gday from down under

Hi folks,

Have been seeing these razors around for a bit and wondered if I wouldn't feel a little more comfortable using one (sadly the only other razors in my house are plastic, disposable, and pink :(). Didn't have enough for an expensive straight razor as yet, so had a talk with the lady down at my local store who advised that it would be better to get one of the ones where you replace the blade with the half size safety razor types instead of a very cheap regular straight razor. Anyway, I have tried shaving a couple of times but persistance is difficult, I am finding I am not able to get anything close to a close shave but I am not sure why, I have gone with, against and repeatedly over areas and still can't get a close shave - and for some areas such as directly under my chin, no matter how long I soak (e.g. hot shower before, plus soaking time for the lather) it is very painful regardless of with or against the grain. I am not sure what I am doing wrong and have checked out about all of the youtube vids I could find (i will take a look at the ones from this site) but that is about it, probably a long introduction though!! :)

Cheers and happy to be here,

Kris:)

hi mate, welcome to the forum.

you have a shavette style razor which are a little bit different to a normal straight razor. i also started out with a shavette. to get the best results try to keep the razor almost flat with your face and only shave one section at a time. start with your cheeks and slowly work your way to shaving your whole face.hope this helped.

Bloody hell, this place is drowned in Aussies... :) She'll be right mate, practice practice practice, and a when you can afford it, a a cut-throat razor of the non-disposable blade type. You'll get there.


Mick

Welcome Kris!

You'll find a lot of useful stuff here - check out the Wiki if you haven't already.

...especially good to read the Beginner's Guide
You'll also find advice on buying your first razor and shaving gear.

Expensive razor?
They don't have to be expensive - if the shavette gets you more interested in straight razor shaving, have a look at the Classifieds - you'll find a range of razors, many affordably priced (even after postage... especially with the OZ dollar matching the USD).



Anyway, hope you enjoy the journey!

All the best,
Michael

ps Where are you from?

Hi. I had the same problem before i discovered how important is shaving across the grain . Try to shave : with the grain , across the grain ( in both directions if you like) and then against the grain. It helps me a lot and my shaving is very comfortable now. Hope this help.
Thanks.

Yer right Mick, bloody Aussies everywhere :p
Belated welcome to SRP Kris. Try lower angles, almost flat as has been said above.
You are maybe scraping the razor over your face rather than hitting the stubble dead on.

Hey,

Thanks for the replies, and to answer your question I am from Sydney but now living in Brisbane working as an IT Consultant/Web Developer, however I may return to Sydney in the next 5 years :).

So far since I started shaving with the shavette I have shaved 3 times. The first time was pretty nasty, I shaved but irritated my face quite badly. On the second shave, I spent a few hours watching/reading as much material as I could on technique, and then also read a post suggesting to just shave my cheeks with the shavette while I am learning, and to use my regular plastic thing on the neck if I was unsure, so I did that and managed the cheeks etc well enough with the straight - a whole lot better than the first time. On the third shave I managed to do my whole face cleanly with the only part that troubled me being going against the grain directly under my chin (for me this is a very tough area in terms of a gritty feeling). So I definetely feel like there has been a lot of improvement and I am enjoying it more and more. I also found (which I didn't think at first) that replacing the cheap blade from my shavette with a sharper one, actually made me cut myself LESS because I didn't need to apply pressure etc to get the job done.

Long post, i know, but there it is!

:)

Warm regards,
Kris

Congrats on the success & yes a sharp blade works best, however trying ATG this early is kinda like jumping in the deep end. Your choice of course. Take care :)

Welcome to SRP, Kris. Like you, I also started out with a shavette. I wanted to 'try out' str8 shaving without investing all the money for a strop and real str8 razor.

I used the shavette for about 2 months and then got a start up kit from SRD. I definitely think that using the shavette helped me with learning technique and when I finally got my real str8 I got better faster than I expected to.... still have a lot to learn, though. The two are similar, yet very different.

Stick with it and ask questions. Once you get the hang of it you will absolutely love it.

-amt

Quote:

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Originally Posted by amt

Welcome to SRP, Kris. Like you, I also started out with a shavette. I wanted to 'try out' str8 shaving without investing all the money for a strop and real str8 razor.

I used the shavette for about 2 months and then got a start up kit from SRD. I definitely think that using the shavette helped me with learning technique and when I finally got my real str8 I got better faster than I expected to.... still have a lot to learn, though. The two are similar, yet very different.

Stick with it and ask questions. Once you get the hang of it you will absolutely love it.

-amt

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If you could start all all over again what would you suggest as the way to go?