Thread: Head shaving anyone??

Yes, that is the main point I think - practice. There is also, for most, a psychological barrier to overcome when they consider shaving their head with a straight due to the issues surrounding visibility, particularly at the back of the head.

From a straight razor point of view, shaving your head is in fact an easier proposition than shaving your face. The head is, generally, one gently curving surface with no sudden angle changes. In addition, the skin on the head is generally thin and taut and so requires less stretching than the face and that stretching can be achieved for some areas, especially around the neck, by simply moving your head. This makes it ideal for straights (or any other razor for that matter).

Of course there are areas to be careful around. For me, these are just common sense areas with common sense solutions:

(1) Ears. Be careful around the ears. If you pull the skin up toward the top of your head away from the ear with your other hand, you can get the blade as close as you need to the top of the ear attachment point without running the risk of nicking it. Behind the ear is somewhat trickier - I pull the ear forward with one hand and then carefully use the tip of the straight to get any hairs behind and toward the top of the ear. After that I get any remaining hair there with a vertical blade moving back and down.

(2) Neck. I am lucky I do not have skin rolls at the back of my neck, or if I do they are not pronounced. If you do, you must try to make the area as flat and taut as possible. Use your other hand to stretch, put your chin on your chest and move your head left and right, etc.

(3) Back of the head. You cannot see it in the mirror. I know this has worked for some people, but I would recommend against a second mirror unless you are really sure you know what you are looking at. It is better, IMO, to simply work on firstly overcoming the mental barrier (maybe by taking small steps until your confidence grows) and then the technical barrier. How you overcome your mental barriers is your own thing and I really don't have much in the way of generic advice for that. The technical barrier is easier: you must lock in the angle with your wrist initially while learning and trust that it will be OK down the back of the head. Once you get more time in the cockpit (as it were) you will find that you can feel the angle through the edge and you will make small adjustments without needing to see the blade.

Two other points: First, I've never noticed my blades dulling at a different rate between head and face shaves, but I may have finer hair than others. I certainly have less hair than others . Second, nicks bleed a lot on the head. Styptic or similar may be necessary to staunch the flow, but I suppose that is no different to the face.

It all takes time and practice, but I think it is well worth it if you are a head shaver.

James.

I don't shave my head all the time, but when I do, I use a HeadBlade setup. I also like to lather my head with Musgo Real using a good badger brush.
Good Luck and enjoy the process.

Ken

I just had my first straight razor headshave today. It went mostly well as I have practice with both DE and shavette type razors for my head. I didn't nick myself but did feel the alum in certain areas on my head.
One thing I really noticed (as mentioned on this thread earlier) was that the blade didn't seem to last as long as a DE blade or the shavette blade. I stropped the razor twice during the shave to keep it going. I have terribly coarse and thick hair, so I bet that contributed to it.

I think after a few more goes at it I will get more proficient and hopefully will only need to strop once after the first pass..

I would never have thought of shaving my head with a straight razor. But after seeing this YouTube today anything may be possible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCZLj...e_gdata_player