First Shave! Triple Pass! Both hands! BBS (well...almost)!

[REFLUX]

After MUCH waiting, MUCH reading & watching Lynn's DVD, tonight became the first straight shave experience of my life!

I'm so excited I hope no one minds me sharing a few more details of the shave
(summary at the bottom)

It starts off with the usual recommended routine, shower and take your time preparing the lather (big soup bowl 4.5" diameter, C&E pure badger brush, C&E Nomad cream, steaming hot tap water)
Straight off Lynn's DVD, the first area to be touched was under the sideburns (even though I don't have facial hair there ) and the learning curve begun.
Exactly as he said, start with small strokes, sections of the face, get the feel of the blade, let its weight do the cutting. Check.

Moving with the grain to my chin, I took my sweet time. Looked closely at the angle I was using, measure twice, cut once.
I noticed Lynn used his right hand to shave his chin in the video so if it's good enough for him, it is for me too

Up to the top lip and I decided to give my left hand a chance.
Again, took everything VERY VERY slow.
Resulted in a smooth with-the-grain shave but not close enough for my tastes.

Now, usually with my Mach3 I just hop straight into an against-grain shave. Seeing as how well the with-grain shave went, it'll go equally as well against the grain!
WRONG!

I fully found out what "tugging" meant. Seeing that it wasn't working out, the next option was the "across grain" stroke.

MUCH better than the against-grain stroke. No tugging, cut just like how with-the-grain went.

After all this, it still wasn't close enough for me (I know, I'm picky ) and the decision was made to give against-the-grain one last try.
And was it ever a step up!
Not as good as the first two passes but a big improvement from the first against-grain.


SUMMARY:
In the end, having taken Lynn's advice to take your time and not rush things, I managed to "squeeze" the shave into a brief 40 minute block
Nick count = 1 on my cheek approx. 3mm long (approx. 1/8" I believe) barely any blood, 1 on my lower lip a bit more blood BUT I prepared in advance and brought in a bowl of ice cubes. They did the trick superbly (ClassicShaving package has yet to arrive with styptic block).
The only thing keeping it from being 100% BBS, my chin. Just a small area I had trouble with and couldn't get it any closer.
Probably have to try different shave directions.
Very slight razor burn but much less than what my Mach3 produced.

Ultimately, it was a fantastic and very focused shave!
All this talk of how it is an experience to enjoy, even with the great amount of concentration needed, is very evident.


Thanks to SRP & Lynn for a spectacular shave!
(razor was from Lynn, ERN MOP Tang. )

I'm hooked!

[xChris]

Glad to hear that it went so well for you. You did your homework, and reaped the benefits. 40 minutes really isnt too bad either for your first few shaves. Now that you're hooked, wait for the **ADs to grab hold!

[TomlinAS]

Sounds like a great shave! I noticed a big difference between doing only a WTG shave and doing a WTG & ATG shave. Going against gives you such a closer shave it's nuts.

After tonight's shave, I realized how big of a factor the HOT water is...for some reason no hot water in the tap. Shaving with cold water brought out the devil in my left hand. :P

Hope you enjoy the super-close and enjoyable shaves!

[REFLUX]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

I have to agree that ATG brings about a much closer shave, a single WTG pass just doesn't cut it...maybe it's just me and my technique but even with the Mach3, WTG wasn't as close as ATG.

TomlinAS: Have you considered a scuttle? Not that there is one in my possession but I've read that they're meant to keep hot water around

[jnich67]

Congrats Terry! Sounds like a great first shave. Keep up the good work.

Jordan