33 years of safety razor experience out the window

[Texasstubble]

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