Thread: am i doing this right?

so i had my first go this evening, doing small strokes down my right cheek and below the sideburn area. At the end of each stroke when i took the razor away from my face it felt like i was dragging it along the uncut hairs below the shaved area. it seemed as though it was wrong, like it would blunten the edge of the blade... am i worrying too much or am i doing it incorrectly?
thanks chaps, Ross

Congratulations, Rosco on your first attempt - it sounds like it was a lot better than mine......

I can't see anything that you are obviously doing wrong.

Is the area that you have shaved smooth - if so, just keep doing what you are doing and build on it?

I think you may be worrying too much - when you feel more confident go for longer strokes and see how that works for you

+1 to what Havachat said. It is possible to over-think this whole process. Heck, that's what we all do here every day! But an important thing to remember is that you're using a very simple tool that does one thing extremely well: cut hair. And so it is in effect designed to be in contact with, and slice through, hair. So I wouldn't worry too much about that feeling of dragging it along the uncut whiskers. If that was all you were doing: dragging through hair at an angle that won't cut, then I imagine you could eventually cause some dulling. But I don't imagine that tiny moment will do any harm. Just make sure you're lifting the blade away in a direction perpendicular to the edge. Any parallel motion will certainly do harm, but to your fare.

thanks guys, ill keep at it and chill out a bit! i put it to my face and started to think 'what am i doing? i have a 3" stupidly sharp blade resting on my cheek' then i started and i realised why i was doing it, its just so much fun. i love thinking that it is how my great grandad and his dad, and his, and his...would have shaved