Thread: First shave with straight

Just had my very first shave with a real straight. I turned out great and all the information here helped alot. I shaved everything except my chin area. I noticed I felt a little pulling at times, but I think it's probably more about me and my technique than anything. As the saying goes "it's a poor musician who blames his instrument". Thanks to Mcbladescar for the help and everyone who makes this site available and contributes. I would have lost a lot of blood lol.

Looks like you are off to a great start. Have fun and enjoy the shaves

Ahh yes, I remember my first straight razor shave...

Originally Posted by JosephHoffer

Just had my very first shave with a real straight. I turned out great and all the information here helped alot. I shaved everything except my chin area. I noticed I felt a little pulling at times, but I think it's probably more about me and my technique than anything. As the saying goes "it's a poor musician who blames his instrument". Thanks to Mcbladescar for the help and everyone who makes this site available and contributes. I would have lost a lot of blood lol.

Congrats on your first straight shave. Remember, more often you do it and the more attention you give your technique, the better your shaves are going to be. Happy shaving!

Congrats! Dont it feel good! HAPPY SHAVING!!!!

Just finished my second day of shaving with a straight. One little weeper and a cut on my lip (both came from attempting to use my left hand). Looking forward to getting better at this over time. Thx for all the help and advice here.

I've had my first one today. WTG pass on cheeks and neck went fairly smoothly and trouble free, except for one small nick (me not paying attention). The trouble came when I attempted at doing the chin and upper lip area. I felt pulling and tugging and was afraid that I was asking too much on the first time. Decided to call it the day and finish off with a Muhle R89. Tomorrow morning I will have my second shave. Looking forward to the first stropping session and then a calm, nice shave. I am certainly not contorting my face enough, certainly not stretching my skin, and my angles might be off. This obviously requires practice, and I'm hoping the stropping will make the blade feel a little better. As it was my first shave after getting the razor "shave ready", I did not strop it. It's a 5/8 Hart Steel. I can get a BBS shave from my DE very easily, but the one I got this morning, even though I had a partial SR shave and a finish with a DE, was absolutely exceptional. Nothing I've ever experienced before.

Congrats on your First shave. I hope to be doing my first straight razor shave soon.

Roger

I am certainly not a pro but I am going to sr shave for the 76th time today so I have learned a few things, thx to all of you on here and also a very good friend who has been sr shaving for a lot of years. The most important thing I have learned is how important the stropping is and secondly would be how to hone properly, third would be preparation. The shaving technique is important too but will come with time

OK...just a quick update for the group and the thread. I had my second one this morning. Yesterday I had to rush out and therefore opted for a DE shave. This morning I stropped the razor prior to showering. I did about 25 laps on the linen and 50 laps on the leather. Post shower I decided to be adventurous and use a Speick shaving soap stick. I believe this may have been a wrong decision as the Speick requires more water and found that it was drying out too quickly. My bad. Nonetheless, the WTG pass was definitely much easier than the first time, and had enough confidence to also do chin and upper lip. I managed to do a XTG pass as well and ATG pass on my neck. I did pick up irritation and another small collection of small nicks, but certainly less irritation that with my shavette. The razor felt easier to handle and while the learning curve is still steep, there is a remarkable difference between the first and second tries. I think I will continue down this route but really concentrate on the WTG pass and master that first. Stropping has made a difference. The razor felt better, even though it still feels a lot rougher than my DE...