Looking back

So i just came across some stuff in a dresser that we are cleaning and moving to the basement.. My wife asked me about this small black folder and if i wanted it.. I started looking and it was a 2016 dated journal/appointment log.. What i was using it for was to keep track of my shaving in the beginning... Around September of 2016 i took the training wheels off and it says on the 24th " If i am ever going to be able to use a SR i cant keep doing the easy parts of my face and finish with a DE.. No more crutch".. Apparently that was the day i went with, Shit or get off the pot!.. So paging through some more of the log most of them are good days, bad days, cuts, nicks, etc.. But on Oct 3rd i see that i put a post in that says... " Im not sure if i would ever admit this to anyone but i just finished my 1st 3 pass, full face, with no more than 1 small nick in under 2hrs"... Ha!! :) I kind of remember that day but what i remember most about those beginner shaves was my wife coming to my bathroom and saying.. "Are you still shaving?!!" Just thought it was funny to find this.. Anyone else take this long to get through your 1st shaves in the beginning?.... Thanks, Scott

I jumped in head first, at the age of 17, full face shave.

Face was red as a baboons butt, and I was shaking like a dog crapping glass. I learned not to turn my head while the blade was on my face, too. :rofl2:

SR shaving is certainly not hard per se... But anyone who has taken the journey to get to a point where this is your way of shaving has my admiration for sure.. It takes perserverance, dedication and a willingness to not fail... To me it shows a lot of a persons character.. Just my thought and i am glad i kept at it.. Not want to go back to cartridges and canned goop!!

I do remember my first SR shave because my heart was beating so hard. Its a blur after that :)

I was shaking like a shiting dog and my heart was in my mouth. Did a full face shave, bit red but never looked back.

Winter of 64-65. My girlfriend gave me her father's straight razor for Christmas.

First shave, I moved the blade West, when I shudda gone South.

It left a scar.

Can't hardly see it anymore...too many wrinkles.

About 50 years ago I picked up a no-name Sheffield 6/8 hollow ground from a flea market in London. That was the extent of my shaving equipment. I tried shaving using bar soap and the razor. It did nothing. In fact I was lucky it was so dull I couldn’t cut myself if I had tried. It went in a drawer for quite a while.

About 10 years later, I picked up a new Claus hollow ground with a perfect shave ready factory edge. That’s when I found out what a real SR shave could be. I acquired my father’s Japanese shell strop (found out later it likely came from Naomi San). I have no idea why he had that strop since I never saw a straight razor in the house. The edge on that razor lasted a long time just with regular stropping. I still had not tried to hone so the edge eventually needed refreshing and I put it in the drawer while I used a DE and (ugh) cartridge for quite a while.

Several years later, I ordered a TI le Dandy 6/8 from Classic Edge. It came with a really good edge that also lasted a long time. I purchased a balsa/felt paddle strop, some CrOx paste and a bridle bench strop and was off to the races with SR shaving.

I then added a coticule, a Norton 4/8 and started honing and spent a lot of time watching YouTube honing movies. My honing did not go well at first, but got better over time. I even got a shave ready edge on that old Sheffield that started me down this road so many years ago.

I have since added some finishing stones and about 25 more razors from eBay, antique stores and the wild and learned to repin de-rust and polish blades and replace damaged scales with bought new ones. Next up for me is making my own scales.

This hobby of ours doesn’t require a lot of space and really hasn’t been overly expensive. It takes only the time we choose to give it and provides a disproportionate amount of enjoyment and satisfaction.

Interesting stories all. I have always had a personal ethos of, if I'm afraid of something, I just do it-over time, that makes for less to fear. Hearing your stories, I suspect that many of you men are the same way. And yeah, it beats cartridges and goop (though I occasionally miss Edge gel in a can).

I started twice. The first tim in my teens, and it went well. Then came a few decades with a beard. Then the beard had to go. I needed to be clean shaven for work. I tried cartridges for a bit, but the rash and expense got to me. I ordered a straight and other supplies from classic edge. I do not remember there being any fear the first time around, however I was fairly nervous for my first few straight shaves as an adult. It passed fairly quickly, maybe after a week. I was very slow in the beginning too. I am certain it took me twenty minutes to strop my razor. These days I can strop and shave very quickly if I need to, but part of what I enjoy about my current shaving set up is the options, when I am at home it might take me twenty minutes to figure out what I am going to use. I like having options. I also like not having that crazy bleeding rash if I shave more than two times in a week, which is what happened before I picked up the straight.

My first try was a complete shave. Irritation and redness but I did it. I still get red spots high on my cheeks from time to time so I've gotten used to the idea that its just the way it is after this many years. Im sure my first half dozzen shaves were an hour. Now its about 20 minutes. I could go faster but i find 20 minutes to be a happy time for me so why rush it.

Coming up on four years next month, but after three years watching movies and reading books in the truck every night, I needed a hobby. I went to YouTube and searched hobbies. After all the cooking and gardening stuff up came this guy (Lynn Abrams) honing a straight razor. One video lead to another. Lynn lead to Glen, drmatt357 and geofatboy. I was hooked. I watched everything I could on honing and sr shaving for nearly a month before buying a thing. I want to know as much as I could to be sure I was buying quality stuff. This effort served me well - 42 razors, 13 stones, 5 strops, and over 20 brushes later.

