The war has begun. My first straight shave. Outcome? Facial Hair (1) Me (0)
Well I did it, my first straight shave. If I accomplished one thing, it was that I didnt cut my face, and I felt very comfortable putting the blade to my face and neck. I did however get a nick on the tip of my finger which I will explain later. lol.
In preparation for this shave, I had let my facial hair grow for about 6 days. This I think came back to hurt my shave. I did this because my previous shave was with a mach 3 that would make hannibal get a stiffy. So I had to give time for my face to heal.
Anyway, I started with a nice hot towel soak for about a minute. Hot meaning, hot water turned on all the way... could only touch my hands to the towel for 2 seconds, enough to ring it, and let go... Then pick up... This was VERY nice to the face. :D
Next I put the towel down, and picked up my brush which had been soaking in the hot water. I let it drip, and flicked it twice. I believe I flicked too much water out.
After I had the lather going(Taylor of old bond streed lavendar shave cream), which I spent about 2 minutes on. I splashed my face with the hot water, and then opened up my cup of Taylor Of Old Bond street pre shave gel. Got about a pea sized amount out, and rubbed it on my face. Next I got the towel out again, which had been soaking in the hot water again, rinsed it, and put it on my face. I left it on my face for a minute, and then repeated a second time. Then I put down the towel, and lathered up my face in n/s strokes. Then the moment of truth. The shave. I started with the right cheek. Holding at 30 degrees, I started my first swipe. Pain, pulling... Discomfort... It got some hair, but about 10 percent of it. So I relathered and tried again... Each attempt got a bit better, it took me about 4 attempts to where it wasnt very uncomfortable. In retrospect I believe that because my facial hair was so long, the blade wasnt able to start against the skin. It had to "cut" its way down, hence the pulling. But at the time I did not realize this, so I will explain the rest of the shave. After my problems with the cheek area, I moved down to the neck. For some reason I did not have a big fear like others described with the area. So that was a plus. Pulling my skin down towards my collar bone as tight as I could, I initiated my first pass. With the similar results, only this time no where near the pulling as the cheeks. But, still only taking about 10 percent of the hair. My fiance was in the bathroom making sure I kept the blade angled at 30 degrees.
At this point I looked up and noticed the lather that was on my face, was now in powder form and floating around the bathroom. I ended up inhaling the part that was under my nose. Hehe.. So I scrapped my lather and started again, this time flicking the brush only once. I began to see the big bubbles turning into little bubles, and when I was finished, this lather was much more moist. And it stayed moist on my face. So, again with the hot towel, and a relathering. I then tried a pass on my neck again, with similar results. Hardly any hair cut.
So frustrated I tried my left cheek, with similar results as my right cheek. At this point I was worried that I somehow dulled the blade. Persisting forward, paying close attention to the angle of the blade, my thumb went a bit forward and got bit by the edge of the blade. It basically told me, **tch im sharp, you must be doing something wrong. Lol.
The poor styptic pencil was outmatched by the blood army. Reinforcements in the form of tissues arrived shortly therafter and the blood army was rebellion was quelled.
After the bleeding stopped I came to the conclusion that I must have too much facial hair for this thing to cut through. So I whipped out my braun electric razor and did a quick twice over. Removing about 70 percent of the hair, but with some strands.
I then relathered up and tried again. This time I got MUCH better results on the cheeks. Getting 99 percent of the hair at least cut. I would not say baby smooth, but cut to where it looks freshly shaved. The neck was a little better but not much. It still had problems cutting the shorter hair that the electric razor chopped down to size, but not as bad as they were longer. I would still say only 60 percent of the hair got cut in total between the chin and adams apple. All hair under the adams apple was sliced nicely.
Now for the toughest part. My sandpaper like upper lip. Now I had problems with the chin area, but I could at least move the razor and get some of the hair. With the upper lip, the razor just completely locked up. It grabbed every hair it touched and would not slice anything. I didnt get a single whisker to cut on my upper lip. I figured at this point it was time to quit for the day.
I would like to add, given this rough start, this has in no way discouraged me from straight shaving. I find myself already planning my next battle. :D In the morning, I will completely shave with the electric razor, to get the trees cut down. The electric razor I have can get me pretty smooth. Then I will proceed to do a straight razor cut and keep up with it every day. This is probably what I should have done the first go around. But, lesson learned.
Now after I was done with the shaving, I took my razor for some further tests. It cuts arm hair like a hot knife through butter. 95 percent of all arm hair gets cut in one swipe, a second swipe for baby smooth.
However, I then tried the hanging hair test. It failed this in every way possible. I even pulled one of my very long leg hairs straight from my leg, (hair was still attached) and then touched the razor to the hair. No cut. I then let the razor rest on the hair. The hair did not cut. It actually supported the razor for a second or two until it would go off balance and I had to lift it off. Your opinions on that test result?
Prior to shaving, I stroped with my dovo russian leather strop.
10x passes on the linen
10x passes on the leather.
I am guessing this was not adequate, as most of the stuff I am reading is reccomending 30-50 passes on the leather. But should the razor be able to perform better on the hht unstroped? I emphasize again, the hair supports the razors weight with the razor edge touching the hair.
I had this razor sharpened by lynn, it is a new TI sheffield steel model, and this was the first shave. I only hope I did not ruin the edge by trying to tame my 6 day growth. I was also very carefull to keep the spine of the razor flat on the strop, and proceeded very slowly. But I am new, so I cant say I didnt do something there.
So any input as to whether my problems are due to the razor, or my facial hair not being trimmed recently, or technique, or all of the above? Especially interested in why this brand new, professionally sharpened razor couldnt even make a dent in my upper lip hair. I hope I didnt screw my razor somehow. Hehe
Thanks Guys :shrug:
Congratulations On Your First Step!
Two things come to my mind:
1. Improper Beard Preparation. Try leaving the hot towel in place for about 3 minutes and giving your whiskers a little lather between each treatment. One 1 minute towelling would have little effect.
2. Improper Stropping. Remember to be very gentle and go for 30 or 40 laps. Another case of too little here as well. That strop might be a bit 'new' and could improve slightly with a little time.
Don't sweat it though. It's a learning curve and you'll be surprised how quickly you progress with carefull action and focussed attention on the job at hand.
X
