping hands and trying to find the best grip to shave different parts of my face and neck. It took a fair amount of time. I probably ended up doing about five passes on some parts of my face. I found the chin the most difficult and found the razor dragging a bit so I stropped the razor before going again which improved but was not as good as when I first started the shave. I persisted with it as I was pretty much finished..... now to practice the stopping part of it.

Over all I was EXTREMELY happy 80% of my face BBS and a few tiny bits under my chin and moustache which could be better. I cut myself once on the neck but that was down to my arm getting a little fatigue and basically just placed the edge down causing a small nick.... I saw my mistake the instant it occurred... but it was very minor!!!

To be honest... I am very pleased with myself and put the success of my first shave down to good lead up prep and a lot of reading the good advice available on this forum.... thanks a bunch!!!

Can't wait until I give it another go!

Just thought I would share.

Cheers
Baldie

Well, g'day mate and it sounds like you've made a wonderful start, much, much better than mine. It just gets better from here. Have fun!

I think a good start, good luck with the next shave.
Continue on this path.
Have a nice day

The other key for a rookie is to only start with simple strokes and do just the easiest areas of the face until you get the hang of it and then move on from there.

Ok... I gotta know what a flannel is. I want to assume its a towel.

:: High Five :: Woohoo! What a great post!

I too am a beginner with five SR shaves under my belt. This last one was the first I did 3 passes, and like you, I wasn't BBS under my jawline, but I think my problem is that I wasn't pulling the skin as tight under there before passing the razor across it.

What I love about SR shaving is that each time you do it, you feel that you're getting better & better with each experience!

Keep it up!

....yeah man.... A flannel is a small face towel....

I think your off to a great start! good for you...keep up the good work

Yep, same here. Started with disposables and foam canister. Transition to DE was easy, expanded to include good shave prep and stretching. By the time I used my first straight the fundamentals were solidly in place. Good for you, you are a good example of a beginner who does it right. As long as you don't force it on the more difficult parts you should have no unnecessary nicks, irritation or cuts. I've been shaving for about a year now, collectively, and I'm getting very close to BBS for most of the difficult to stretch part of my face that I would care to get "clean", but only out of necessity on that one part. I'd actually prefer not to shave so close (it's about 1/8th of the circle of degrees (or an eighth slice)) for the stretching complication, but the area is quite clean and now it seems easy. Not rushing or forcing it, it kind of developed on its own.

Oh, and Baldie, you're arm stamina will build up along with your skills so it probably won't be much of a factor if you keep at it regularly!

P.S. gonna get a 'roo strop? I've always been curious about those... g'day!

Cheers Axel,

It is just nice to take the time to learn something properly and so far so good.

Let me know how the roo strop goes!

Take it east mate... from down under

Baldie