Greetings from London

I started using a straight razor - a new Thiers Issard 5/8" - a few months ago to shave only my neck on an occasional basis as I had an otherwise full beard. My wife finally persuaded me to lose the beard and I shaved it off on Boxing Day. Since then I have completed four full face shaves, two with my Thiers Issard and two with a Victorian/early 20th C English Sheffield-made razor, also 5/8", which probably belonged to my grandfather and which I recently cleaned and resharpened.

I like the idea of shaving with a cut-throat (as we like to call them over here) for a number of reasons and it undoubtedly gives a better shave. I am still very much finding my feet however and so far have cut myself on every shave. I have very coarse stubble, a large adam's apple, rather sunken cheeks and a grain which seems to go all over the place. I also need to wear glasses to shave and my only pair is varifocal so I can find it difficult to see what I am doing. My bathroom lighting is not great either.

I am determined to crack the technique however and will be seeking as much help as I can from all you good folks on this forum!

Nigel

Hello, Nigel. Welcome to SRP!

This is my current collection of razors:

Attachment 189708

The top one is a brand new Thiers Issard from the The Art of Shaving. The other three are old ones I inherited from my father. The large one with the bone handle is made by Hunter Brother of Sheffield. The blade was badly chipped but I have resharpened it to remove these blemishes. There was some rust but not too much. The blade could benefit from a full regrind as the honing area is increased as a result of my resharpening, but my workshop does not have a wheel of sufficiently large dimeter to do this.

It look pretty similar to the one discussed in this thread:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...eld-wedge.html

Nice collection Nige....And welcome to SRP!

Hi Nigel, nice collection. I feel your pain on glasses and bad lightening. Keep going, you quickly get to know your face. The more I shave the more I find vision is highly overrated! I probably shave more by feel than sight now.

Welcome to SRP and thats a really nice collection you got there! Congratz!

Hi Nigel & welcome to the place to be. You should find plenty of supporters here as I too need my glasses in order to get a good shave but without them I could do it but not as well. I love your collection you have..................very nice! Please ask & your questions will be answered by some very knowledgable members here. So glad to have you here.

Hey Nigel and welcome,

I'm from London too. Nice to see another London noob on here.

Welcome to SRP, looks like you are off to a good start with that nice collection of razors.

I was very dependent on the mirror when starting. After around 100 shaves you'll be able to rely more on your skill and less on your vision.