First Shave with a Straight
So I got my Whipped Dog order arrived yesterday and I went for a shave this morning.
The Razor
She's not pretty, but she will do fine. She's a Special No 715 by Edlis Barber S. Co. Pittsburgh. PA. Made in Germany.
Gillette Slim Boy with IP Blade to finish off
The Lather
Palmolive Stick ground into a bowl (its not the EU version, so no tallow, but its a performer for me)
Body Shop Synthetic Brush
The Post Shave
Dickinson Witch Hazel
Nivea Sensitive AS Lotion
I soaked my brush in normal water (because it's so hot at the moment here) then went to shower. I whipped up nice thick and rich lather, then I wiped the oil off the blade with a paper towel.
Then I got curious about TPT and HHT and tried them. For other beginners out there, I recommend doing the two test (if you are planning to hone your own razor) on a shave ready blade to know how them should feel like when you're honing down the line.
Okay, back to the shave. I tried to keep the angle 30 degrees or less as much as I can, and very light almost no pressure. I was planning to be conservative as advised by people in the forum. However as I don't have much facial hair on the jaw or cheek (I'm asian, go figure), I finished the whole face WTG or more N2S pass. Then as I felt some irritation I finished off with the Gillette for the second pass. Then I washed up, wh, and nivea as. No burning as the wh is pretty weak in alcohol, but I'm sure if I had used alum, it would have burned. I then tried stropping about 20 pass with the poor man strop. I think I went OK as I practised flipping the razor, but I definitely need more practice.
I found few problems though:
1. starting out with the side burn, I couldn't find the right angle to the mirror, I couldn't see the razor going against my face (all I saw was my hand and ear and a bit of the blade tip)
2. moustache area is tricky, I don't know how to approach / start from under the nose. There is no way the razor can go 30 degrees under the nose?
3. also under the chin near neck area got rather irritated, I'm not sure why.
Advise are more than welcome. :)
Cheers,
Sy