Thread: First Shave! Wish Me Steadiness.

I received my $25 sight-unseen, shave-ready razor from Larry at Whipped Dog along with the poor-man strop yesterday, and I'll be putting a straight razor to my face for the first time later today. I plan on following forum advice and only shaving a section of my dominant-side sideburn/cheek area today, playing around with angles and strokes to get a feel for the process and the razor; I'd rather take it very slowly than butcher my face to where I then have to deal with shaving around wounds as well as natural obstacles.

The razor is quite nice for $25--I highly recommend the deal for anyone wanting to spend minimal money seeing if straight razor is right for him. I'll have to snap a picture when I get the chance. It's a 9/16 George Wostenholm & Son (England) full hollow ground model "I.XL" with a blunted square point. I really like the tang ergonomics (wide area of gripping grooves and arched thumb area), and the schales are imitation bamboo. If it weren't for some scratches on the schales and some light pitting on the spine and monkey tail, it would be a very nice piece. But the blade is true, the schales are tight, and I'm fully happy with it and hope it will treat me well. I'll update once the deed is done!

The hardest part of shaving in my opinion is the first part, reducing whiskers to skin level. You said you were going to only shave a portion of your face, which is a good beginning approach. Alternately, you can shave to short stubble level with your current way of shaving, and finish with the straight razor. On subsequent shaves, leave progressively more whisker for the straight razor.

Originally Posted by Annixter

I received my $25 sight-unseen, shave-ready razor from Larry at Whipped Dog along with the poor-man strop yesterday, and I'll be putting a straight razor to my face for the first time later today...........The razor is quite nice for $25--I highly recommend the deal for anyone wanting to spend minimal money seeing if straight razor is right for him. .....

I too have Whipped my Dog with one of Larry's razor deals. Great way to start the experiment. It will likely lead to many "AD conditions" as enumerated throughout this forum.

Thanks for the replies, and thanks a lot Larry for making starting out affordable and attractive.

Well, the deed is done! and my face remains intact. I am wonderfully pleased with the first go, and I am officially hooked for life. I have no idea why it's taken me so long to use a straight razor, but I'm calling my father tonight to tell him what a travesty it is he never urged me to the SR (in his defense, I don't think he has ever used one himself). I could have saved probably $1,000 by now and had a heck of a lot more fun shaving.

So I started off looking to take care of my right-side cheek area, but I couldn't stop. I don't know what it was, but I felt very comfortable with the razor, and I experimented with the angle, pressure, and stroke lengths/techniques to find a sweet spot. The right side went easily enough WTG that I switched hands and knocked out the left as well. That went well enough for me to tackle my neck. I shaved my entire face WTG (except the van dyke, which is so much easier to trim around with the SR), and it's pretty much the same quality I would have gotten via a WTG Mach3 shave--a little stubble showing with smoothness WTG, but I'm not comfortable trying XTG or ATG yet. All in all, I got a tiny bleeding rash at the jawbone where I always get it with a safety razor, and I nicked my right earlobe just a little. My styptic pencil took care of both no problem. After conditioning I went ahead and stropped for the first time. To be honest, I'm more uncomfortable with stropping toward me than I am shaving, as I don't feel like I have as much control/finesse of the blade's flatness on the strop as I do stropping away from me. After forty passes, I was beginning to find the groove, and I'll get plenty of practice soon enough. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's stubble!

In reflecting on my first attempt, I realize the importance of a good soap. I've wet shaved for years now, but I've been able to get away with using drugstore shaving soap. I constantly had to reapply and found that the soap didn't have enough lubrication or duration. I'll be ordering some better stuff asap. Anyway, I'm very excited and glad the first try was a success. Thanks to all the great information and contributors on SRP!

Great job good results. The stropping comes with practice. Try Larry's sample of Mitchell's Wool Fat shave soap or just buy a puck. It is really a lubricating upgrade from the drugstore soap.