Had my first Straight shave the other day.

a member here was cool enough to send me a shave ready gold dollar to get my feet wet. i received it and waited for the weekend to have at it.

http://i.imgur.com/JYX7E.jpg

I must say that the gold dollar was in fact, SHAVE READY!!!

possible gore warning:
http://i.imgur.com/6YQHu.jpg

all three of those cuts are from me being shaky and nervous and slightly moving the blade as i set it on my face, thus slicing myself. that was Friday night. Monday night i took to it again.

http://i.imgur.com/I8bQR.jpg

this time i only cut myself once and that was on my upper lip while trying to detail that hard area. i think im going to like this straight shaving thing. i seem to get a slightly closer shave with 1 pass than with my DE from 2 passes. I also have a begginers strop on the way from starshaving. hopefully that arrives soon.

I've pulled myself back drastically as just over a week ago I ripped the hell out of my face trying to do every which way to the grain. Right now I'm just doing wtg, & I'm not doing above my top lip with the straight until the cut there heals properly. The plus side is that I had my best shave a few days ago & the one cut I did at the side of my mouth was so tiny you couldn't even see it, I just felt the blade catch & reversed quickly.

It's nice to know that I am slowly making progress, but I've given up trying to do it all at once. I've got to look my best for Christmas. I might even just go with the old Gillette on Saturday as I've got to visit the inlaws.

This isn't easy stuff. If it was, everybody would be doing it effortlessly. It took me a month to appear not to be intent on suicide, two months to get just comfortable enough to think I knew what I was doing, and three months to get some degree of competence. Now, two years in, I'm still improving my technique with every shave. It takes time. Those who stick with it are rewarded handsomely (well, not handsomely in my case). Those who expect it all to come together too quickly, rush it and return to cartridge shaving.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ace

Those who expect it all to come together too quickly, rush it and return to cartridge shaving.

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i got all the time in the world for it to come around, im a DE shaver.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaden101

(a) I've pulled myself back drastically as just over a week ago I ripped the hell out of my face trying to do every which way to the grain. Right now I'm just doing wtg, & I'm not doing above my top lip with the straight until the cut there heals properly.
. .
(b) I might even just go with the old Gillette on Saturday as I've got to visit the inlaws.

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Smart moves, both of them. It's a _long_ learning curve!

. Charles

The learning curve is definitely a steep one :)

The good news is that getting proficient with the sides is fairly easy...it's the upper lip and chin area that takes a while.

I just recently realized after 5 months of shaves that I was still using too much pressure. My shaves are dramatically more comfortable. None of us have mastered every thing, just keep learning and experimenting.

I have had my share of cuts and you can shave over them before they completely heal if you make just one very light pass in the opposite direction as the cut. For example if the razor was supposed to be moving in a downward direction but moved to the left you could soon shave in a upward direction. Do wait until the cut is smooth so as to avoid tearing off a scab or causing a second cut in the other direction.

Jonathan

Take your time Roger.