First 'partial' shave

After just over a month of using the soap and brush with my Fusion and improving my prep work, finally got a Dovo Best Quality from Steve at Invisible Edge. I was surprised how light the SR felt in my hand (which was good), was expecting something a lot heavier. I had timed it that I had 3 days growth and tried my first 'partial' shave with it. I say partial, I tried WTG from sideburn down to jaw line on my right side (using right hand, that correct?). That went well so tried the cheek area, then repeated this for the left side as well. After that, I used my fusion for the rest.

First thought was this is weird, good but weird. After reading so much on here about razor burn, I use a very light touch, maybe too light. But looked like I had a good angle and didn't experience any tugging / pulling. I did find (maybe due to being a little nervous or over cautious) that I didn't have the full width of the blade in contact with my face. Also my glasses seemed to be in the way so will wear my contacts next time :)

I actually got as good a shave from it as I do from the cartridge (Fusion).

Going to have another go tonight and try a little more of my face. Being right handed, I did feel the left side was more awkward to do.

Hey, sounds like you are off to a good start, congrats. I rarely if ever have the full length of the blade in contact with my face. Faces just don't have large enough flat areas to do that. If your dominant hand is the right one it will feel a little awkward using your left hand, it did for me, until you get used to it. Just take it slow and easy and it will come. Hope your next round goes as smoothly as your first.

Bob

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Originally Posted by BobH

If your dominant hand is the right one it will feel a little awkward using your left hand, it did for me, until you get used to it. Just take it slow and easy and it will come. Hope your next round goes as smoothly as your first.

Bob

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Bob, You'd think wouldn't you, but I'm a lefty & both times I've used a straight, the right hand side of my face came out better. My first shave I got through the right hand side with nary a scratch & then proceeded to cut myself 3 times doing the left.

stevieb,

You're obviously a more patient man than myself & followed the sensible advice of only doing some of your face the 1st time round. I went in whole hog, saying that it's only the front of my chin that looks like I've taken a cheese grater to it so it could be worse.

Nice job. I think taking it a little at a time is a good idea. You can finish up on your old methods and gain the skills and techniques as they come. A good way to learn.

Any time a friend hears that I got a SR, I get very strange looks, usually followed by "Are you mad? Why one of those."

I got a similar response from my wife who fully expected me to do myself a serious injury. I also got the sarcastic comment of "have you satisfied your vanity now?" after I'd had my first SR shave. I very much doubt I'm going to be a collector or have lots of different soaps etc, but in the long run it'll be cheaper, greener, & once I've got better at it, it should be a nicer shave & better for my face than my old Gillette. I'm definitely going to have to get some other soaps/balms at some point though - I've only tried the OSMA alum soap so I have no idea how anything else compares to it if I don't try.

Kaden, I use TOBS Jermyn Street soap, it's for sensitive skin which suits me. I'm the same, doubt I'll start collecting but maybe have a 2nd or 3rd so if one's out of action for honing, I can still have a 2 razor rotation (that is until I learn to hone myself and then only need 2).

I started because I wanted a better shave and was tired of paying £10 every month or so for 4 'disposable' cartridges. I had to do WTG and ATG with my cartridge which has 5 blades so that's equivalent to 10 SR passes. My neck would be very prone to razor burn. I'm looking forward to see how it likes the SR.

I think it's kind of fun deciding how I'm going to learn the complete SR shaving technique.

For a few shaves I decided to use my DE first to completely shave the upper lip and chin (problem areas) and then I did the rest of the shave with the straight.

Now I do everything with the straight but after 2 or 3 passes if there are still some problem areas with the upper lip/chin I follow up with the DE.

Well, went for the second attempt tonight, did 2 WTG passes on both sides and neck and used the cartridge for upper lip and chin. Found those two quite difficult. No bleeders, but on my neck / jaw line, I looked as though someone had dabbed me with a red pen, just a few tiny specs.

When you guys do your upper lip and chin, which hand do you use? Dominant one? Do you still hold the razor the same shape as for your cheek?

Looks like my left hand needs some retraining haha.