First Shave With Straight Razor

[AlexanderI]

I'd like to share my experiences and observations with those who are about to embark on the journey. What I'm about to tell you may be against some conventional wisdoms, or at least against some common advice you might encounter on this and other forums, but I feel strongly about it and hope that those who disagree do not take it as an attack, but rather as a simple expression of one's experiences.

After visiting an Art of Shaving store about a year ago, I knew that I had to get one of those razors. It was a matter of a few months before I finally took the plunge and got myself a beautiful 5/8 full hollow Thiers-Issard (from The Superior Shave; excellent online retailer, by the way). While deciding on a razor I went through what seems like hundreds of pages of information on razors, strops, hones, brushes, shaving and stropping techniques, soaps and creams etc. - something I'm sure most of you can relate to, - and finally, there it was in the mail: my first straight razor. Now with several shaves under my belt, let me share with you some of the things that I learned along the way - things that may be useful those who are a few steps behind and are impatiently waiting for their first straight razor shave. First, let me state that I'm in no way an experienced user (I've only had this thing for about three weeks), I just wanted to convey some of the things that I learned in the beginning while they're fresh in my head. So here it goes...

1. When choosing a razor, you will hear a lot of advice along the lines of getting something beginner-friendly, whatever that may be. I didn't choose to go that route as I wasn't planning on buying several razors. The beauty of a straight razor is in the fact that it'll last a lifetime under proper care, and then some more, and I wanted to have something that was high quality, an excellent shaver and would last forever. My shaver may not be the best choice for a beginner, but I was happy with it and here I am without any regrets (or major scars).

2. My biggest surprise first time I shaved was the result: my shave was horrible. It was worse than shaving with a dull Gillette! I thought it was the razor itself, but it subsequently passed a hanging hair test like a champ and I figured it was the operator's fault. The point here is that your technique may suck in the beginning, but it will improve quickly and in no time you will be getting satisfactory shaves. My first great shave occurred on the fifth try and that leads me to my next point:

3. My biggest gripe with common advice is that no one encourages you to just go at it! Everyone seems to want you to do the opposite - take it slowly, only cheeks on your first try, with the grain and so on. I'm an impatient person by nature and it hasn't always worked for me, but not when it came to shaving with a straight razor. See, my grandfather was a best straight razor shaver in the small town he grew up in and somehow I highly doubt that on his first shave he only did his cheeks with the grain, then finished with a Gillette - hope you get my point. The thing is that knowing you're about to handle the sharpest thing you've ever touched and scrape your face with it is enough of a deterrent from doing anything stupid. But you should also expect to cut yourself - no matter how fast or slow you go, you will make yourself bleed. Most of those cuts will be small nicks that you won't even feel. Every once in a while you'll do the big no-no - move parallel to the razor edge - and get a small cut, but, to be perfectly honest, those aren't nearly as painful as papercuts. With that in mind, I finished my shave with a multitude of small nicks and a couple of minor cuts, but nothing life threatening (and let me tell you: cold water does magic when you try to stop the bleeding). I did with the grain, across and against the grain on my first and each subsequent tries and you won't believe how quickly I improved - without any major damage to my face. I really don't think that I have any special skill or inclination for handling sharp objects, I just went at it with the acceptance that I may get hurt and it worked out.

4. About a week later I got my best shave ever - on the fifth try. Yes, I still got a couple of small nicks, but after a few splashes of cold water you couldn't even tell. After about ten shaves I still have lots to learn. It takes me about thirty minutes from start to finish - way too long, but I'm getting better. I do cut myself every once in a while (which, by the way, do be careful about moving your razor parallel to the edge - this advice seems so trivial that it's easy to ignore, but sooner or later you will break the rule and cut yourself, so pay attention), and due to poor technique that usually results in many passes, after a few days my face feels like I've been working on it with an abrasive sand paper and I need to take a break.

5. Go easy, relax and don't press hard. Pressing will not get you better results. Also, it'll be scary the first time, but you'll do fine. If you're like me and you've never handled a straight razor before, it's easy to imagine that you will cut your artery on accident or something like that, but it's actually not thatsharp and is quite forgiving. You only cut yourself if you do somethig stupid (see above) and those cuts are very shallow. Use light pressure and short strokes and you'll do fine (and remember to stretch your skin!). It'll be overwhelming at first because it's actually harder than you imagine (there's a lot of multitasking and it was quite a bit harder than I thought, but totally doable).

6. Finally, I was prudent (or lucky?) to have a decent shaving cream, a good brush (mine cost me only $30, but it's great) and a good quality shave-ready razor before my first shave and I would recommend you do the same. I'm not a high roller, but to me it seemed like a great long term investment and I have no regrets. You can buy decent products right away and spend a couple of hundred bucks, or buy something cheap and get disappointed (possibly quit altogether), then get something of good quality and spend more money in the end - it's your choice.

In short, I'm not trying to break any new grounds and I don't want to discredit any advice given here or on other forums before me - to each his own, - I simply wanted to share that if you're impatient like me, you can jump right into it and get great results soon and without slicing your face up. I also believe that it's helpful to go at it knowing that it may not give you great results immediately, but after about three weeks and ten or so shaves I can assure you that what they say is true and you can get shaves that are superior to anything you've done before if you put enough effort into it.

Good luck!