Results 1 to 10 of 15
Thread: First SR shave
Hybrid View
-
07-03-2012, 09:52 PM #1
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- FL Panhandle, Western NC, East Central AL
- Posts
- 16
Thanked: 0
-
07-04-2012, 12:34 PM #2
Congrats on the successful first shave with only a nick, and welcome to the gang. What are you using for lather?
-
07-04-2012, 01:03 PM #3
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- Albury, New South Wales, Australia, Australia
- Posts
- 55
Thanked: 2so after a few false starts (bought a dud GB Buckingham & Sons online) I lashed out on a brand spanking Dovo innox 5/8, it wasn't shave ready so I had to hone it myself, strop it up and it's taken a while to get anywhere near ready.
Today I had the first shave I'd say I was remotely happy with, couple on nicks, one on my chin and one on that pesky bit right under my nose.
It was just a BRILLIANT experience, I loved everything about it, the ritual, the smell of the lather I made from beautiful handmade soap and sandalwood shave cream, my hand-made ceramic shave bowl and soap dish, the badger hair brush, the witchazel astringent, the whole everything, I just loved it all.
I'm confident that I'll get my razor sharper as my stropping technique improves and my shaves wil get better as my shaving technique improves but I'm just HOOKED, I LOVE IT, I got a MUCH better shave with a single pass of a straight than I ever did even with a brand new top of the line disposable cartridge.
I'm just SUPER excited that my razor and my shaves are going to get better with time, I'm just SOOOOO sorry I didn't take up straght razor shaving 20 years ago.
Better late than never eh?
-
07-13-2012, 07:53 PM #4
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Posts
- 8
Thanked: 0Update* everything is going great few nice here and there but nothing major. I bought a. Vintage Otto Hans on what for 37 wasn't sure about the blade did my best to restore it tell me what you think guys. This was my first.time ever trying to.restore.any kind of blade.
-
07-13-2012, 09:16 PM #5
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Posts
- 8
Thanked: 0I hope this picture us ok
-
07-13-2012, 11:01 PM #6
- Join Date
- Feb 2012
- Location
- New England
- Posts
- 625
Thanked: 109Beautifully done. You are hooked now.
YMMV
It just keeps getting better
-
07-14-2012, 02:09 AM #7
-
07-29-2012, 01:55 PM #8
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- Albury, New South Wales, Australia, Australia
- Posts
- 55
Thanked: 2@mjsorkin, I'm sure there are some people who could do a much better job of honing than I could (apparently there's some legal issue in the state I live with people honing straight razors professionally, some health nonsense or something), but I kind of wanted to get better at it myself in order to be able to do it myself.
I've managed to get my razor to a point where it snaps a hair at a touch at every point along the blade so, for a beginner I think that's OK.
I found it's not so terribly difficult, just time consuming and repetetive, much like stropping, I've spent a few hours getting that right and I think I'm getting better at it.
My shaving technique is still developing, but I'm finding I am getting fewer and fewer cuts, and with my trusty styptic pencil, they are pretty well gone instantly.
The good thing about nicking yourself with a very sharp implement is you tend not to feel it so much, I think it's mainly a matter of developing confidence and developing my technique with an understanding of which direction the beard grows, little stuff like that you'd think I'd know all about after shaving for a couple of decades, but stuff you can really not bother so much about with the almost idiot-proof cartridge type razor.
I used to have the quickest under the shower shave you've ever seen with a cartridge, now I lather up with hand made soaps and creams in a heated scuttle, use an oil, hand made after shave, the whole bit.
I've actually never been one to bother with any kind of indulgence like that, but I think it's kind of nice to do something like that for yourself.
GF seems to like the end result and since I've never been a great one for colognes, it's nice to get positive feedback about smelling nice too.
Most recent aquisitions are a bottle of Madame Scodioli's "laudnum" aftershave and I can't speak highly enough about the stuff, it smells fantastic, soothes wonderfully and my skin just DRINKS it down and today I picked up a nice little puck of tade laurel shave soap, that stuff is REALLY nice, unlike a few other soaps and creams I've tried before it doesn't seem to dry out into this cakey residue on my skin, lathers up easy and I really like the smell of it too which is a bonus.
The fun thing about soaps is even really top of the line ones aren't THAT expensive so I can have a couple of them on the go at once even on a pretty tight budget. They seem to last forever too even though I like to make a tonne of suds (what can I tell you? I'm slow and careful cos I'm still learning, don't want to rush through it and discover I've amputated something).
-
07-29-2012, 02:21 PM #9
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- Odenton, MD
- Posts
- 50
Thanked: 6looks awesome