Will I ever get as close?

Folks, I'm admittedly new to straight shaving having only about 10 shaves so far. I can shave my entire face but I always wind up with nicks. I do a WTG pass and ATG (on my cheeks only). Honestly, I feel like there is no way I will be able to get as close with a straight as I can with a DE. Do you guys who use both a straight and a DE feel like you can REALLY get as close with a straight as your DE?

(I know it takes alot of time, practice and patience. I can very VERY smooth with my DE and I just can't see a path to get there.)

This is a pretty common question from some of our newer straight razor shavers.

The simple answer, in my opinion, is yes and the shave from the straight razor surpasses the shave with a DE. Not that there is anything wrong with the shave from a DE.

The biggest problem is the expectation that you will get the best shaves of your life as quickly or as easily as you did with the DE razor. Shaving with a straight razor really does take time to learn and patience. This is why we normally recommend only taking on a portion of the face to learn the straight razor and then take on more a little at a time until your technique and confidence with the razor improves. For some this may only take a few weeks and for others it may take a few months to start really getting proficient.

For most, once you learn to use the straight razor, you will enjoy it to the point of using it exclusively for shaving with the DE as your back up razor. Try not to get frustrated or rush the process.

Best of luck and have fun

Big grins at the moment. 'Wish all new guys could read this. Thank you, Lynn.

I get better shaves with my straights. Remember you control the angle of the blade, not a machined and polished piece of steel...operator error I suppose. You also have nothing between your face and blade, that's why the nuances of straight shaving take so long to get right, where as with a DE the razor pretty much shaves on its own all you really do is provide the movement and direction; the shape of the DE does the rest. However, with that in mind if you don't like the way a DE shaves you are stuck with that, nothing you can do unless you take the chance of modifying and screwing up its geometry.

With a scant 6 months SR shaving under my belt . . . yes, your shaves will improve. Mine improve daily, and I really look forward to the shaving experience. Hang in there, the more you shave, the better you will get.

For me, things keep getting better and better. BUT I am also getting more and more obsessive with my faceturbating.

I know for a fact that I never did this before...and I probably never got very close before either. Do you follow my logic here? I submit that I never got as close as I am now with a SR...but I also never cared or checked how close I was.

Now I will faceturbate UNTIL I find a deficiency in closeness (how crazy is that?...but it leads to constant improvement)

Many report a break-thru at about 25-30 shaves where the shaves really improves, you will sometimes feel your "stuck" and don't move forward at all, just to find your self having another great improvement in a dozen shaves or two.

To me this is one of the fun things about straight shaving, the never ending path, the search for perfection whether it may be the shave it self, lather, the perfect edge and so on.

Be patient, take your time and keep focus and you will get there, and possibly even better shaves than with a DE.

Good luck!

At four months of daily SR8 shaves, I'm getting pretty good and confident as well. Rare nicks -- only had to use a styptic pencil twice. I can see the goal fast approaching. I bought a DE (used to use an electric...sorry!) to have as a back up but have yet to need it for a full shave -- just an occasional touch up. And it's a lot of fun! Enjoy the journey.

Thanks for the comments.

I know that I am on the FAR left of the learning curve here and I certainly do not expect to be as good with the straight as a DE. I also know that my shaves will improve. I'm enjoying the process and I'm not demotivated :) I have gone solely to a straight 10 shaves ago in order to learn faster but I'm not striving for perfection at this point.

I just can't imagine getting as close a shave as I can with my DE. I look forward to hitting the point where I do this.

So true wat lynn said.
Your time of close shaving will come,stick whit it.
At some time you dont pick your DE anymore:)

As a rough guide your shaves will equal a DE shave after around 6 months. After a year your Straight shave will be far superior to a DE shave. This will vary from person to person but is about right on average.
It's a long road and there will be times when you will be disillusioned by it all but then out of nowhere you hit a new high and love it all over again.
I shaved with a DE for 15 years but now don't even own one as found they were never used so gave them away to friends. Have shaved with nothing but a straight for a year now and pretty certain I will never use anything else.

