Thread: Let the hair grow or not?

My question has to do with moving from a cartrige razor to a straight. I have a seriously thick beard, my face could probably be used for sandpaper in a bind. Anyway, cartrige razors play ginsu with my face. The last butchering happened about a week ago when I decided I would get a very close shave and went against the grain. I still have tiny spots healing. So that brings me to my final question. Should I keep letting my facial hair grow while I wait for my razor to get here? (Lynn is sharpening it =D ) This would give my face time to heal...

And then, is there any more strain on the straight when you are shaving off a beard vs every day? With that said would it be wise for me to go over my face with a electric trimmer before my first straight shave?

Any input valued

Just as with most any other razor, it will pull more with longer facial hair. More pull than a DE or injector, but not nearly as much as a cartridge pulls. A couple days growth is pretty smooth, but any longer than that may not be so pleasant. That's how it is on my face anyway. If you wanted to let it go until the str8 shows up, I'd recommend using a DE or injector for the first pass to knowck down the trees, especially if this will be your first str8 shave.

Jeff

My most enjoyable shaves are the ones I put off for a few days. Maybe it's the relief of chopping down some heavier growth, or knowing that I'm really putting the razor to work.

But I wouldn't rate my beard as "sandpaper quality," so I have no idea what you're about to undertake.

I can tell you that if I've got a cut or blemish on my face, I usually stop shaving for a bit, knowing that I'll have a satisfying shave a day or two later.

I also like a couple days growth but I shave mostly every day with a str8. A sharp razor should take a couple days growth in stride.

If it's going to be more than a couple three days
you might try the following.

Use really good prep and just do one NS pass. This
could keep down the whisker growth and may not
irritate your skin as much with the multi blades.


Terry

From your post it sounds like your beard is more course than mine but I find that I get my best shaves with about a days worth of growth. I tend to shave every other day since my beard doesn't grow back that fast. If I need to touch up in between, I just use a DE or my electric.

If your beard is course and you haven't shaved for several days, you'll probably be stropping the razor several times during your shave because it will start pulling pretty badly. I'd just shave with an electric until your straight razor shows up.

Like everyone has said it depends on your particular beard. For me a two day growth gives the best shave though I shave every day. I've gone 4 days max between shaves and the razor did pull a tad more than I liked so in my case I don't think I would wait longer than that. You would probably be wise to use something else will waiting for your razor to arrive.

I think i will just use my beard trimmer with no attachments and wear the 5 oclock shadow look until my straight arrives. Basically keeps it at the length of 1 days growth for me.

G, I too find that the best shave is with 2 days growth - the hair stands up straight and gets soft so I get a nice, comfortable, close shave.

I would highly recommend you get at least one other straight. It'll cut down on the frequency of honings and you'll have a backup just in case you drop yours to the tile floor or hit the faucet mid-shave and nick the damn thing. Of course you could use your electric/DE but once you experience a good str8 shave, you won't want to try anything else. I've been shaving with a str8 for six months now and I'm never going back to the cartridge unless I'm traveling by plane and a cartridge will have to suufice, I'm sad to say.

-Rob

I would let my face heal. Then I would use a simple North-South pass with minimal pressure to remove the bulk of the whiskers. Then perform a second pass N-S. A realistic expectation is that your skin will be a bit irritated at first. So shave every other day for awile and not at all on weekends until your skin adjusts.