My first shave on my own honed edge with a Norton 4/8 on a Gold Dollar left a gash on left side of my mouth that bled for a couple of hours. Undeterred, I carried on. More practice, more videos. I didn’t come to SRP till a couple of months after starting. Wasn’t on my radar.

After four years of practice, experience, continued learning, I am very satisfied with my progress.

As an OTR tanker driver I’m in the truck stops most nights, using their showers. I prep and strop in the truck before hitting the shower. Shower and shave used take a little over two hours - start to finish. Nowadays I’m down to about 90 minutes for both. I don’t worry about hurrying since it’s so relaxing and enjoyable; not to mention I spend the day on the edge (pun intended) between the lines at 65mph.

When I was still working, I was on the road 8-10 nights per month. Sometimes I drove, sometimes I would fly. Shaving was something I did to get ready to go meet customers. Generally, I took the easiest route and shaved with either a Norelco or a cartridge razor. My lather of choice was often whatever shampoo or conditioner the hotel offered. My shaves were neither close, nor comfortable. I hated shaving, but had to shave daily.

After I retired in late 2013. Sometime during the next two years, I began to transition to the use of DE razors. Then when my uncle died, I acquired two straight razors that I suspect might have belonged to his father. One was a Wostenholm pipe razor. The other was a Shumate. That started my adventure into straight razors.

I now have a collection of straight razors, DE razors, hones, strops, soaps, brushes, etc. I recently won a ATT SE1 single edge razor at the Maggard meet. It was my first SE razor since I used a Schick Type L injector back in the late 60s, early 70s. With a collection of good hardware and good software and with the techniques I have learned from this forum, I now get wonderfully close, irritation-free shaves and what was once a chore is now one of the more enjoyable events of my day. I do rotate between shaving with straight razors, DE razors and the newly acquired SE. Although I can get good shaves from either, I get the most enjoyable shaves when using a well honed, well stropped straight razor.

My first straight razor shave was with a kit I bought from a Fellow member on SRP back when it was only a yahoo group. It was a dovo 5/8 silverstahl with ebony handle and wide dovo strop.

It took me 45 minutes and the results were mediocre at best.

This was before YouTube so the learning curve was quite steep.

First shave took me an hour of nervousness and sweating. No nicks or cuts, but my arms and back were sore from being so rigid.

You too? I wasn't going to bring up the back and arm pains. Glad I'm not alone with that one.

I started right after I retired in Feb. 2013 and suddenly had plenty of time on my hands in the morning. My son had been urging me to try for quite some time.

After acquiring an acceptable razor, soap and strop and watching a ton of videos, I did my first shave. It was a complete three pass, WTG, XTG and ATG shave. No cuts, maybe a nick or two and a face that looked sunburned was the result. I remember watching Lynn's video where he kept saying to shave one cheek and stop. Ha!, not stubborn 'ol me.

Anyone that tells you that there knees weren't knocking and their hands weren't shaking the first time they put a straight razor to their face isn't quite normal. This was certainly the feeling that I had, but I remember that it passed rather quickly.

I haven't touched my face with anything other than a straight razor since then.

Pete <:-}

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Originally Posted by petercp4e

I started right after I retired in Feb. 2013 and suddenly had plenty of time on my hands in the morning. My son had been urging me to try for quite some time.

After acquiring an acceptable razor, soap and strop and watching a ton of videos, I did my first shave. It was a complete three pass, WTG, XTG and ATG shave. No cuts, maybe a nick or two and a face that looked sunburned was the result. I remember watching Lynn's video where he kept saying to shave one cheek and stop. Ha!, not stubborn 'ol me.

Anyone that tells you that there knees weren't knocking and their hands weren't shaking the first time they put a straight razor to their face isn't quite normal. This was certainly the feeling that I had, but I remember that it passed rather quickly.

I haven't touched my face with anything other than a straight razor since then.

Pete <:-}

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I don't think anything but a straight razor, would want to touch your face either, Pete. :roflmao

I don't understand the fear related to straights

Your are shaving with a sharp knife.

I didn't get nicks until I started to get to comfortable.

My first shaves were not very good and i didn't expect them to be.

Being worried creates more issues!:shrug:

If you don't trust yourself and your motor skills than maybe it is not for you.

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Originally Posted by outback

I don't think anything but a straight razor, would want to touch your face either, Pete. :roflmao

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You got that right Mike:tu

Pete <:-}

Good stuff fella's.. Enjoy reading others trials, tribulations and eventual succes.. @ criswilson10 & Jerry, almost forgot how bad my back , arms,shoulders and especially my neck hurt in the 1st months... Good times though :)
Scott

My first few shaves were rough to say the least. A few nicks but more irritation than anything else. I recall my first 3 pass shave requiring about 40 minutes. I was able to bring it under 30 minutes fairly quickly. I've only had one good scar that I can still see. That one came about a year into straight razor shaving. That one made me contemplate going back to DEs. I'm not a good looking guy to start with.