The quick answer is yes, you will. I had my doubts before I even tried a SR. I was getting, what was at the time, the best shaves of my life with my EJ DE loaded with Kai blades. I decided to try the SR. Things got off to a rough start and there were all sorts of spots that I simply couldn't get as clean as I was with my DE. And I noticed that on most of the message boards DE guys seem more obsessive with getting a perfect shave than the guys on the SR boards (I still think that). There are more conversations here about honing, restoration, eBay, and hardware in general. So I assumed that the SR shave might not be bad but it wouldn't really compare. Well, that's incorrect. In fact, my shaves are so damn close now that there really is no point in shaving every day. In fact, what was once one day stubble is now what I feel after two. I don't even start to feel the first signs of roughness until after my shower the next day. And it won't become visible until the day after that. You'll get there one step at a time. The key will be in dealing with each area of your face and getting used to the unique grip that you'll need to tackle each area. Some of that you can pick up from others, some you'll have to teach yourself. But you'll hit that state of nirvana just like you did with a DE. It just takes longer.

^ What they said.

Once you master the straight razor, your DE will be a close second. I Started wet shaving with a straight, then picked up a DE later for fun. I use both, but I am never as close with the DE as I am with the straight. Keep at it, the day will come.

When I started I used the DE to finish, after about 6 weeks or so I decided to spent the time finishing with the strt. About 3 month in to it, I started to get a few very good shaves. Now a year into it, I can tell better when the edge needs refreshing, when it needs more stropping, the lather is to thin and how to fix it, which soaps work better, the best prep for my face and which blades I like best. It all helps to the overall success of the shave. I do get consistently better shaves from my strt. than I do from my DE now. Hang in there,it gets better and better with time and practice. Double O

i am not one to say, "yes you will", as i still use a DE, but, of course you will be able to get as close a shave as a DE since it is blade only on your face. You just need more practice! Good luck.

Actually, I get a 'better' shave with a DE most of the time i.e. less hairs are apparent on the drive to work investigation while listening to the radio (you know, that contemplative, inquisitive, obsessive touching of face and checking out of stubble we do).

I find that unless I'm really very pedantic, I can't go completely ATG on ALL hairs with a straight as I can with a DE, esp on some spots on my neck. However, I enjoy my straight razor shaves more than the DE shaves.

I will say yes to your cheeks and not right away to your neck. I can't tell you the "right" way to do it but I'll tell you what worked for me. I went strictly with the grain for the first 8-10 months of shaving until I got my with the grain technique down pat. I tried going against the grain about 4 months in to get that baby butt smoothness, but what I found was that all I managed to do was usually nick myself somwhere, discourage myself and ruin the enjoyment of the shave. A year and a half in and I'm comfortable going with the grain when I want to. Hope that helps!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dewey81

A year and a half in and I'm comfortable going with the grain when I want to. Hope that helps!

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You mean "against the grain when you want to"? I think that's what you mean. Double O

I wanted to resurrect this thread for a minute. It might help some people.

I had my first straight shave on 9/29/12. As you can see, I was full of problems. Then later I started this thread here wondering if I would ever get as close as my DE. I shave every 2/3 days on average.

Since 9/29 I have used my DE only a few times when I am in a bit of a rush. Well, this morning I was in a rush and pulled out the DE with a feather blade. I wanted to share some observations from a guy who started new to 4 months later:

- I am closer with my straight than I have ever been with my DE. Hard to believe but it happened. The exception to this is under my lower lip. Must be the safety bar that flattens that spot so well.
- I took it slow but I make three passes without hardly any problems.
- I used to nick myself several times with each shave. I actually cut myself (like an inch long slice) maybe 3-4 times total. Now, I usually can make it with only one or two nicks. Sometimes none (still a bit rare).
- When I started it took me almost an hour for two passes. It takes me 30 min now for 3 passes.
- I'm MUCH better at making a lather now across multiple different soaps. They are all a little different but you get far better at it as you learn.
- I LOATHE using a cartridge now. I don't really know why but I get the worst shaves with them. I still need them for when I travel by plane (I never check on baggage) but they just plain suck.
- I don't hone (yet). I wanted to reduce the variables and I'm not ready to hone just yet but I intend to.
- I started with a vintage razor from my grandfather and a "Poor Man's Strop".
- In December I bought a new Dovo Bismarck and got a very nice 3" strop. I use this pretty much exclusively now.
- I have a hard time shaving with my vintage blade I started out with. I don't know why. Maybe I ruined the edge learning. I have tried a balsa strop with CrOx but it didn't seem to help. Might have to send it out again.
- Finally, this forum is so unbelievably helpful for beginners - USE IT! I used to post alot and these guys all go me riding my bike for the first time. After a couple months, I posted less but kept reading. These guys know what they speak of and the volumes of info in here is so valuable!

