Thread: First Shave Report - Success!

Success!

The first shave went relatively smoothly, both literally and medically :-) I nicked myself only once just above my left lip - which I can live with, because *in theory* I wasn't aiming to go there with the shave, but it felt comfortable enough so I explored anyway.

The SR website was *extremely* helpful in providing all of the information that went into my first shave - with the aim of making it interesting and pleasurable so that I want to continue the learning curve. It was also instrumental in teaching me that I need to learn in stages, and that getting this right will take lots of practise over months.

I'm going to note down my thinking & approach - maybe it helps someone else.

My goals & thoughts are listed below - in priority order - highest priority at the top:

1. enjoy it, be relaxed and do proper face prep - I had a long hot shower before beginning face/beard prep - and made sure I used soap to remove skin oils from my beard allowing the hair to soften up properly.
2. take enough time and do not rush - I didn't need to be at work until mid-day, and started at 9:00am - zero time pressure, I only used 30 mins though.
3. be prepared to try different hand holds, positions or areas of your face - there isn't one single technique that's going to be good - DO start on the cheeks, they are the easier surface by far.
4. the "shave goal" was only one side of my check, from the ear down to the bottom of the cheek - I didn't care how much beard I shaved off, I wasn't aiming for baby-butt-smooth.
5. 30 degrees angle of blade, never use it like a knife. ever.
6. try to keep all parts of my face intact and minimize the need to visit the hospital (my wife is an anaesthesia nurse in Switzerland - she did raise her eyebrows at what I was doing with the whole straight razor thing - we joked somewhat about hospital visits while waiting for the gear to arrive).
Ok, so that's the thinking behind my first shave - I was relaxed and didn't have very high goals in terms of shave achievement.

If you are somewhat concerned by an extremely sharp blade digging into your face - you might want to use a small stropping-style movement of the blade with the lightest of touches on your skin to get the blade into position, this means the blade is touching your face (with almost zero pressure) but its moving ever so lightly over your beard in the reverse direction - I used this the first few times because I wasn't sure how sharp the blade was and I made me feel more secure about getting the blade into position for small downwards strokes. I can imagine I'll be using that technique to position the blade in some tricky places in the future too - e.g. directly under the nostrils.

I did not strop to begin with - my blade came from Rasurpur in Germany, it's a simple starter kit from TI containing a 6/8th Jaguar. Martin from Rasurpur gave me some good tips to begin with; among them:
* Please keep in mind that it takes a few month to at least a year before you will get quite reaonable results from your straight shaving.
* It is not that difficult but takes a lot of practise and time. So be patient.
* If the blade drags a bit in the beginning is completely normal. Make sure you have a very good shaving prep and shave every day (but not too close in the first weeks to give your skin some time to ge accommodated).

To clean it before first use (it was covered in a light oil) - I dipped the blade in hot water and used a piece of toilet paper to dry it - I didn't drag the toilet paper along the edge, instead I dabbed it on the spine and with only the weight of the paper I pushed out towards and beyond the edge of the blade.

So, I started gingerly and ended up doing the left hand side of my face with my right hand, then moved onto the right hand side of my face with the left hand - then I played around with the upper lip area and some parts of my chin. I used shaving foam about 3 times to keep everything moist - and stopped after about 15 minutes, satisfied with the experience - and then finished off the lower areas of my face + chin with a normal wet gillette razor.

With the more extensive face prep and I presume higher quality foam - the gillette experience was much improved by the way.

It all took what felt like ages - but again, the SR articles, forums and videos had prepped me for that - so I feel I'm off to a fabulous start with the straight razor. I'm looking forward to see how my technique improves and in particular exploring how I can get my upper lip + chin done properly.

I'll likely run the same plan again and again while expanding slightly the area I shave, I'm looking forward to it already!

Everyone on the SR website, wiki and forums - thank you - without the effort of people, and the internet's ability to collect and disseminate information - this wouldn't have happened.

--
John Clayton
Straight Razor Guy.

PS: here's some random thoughts I've had while writing this:
- playing around with hand grips in front of the mirror prior to shaving (even for 5 minutes) was a good idea

- the idea of NOT shaving your entire beard area to begin with is I think, a very very good one for first timers - it means that there is no performance anxiety or feeling of disappointment if the entire beard isn't achieved with BBS results on the first go. Thanks for the idea Lynn et al.

- I'd already watched numerous videos of straight shaves; so I knew a tiny bit about what sounds to expect, skin to stretch - I think this helps a little to set the expectations, particularly the amount of time a straight shave takes, which of course a beginner can multiply by some newbie factor > 2

- angle angle angle - I read the 'first straight shave' article three times over two weeks while waiting for my kit to arrive; I read it once the night before I shaved - one point stood out, the 30 degrees angle. I found that my existing muscle memory was trying to keep the razor at about 15 degrees to my face, which I suspect caused more pulling than clean cutting. Its

Nice write up on a good start. It takes a few months before it all comes together, and it can seem longer than that at times, especially while you're cuttiing yourself, applying Styptic pencil, or treating razor burn. If you stick it out for a month or so, you'll be climbing the learning curve instead of it teaching you lessons.

Welcome to SRP,
and grats on your first shaves. That's a nice sum-up and some great beginner's tips you made there.
The shaves will become better and your enjoyment will increase.
Don't hesitate to ask your questions when they present themselves.
Looking forward to your future posts - meanwhile, have fun.

Nice set of goals and thoughts on the subject. Stay with your program and all you can do is progress to stellar straight shaves. Enjoy.

Originally Posted by johncclayton

I used shaving foam about 3 times to keep everything moist - and stopped after about 15 minutes, satisfied with the experience - and then finished off the lower areas of my face + chin with a normal wet gillette razor.

With the more extensive face prep and I presume higher quality foam - the gillette experience was much improved by the way.

I'm sorry, but what kind of foam are you using?

I am using a Thiers Isard soap/foam - and after watching the videos produced by Rasurpur I was able to produce a gorgeously smooth lather. It wasn't fluffy at all - hard to see the bubbles in fact (like a good coffee foam should also be - micro-froam). I applied foam 3 times because I enjoyed it and wanted to keep my face moist.