Thread: 33 years of safety razor experience out the window

Good morning gentlemen,

After going to the store and dropping $20 on some new safety blades which lasted about 3 good shaves each and I tolerate an additional 3 shaves of pulling the stubble out, I asked myself there has to be a better way to get a clean shave and hopefully a cheaper way to do this. I know one would think I'd have thought of this a bit earlier than 33 years but some of us are slow on the up take.

My father was a DE shaver but I knew my grandfather was a SR guy and for whatever the reason I thought I'd try the SR route. Now after pouring over the archives here and already having an affinity with sharp knives I had the strong urge to get a custom razor. I mean my face may not be handsome but it is after all my face.

What prevented me from doing so was the fact that there was so many variables in razors and I figured I'd have to try several before I really knew what my hand and face liked. I suspect that this is one of the reasons to develop RAD, but I'm sure I'll come up with much better justifications down the road to explain to the Mrs.

So I pick up a nice inexpensive Boker 5/8 hollow square here on the classifieds from Stimpy (thanks) which arrived yesterday afternoon. Given that it was only $30 heck if SR shaving didn't work out I have disposed of safety razors in less than a month that were "worth" that much. So there wasn't any financial loss here for me.

Fittingly but unplanned it turned out it was my father's birthday today so hopefully he was looking down on me and holding my arm steady enough to keep the sink from turning bright red. I had set my alarm clock 15 minutes earlier than normal to account for this task. I went through my first strop rather slow without nicking the leather. Good start.

Next I picked up my new Semogue 830 Boarhair brush (I haven't been convinced that badger hair is worth it yet) and worked up a lather with Trumpers sandalwood soap. Check.

Next I knew having used a safety razor for over 30 years my muscle memory was going to want to clean off the shaving cream on the blade under the tap water and I was going to surely ding the blade on the tap or the sink at least 5 times. So to avoid that I turned off the water and used a hand towel to wipe the blade clean after every few strokes. Check.

First few strokes no problem and I didn't nick my ear either. Heck this is going to be much easier than I thought, lets speed it up a bit and I welcomed my face to its first nick. Ok lets crawfish back on the previous statement and back it off on the speed a bit.

I wasn't really concerned about using a SR until after I had both cheeks finished. Now it was time for the throat ( I haven't shaved my mustache in over 25 years and it wasn't going to be now) and something in my mind just said this isn't a smart idea.

Ok life insurance is up to date and the wife knows where to get rest of the financial infor if something really bad happens right now. Just incase I'll open the bathroom door in hopes she'll hear my scream. Received one more nick this time on the neck but no big deal. What the heck was I concerned about?

Everything was done except the chin and the adams apple area. By this time I realized that the shaving cream had actually started to dry out. I was shocked it took me that long so I reapplied some cream to the chin and throat area. My chin has always been a trouble spot, it seems to grow heaviest there and the hair radiates out it seems in all directions. There is no going with the grain in this area, its across the grain regardless of which direction I chose. I found myself attempting to get a good angle both with my left and right hand holding the blade and I started to laugh because it reminded me of some sort of drunken Kabuki dance move around my face.

No nicks but it certainly felt like it was pulling regardless of the angle of the blade I used. I guess this will just take a lot of practice.

Ok cleanup and holy shit I'm 15 minutes late for work already. It took me 25 minutes from the time I strop the blade to clean up. Great.

All in all a good first SR shaving experience. My impression was the blade pulled a bit more than I expected, but I suspect that had to do more with the angle I used that the blade itself. I also had a tendency to use the outer portion of the blade since that is where the cream built up, rather than the whole blade.

I certainly was much more awake driving to work this morning I don't know if that was having to focus so much more on shaving or from being late.

Anyway, I look forward to learning from everyone else here and drawing from your experiences and hopefully I can relieve some of you guys razors you have collecting dust.

Regards,

Texas Stubble

Hello and welcome. Great introduction. Congratulations on the good start, you did much better that me the first time shaving with a Straight.

After a while you will get perfect shaves, I know you will because even I managed that Good luck!

Welcome to SRP. Great story of your first SR shave, I really enjoyed reading it. Glad to have you here.

Congrats on your first straight shave Tex! It just keeps getting better and better.

Welcome to the forum. Nice intro. You did better than most, and you seem to realize the problems, even the fact that it was the angle, and not the blade. Sounds like your off to a good start.

Rich

awesome post and thoroughly enjoyable to read. I wish my first experience was so successful!!! I haven't seen that much blood since Desert Storm!!!
Kudos and welcome. Looking forward to your future posts.

Welcome to SRP. I had to laugh when you talked about the lather drying out. When I first started by the time I got around from one side the lather was dry as a bone on the other. That went on for a week or more.

Picked up speed slowly but surely. BTW, I shaved my chin, mustache and problem neck areas with the DE for the first two or three weeks before I was finally able to complete my shaves with the straight.

If you used skin stretching techniques with the DE you'll have an easier time of transferring the skill to the straight. One way or the other you'll find ways of stretching that work for one area or another to better get those pesky whiskers.

After awhile you'll also find different strokes, directions of attack and blade angles to suit different areas. Once you get it you'll really find there is no better way to shave. Don't worry about RAD. Nobody ever died of it unless their wife put them out of their misery.

Welcome Texasstuble
While obviously not discouraging you to transition to Straights, you can get an entire cartorn (or 5) of DE blades for around $30 on ebay. I got 5 cartons of derby's for $30, and for me, that's a lifetime supply.

NEW Derby Extra Safety Double Edge Razor Blades 100 ct - eBay (item 250733317306 end time Jan-26-11 00:48:49 PST)

(just as an example)


Just as an alternative.

Mark

First off, congrats on your first straight shave!

Secondly, it sound like a very successful first straight shave at that! You are smart to use a towel instead of the faucet. I used to use the faucet with the attitude of, "I'll just be extra careful," but a few months in I got distracted and tapped the faucet. Thankfully it was on the spine, but I realized I would never be able to have perfect concentration every time, and if I continued to use the facuet I would eventually ding the edge. At that point I reached the level you are starting at, and used a towel.

It sounds like a very successful first shave though. You obviously have done some reading/research and I don't doubt the DE experience has helped. Don't fret about the time it takes. Just focus on technique for now, and you will find the time it takes to shave quickly deminishing. My first shaves took 45 minutes and numerous lathers. Now my standard daily shave takes less than 10 minutes no prob. You can either get up a little earlier, or (once you start getting those perfect shaves) even shave in the evening. I've found if I go for a 3 pass/BBS shave in the evening, I won't feel much stubble for around 36 hours.

Thank you all for your words of encouragement.