Thread: The time has come....

Originally Posted by Lazarus

Glad you are getting good results out of the gate. Don't let those results lead you to too many passes too soon or too much pressure. Focus on very light pressure, comfortable shaves and BBS will come. Focusing on the ultimate smooth shave too soon will likely lead to razor burn and other undesirable outcomes.

Agreed. I'll admit I got a bit ahead of myself last night. Fortunately everything worked out well. And not needing to shave my chin or lip area made things easier as well. I don't plan to do anymore than a single WTG pass, and as you said, focus on getting a really comfortable shave before I move on to other passes. Need to get my stropping technique dialed in as well. But for now I'll just bask in the glory of the first razor burn, ingrown hair free shave I've had since my middle school peach fuzz days.

Round 2 tonight!! Been getting, IMO, pretty decent lathers from MWF and my tweezerman brush. But received my order of KMF unscented, liquid glycerin and liquid lanolin in the mail yesterday. Might try and whip up some uberlather this evening and see how that goes. Also have about 10 samples of Mamabears soaps that have been begging to get used. Quite the dilema.

I'm dyin' to know if you got yer styptic, yet. You still might need it!

I've taken 3-5 days of growth off with a sharp blade without pulling or tugging. In fact, one of the ways I do a shave test is WTG motion down the philtrum as the first stroke on the moustache, pretty much ensures I'll be cleaving through hairs at a point well above the skin, rather then microscopically close to the skin (allowing more opportunity for the hairs to bend and for the edge to glide off, or snag on the scaly structure of the hairs and pull). I'm glad to see someone getting good results from a Tweezerman. I've got one and it's great!

BigTerp,

It sounds like things are going quite well for you as you enter the world of straight razor shaving.

As recommended previously, get a styptic pencil from your local drugstore as well as a small tube of antibiotic cream or ointment. Even the best straight razor shaver nicks or cuts himself. You want to be able to fix the injury pronto and prevent the possibility of infection. Staph bacteria grows like wildfire on our faces.

Take care--and continued smooth shaving.

Shaved twice over the holiday weekend. Needed the styptic a few times for a few weapers and a small nick on the side of my neck. It was one of those were you know you cut yourself before you even felt it or saw the blood. I felt myself kind of do a small slicing motion and knew I had cut myself (was working with my left hand on the left side of my neck). Nothing major though and the styptic stopped the small amount of bleeding almost instantly. But overall it went really well. I just need to slow myself down and focus on getting a good, comfortable WTG shave before I move on. Got a bit ahead of myself on Sunday and tried to do 2 passes (to much egg nog??). Cheeks went really well, but I tore my neck up. Had a bit of razor burn and a few ingrown hairs. Looking back I think pressure and blade angle was the culprit. I've noticed it's rather easy to get a bit to much pressure without really knowing. A single WTG pass for at least a few more shaves before I attempt XTG/ATG passes. Lesson learned!!

Made some uberlather with MWF, KMF unscented and a few drops of glycerin. Good stuff!! Made some really nice lather and it lathered up almost instantly. Need to try my Mamabears soaps still. I have about 10 samples I need to give a whirl. I'm getting really comfortable with my right hand, and will probably try to do my whole face with my right hand next shave to see how it goes. The left hand is pretty rough, and if I can handle both sides with the right hand I'll most likely stick with that.

Stropping is getting much better. It was really awkward at first, but just like with the actual shave.....practice, practice and more practice has made it much easier.

Gonna give my face another day or 2 to recover before I go at it again. The neat thing about doing the additional pass on Sunday is that 2 days out is like 1 day out. With my cartridge I HAD to shave every other day. Now after 2 days with doing an additional pass with the straight its more like 1 day after shaving with my old cartridge. Something to look forward to and works towards. But I have much to work on first!!