I'm typing this to encourage anyone else just starting. I'm hardly an expert and I'm still learning alot but there is hope if you stick with it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EggSuckingLeech

I wanted to resurrect this thread for a minute. It might help some people.

I had my first straight shave on 9/29/12. As you can see, I was full of problems. Then later I started this thread here wondering if I would ever get as close as my DE. I shave every 2/3 days on average.

Since 9/29 I have used my DE only a few times when I am in a bit of a rush. Well, this morning I was in a rush and pulled out the DE with a feather blade. I wanted to share some observations from a guy who started new to 4 months later:

- I am closer with my straight than I have ever been with my DE. Hard to believe but it happened. The exception to this is under my lower lip. Must be the safety bar that flattens that spot so well.
- I took it slow but I make three passes without hardly any problems.
- I used to nick myself several times with each shave. I actually cut myself (like an inch long slice) maybe 3-4 times total. Now, I usually can make it with only one or two nicks. Sometimes none (still a bit rare).
- When I started it took me almost an hour for two passes. It takes me 30 min now for 3 passes.
- I'm MUCH better at making a lather now across multiple different soaps. They are all a little different but you get far better at it as you learn.
- I LOATHE using a cartridge now. I don't really know why but I get the worst shaves with them. I still need them for when I travel by plane (I never check on baggage) but they just plain suck.
- I don't hone (yet). I wanted to reduce the variables and I'm not ready to hone just yet but I intend to.
- I started with a vintage razor from my grandfather and a "Poor Man's Strop".
- In December I bought a new Dovo Bismarck and got a very nice 3" strop. I use this pretty much exclusively now.
- I have a hard time shaving with my vintage blade I started out with. I don't know why. Maybe I ruined the edge learning. I have tried a balsa strop with CrOx but it didn't seem to help. Might have to send it out again.
- Finally, this forum is so unbelievably helpful for beginners - USE IT! I used to post alot and these guys all go me riding my bike for the first time. After a couple months, I posted less but kept reading. These guys know what they speak of and the volumes of info in here is so valuable!

I'm typing this to encourage anyone else just starting. I'm hardly an expert and I'm still learning alot but there is hope if you stick with it!

---

I've only been at it a couple months longer than you and am quite pleased with my daily shave. "Practice makes perfect" but I'm very pleased with practice making me better!

Im about 12 shaves in and I'm loving it. I went right from mac3 to SR and there's no going back unless I'm in a hurry. I've gotten awesome going WTG and XTG and have recently started working on my ATG. I'm BBS on my cheeks but not on my neck and chin yet. It's an amazing experience and I find it's a great way to experience some "me" time. One thing I did notice is I have 2 bathrooms and when I first started out I was shaving in the room with sub pr lighting. Now that I have in the better lit bathroom I find my shaves have gotten better twice fold!!

I'm probably about 15 shaves in. Started mid December. I'm still finishing off with the mach 3, but finally tried XTG/ATG again on my last shave on Sunday. The first time I tried that I wreaked havoc on my face, & still have a couple of fading scars to prove it, this time I actually managed not to cut myself at all (okay I lied, I cut myself lightly with the mach 3 finishing off, go figure). Even though I'm still having to finish off areas like my chin & lip with the mach 3, I am finding that it's a closer overall shave than I ever got with the cartridge alone. My skin also feels in better condition, & it takes a fair bit longer for the beard to grow back. It's now about 48 hours since my last shave & I've got a 5 o'clock shadow.

5 shaves ago I thought I was in over my head & was considering the money I'd spent on something to self harm myself with, now I'm slowly starting to see the benefits & am looking forward to improving more.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EggSuckingLeech

Folks, I'm admittedly new to straight shaving having only about 10 shaves so far. I can shave my entire face but I always wind up with nicks. I do a WTG pass and ATG (on my cheeks only). Honestly, I feel like there is no way I will be able to get as close with a straight as I can with a DE. Do you guys who use both a straight and a DE feel like you can REALLY get as close with a straight as your DE?

(I know it takes alot of time, practice and patience. I can very VERY smooth with my DE and I just can't see a path to get there.)

