Thread: my first shave

ok just had my first straight shave I went for a dovo all stainless razor I got it from srd couldn't find one anywhere in England,only got a cheap brush and bowl so far but picked up taylor of old bond street shaving cream the sandalwood one which I can't fault.Right down to the shave then it took about 45 minutes and I only picked up one tiny nick on the chin as I swapped from right to left hand it was as I first brought the razor to my face it caught me out,i'll be ready for that next time I got some razor burn in a couple of places and could I get my hands placed properly to trim my left runway not a cat in hells chance trimmed my right one sweet as a nut but I swear I was gonna lose my left ear so I ended up tweaking it with my old gillete as for the rest I thought bugger it and did my whole face no major issues some adjustment needed but on the whole definitely a smoother finish I've got to pick some aftershave up though I used the alum block which works a treat but even after a good rinse you could fry eggs on my face,hot hot hot

Congratulations!

IMHO the cause of the burn is most likely to be caused by too much pressure, or the blade angle being too high. Some sort of aftershave lotion or balm is likely to help though, and it also takes a while for the skin to get used to the slight abrasion of a straight razor shave.

It gets better!

to be honest my blade angle was all over the place I got a good shave out of my razor but I have poor technique i'm afraid time and practice is what i'm looking at ta for the nudge in the right direction though I appreciate it.

Ha, sounds exactly like my first shave, but I had a couple more nicks. I'm still getting razor burn, just not as bad unless I'm using a razor that I honed and forget not to bear down. It'll get better I'm sure.

Just an update ,it's the next day my face has cooled down leaving a much fresher feeling to my face i'm extremely happy now still going to pick up some sort of aftershave and i'll save up for a half decent brush but it's definitely a better shave i'm looking forward to my next go got to sort out shaving near my left ear.

When I was learning how to shave with a Straight Razor my Grandfather taught me. He told me that when it came to the angle of the razor it depends on the person. A good rule of thumb to follow is to lay the razor flat against the face, then raise the spine so that the distance between your face and the spine is no less than half and no greater than the width of the spine on the razor. His father taught him this, and told him this will give the best shave because the edge of the razor is formed based on the width of the spine and the distance between the spine and edge. I am not sure if this is actually correct, but once I learned these angles I have had very little issue with razor burn.

Hi Lee, I'm a newbie too, but I found applying shaving oil before lathering really helped. If you have a Home Bargains near you, I had some Somerset's Tough Beard shaving oil for 99p from my local, it seems to work very well. Failing that, you can get it on-line for about £4. Tesco's also do King of Shaves shaving oil for £2.99.

Right it's my second shave I had a day of for my nick to heal so I was good to go I took onboard all your good advice (much appreciated) the shave oil helps and I was careful this time about my blade angle so the shave went a lot better I had full shave though today WTG,ATG,XTG it was sweet as a nut really,it was my first time stropping I only picked up a 2" strop because i'm going to hone my own razors I didn't seem to have any problems with it but ignorance is bliss I could be dropping clangers left right and center but I have watched the video's on you tube and I've read just about every post on this forum so in for a penny.i still feel the razor could be sharper but as I've read plenty of times that only means i'm making mistakes and have a way to go and I know i'm not getting lathering up right yet my lather has gone half way through my shave so I just do the obvious and run the brush around again I am happy with the shave though and the alum block is amazing at it's job

First shaves are lousy. If you stick with it, as you have so far, you'll be surprised how much progress you make, how much more quickly your shaves are completed, and how much better the results will be. It does take time.

hi peeps everythings going well i'm settling in nicely and enjoying the learning curve i'm starting to look towards the future though and i'm considering getting a cheap ebay special to practice honing on i'd hate spend on a permanent second razor to practice on am I heading down the wrong track I've got to say this is not for shaving with on a regular basis it's purely get some time on a stone under my belt and probably some test strokes on my face I will be treating myself to a good razor as my permanent second in a few months time