Thread: Taking a swipe at it...

Expecting UPS later today with my first straight: Dovo 6/8 Bismarck, professionally sharpened, of course...

2 days growth at-the-ready.

Merkur Futur close by to follow.

Sounds like you have done some homework and have drawn up a viable plan. Let us know how it goes!

Good Luck. I hope all goes well

Russell

Update...
Smooth patch below right sideburn equal to, or dare I say smoother than d/e?!
First strokes were not as tentative and nerve wracking as I expected.
Left it at that for day one. Overall a positive experience; although, ironically I nicked myself with the d/e safety razor finishing up and I almost NEVER do that... doh!

More tomorrow...

Admoore,

I'm also new to straight shaving. I see you're taking it in stages. That worked well for me. You'll be pleased with how things progress. While I know it takes a long time to get really good at this I think you'll find rapid improvement in your abilities pretty early in the game.

One bit of advice while the experiance is still fresh: Strop carefully. I think I was guilty of a pretty common newbie mistake of being a bit heavy handed in my early stropping efforts.

Regards,
Bruce









Bruce

Update <Day Two>:
Shaved both left and right sides down to jaw line today...
Close shave both sides, no nicks- even navigated cleanly to sideburn/ear and goatee!

Tomorrow we'll start down the neck!

One note: on the left I tried both left and right handed... right worked pretty well. Should I force myself to use the left for awhile, or if the right works, just go with it? Thoughts?

I started using just my right hand but did force myself to use my left had after about the 5th shave. Took about 10 shaves but I switch hands without even thinking now. It was acctually very easy to do.

Originally Posted by admoore

Update <Day Two>:
One note: on the left I tried both left and right handed... right worked pretty well. Should I force myself to use the left for awhile, or if the right works, just go with it? Thoughts?

Looks like it is pretty common to use 1 hand:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...-one-hand.html

I found that I was driving myself a little nuts over thinking the grip/right hand/left hand quandry. I just started going with what felt comfortable and it's been sorting itself out. As I progress I find that I'm using my "off" hand more frequently. Some spots are just easier with your other hand. Proficiency with either hand is an admirable goal but I don't think you will lock in "bad" habits by not pushing the off hand use early in the learning curve. I believe that an individual shaving technique evolves over a fairly long time. At least in my case I find myself using my other hand more as time passes.

The pictures and posts and videos are all great places to get advice and ideas from, but don't discount a grip/position that feels right to you even if you haven't seen it elsewhere. I think the most important issue is that you have positive control of your razor and you feel comfortable with that position. A case in point for me: I've seen pictures of what is probably a very standard grip with the scales swung into an upright position with the thumb on the bottom of the tang and first two fingers on top of the tang between the scales and the blade. It makes sense, and provides a lot of control for the blade. I can't do it however. With a combination of large hands/fingers and possibly a shorter space between the tang and the blade on this razor it just doesn't feel right for me.

I hope this isn't bad advice. My main point is that with so many combinations of hand size, blade design, and degrees of hand skill and comfort with using an off hand evryone is bound to come up with a routine that is in some small degree unique to them. So, let yours develop and don't over think it!

Regards,
Bruce

Taking the day off...

Allergies are killing me today and I just don't feel well at all... Bad thing about "tele-commuting" for work is that I almost never "call in sick". But, since I don't HAVE to shave today, I'm going to continue my learning process when I feel better instead of making myself feel worse shaving distracted and doing a bad job.

I got my 1st ebay special Dubl Duck Dwarf in the mail yesterday to begin my journey on learning to hone. I didn't pay much for it, and while I think I can make it shave, it'll never be "perfect". Pitting near the spine on one side, and while the "smile" is very minimal, there are some very small chips near the heel and the edge seems "rippled" just a bit in that area.

Given the time, I'll probably "butter-knife" it and start fro there. Just not today...

-A