---

While not a DE user, I've used a MAC3 and the latest 4 blade job for a few years with really smooth shaves (WTG, XTG and ATG), before picking up a Dovo shavette and a Dovo straight on Dec 1, last year.

The first 20 or so shaves, I constantly used the shavette and then the cartridge to clean up after after the straight, especially the chin and neck to get anywhere near the earlier cartridge only performances.

About 30 shaves in, now doing WTG and XTG, I could shave every part of my face with the straight, but still a bit shy of the cartridge performance, but now only cleaning up with the shavette, no longer the cartridge.

Now around 50 shaves in, I do 3 passes and if I use the Shavette for the final ATG, get the same performance as I used to with the old cartridges (except for a few hairs in a dimple on my chin - damn!).

Just a note on ATG, and how more senior shavers have said we tend to progress - only a couple of weeks ago, I could not imagine EVER getting to the point (with the Straight), where I could do anything other than tentative, excruciatingly slow stabs at shaving upwards, ATG on my neck, cheeks and chin, I'd been practicing every day and it was still far too scary for me. I kept practicing and one day it just all came together and has gotten easier each day since. I can now take smooth, confident strokes ATG on neck and cheeks (bit slower on chin), which now gives me that cartridge performance and feels SOOO good, doing it with a Straight!

As others have said, some of this is no doubt due to better pre-shave prep, lathering, stropping as well as improved technique as our skills increase across all the variables. I'm very happy to have not used the cartridge for some time now, as the Straight shave is a so much better experience. I'm sure your journey will be similar and with more practice and time, you'll equal and surpass your old DE performance - just hang in there :-)

Thanks for the motivation! I'm on shave #3 this morning. I only nicked myself 2x and they were tiny (yay I get to keep my blood!!). In just a couple of days I've seen my speed and accuracy improve. I've even gotten better at stropping. I actually gave my razor a touch up hone on my 8000 norton and 12000 Naniwa followed by a more careful (and successful) stropping. I think I dulled the initial edge with a bad stropping the other day. The good news is that I seem to have sharpened the razor back up and it's shaving nicely! Look out Lynn you're only 49, 999 hones ahead of me! ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by EggSuckingLeech

I wanted to resurrect this thread for a minute. It might help some people.

I had my first straight shave on 9/29/12. As you can see, I was full of problems. Then later I started this thread here wondering if I would ever get as close as my DE. I shave every 2/3 days on average.

Since 9/29 I have used my DE only a few times when I am in a bit of a rush. Well, this morning I was in a rush and pulled out the DE with a feather blade. I wanted to share some observations from a guy who started new to 4 months later:

- I am closer with my straight than I have ever been with my DE. Hard to believe but it happened. The exception to this is under my lower lip. Must be the safety bar that flattens that spot so well.
- I took it slow but I make three passes without hardly any problems.
- I used to nick myself several times with each shave. I actually cut myself (like an inch long slice) maybe 3-4 times total. Now, I usually can make it with only one or two nicks. Sometimes none (still a bit rare).
- When I started it took me almost an hour for two passes. It takes me 30 min now for 3 passes.
- I'm MUCH better at making a lather now across multiple different soaps. They are all a little different but you get far better at it as you learn.
- I LOATHE using a cartridge now. I don't really know why but I get the worst shaves with them. I still need them for when I travel by plane (I never check on baggage) but they just plain suck.
- I don't hone (yet). I wanted to reduce the variables and I'm not ready to hone just yet but I intend to.
- I started with a vintage razor from my grandfather and a "Poor Man's Strop".
- In December I bought a new Dovo Bismarck and got a very nice 3" strop. I use this pretty much exclusively now.
- I have a hard time shaving with my vintage blade I started out with. I don't know why. Maybe I ruined the edge learning. I have tried a balsa strop with CrOx but it didn't seem to help. Might have to send it out again.
- Finally, this forum is so unbelievably helpful for beginners - USE IT! I used to post alot and these guys all go me riding my bike for the first time. After a couple months, I posted less but kept reading. These guys know what they speak of and the volumes of info in here is so valuable!

I'm typing this to encourage anyone else just starting. I'm hardly an expert and I'm still learning alot but there is hope if you stick with it!

---

I love reading reports like this.
Kudos for sticking with it, and for reporting back!!