Thread: At what point did your shaves improve?

Aftah 100 shaves you will notice a slight improvement......lol....then when you think you have this down....all of a sudden your bleeding and all that confidence goes down the drain....next shave your doubting your skill level,but you keep on shaving after eating some humble pie....and thats how we learn this very special craft..

I will have to fess up and say that my turning point was in 1997 when I first discovered the internet at age 52.

Prior to that I got basically acceptable shaves from my DD Special No 1 honed on a Carborundum 118S and a Three Line Swaty starting in 1968. When we fast forward to 1997, that was 29 years that I got basically acceptable shaves but nothing to get excited about. When I found the razor forums I was amazed at the hones available and the honing techniques that were presented. All the new info was great plus I took personal instruction through email from Sham Imanli and that was the true turning point for me. Several months of email instruction from Sham put me over the top and I am getting one pass shaves that amaze me everyday ever since.

It was a combination of the info put forth daily on this forum plus personal instruction from Sham, videos by Lynn, Glen, Bill Ellis and others that added up to me becoming fairly adept at putting a great edge on a razor. It all boils down to the fact that you can't do it by yourself. You need help along the way. There is no shortage of help on the forums so pay attention and full speed ahead.

I read here pretty early on 100 shaves as already mentioned, reckon that is about right. 2 years on getting consistent good shaves, but always room for improvement. Once you discover learning to strop is as important as learning to shave your results will improve IMHO.

Yep...you gotta put your time in...

Well if it gets better than this I can't wait

I started shaving with a straight in 2010 and it took me a lot longer than most, as evidenced by the posts I've read, to finally master the beast. I'd say I had my first shave up to standards in 6 months. In two years I feel I mastered it. In Year 3 I improved more and feel like I finally got it down cold. This year I nick myself less.

There was a lot of determination on my part to get this done because I just had a desire to shave this way and still think of today's shaving fare and the prices charged as fraudulent. My face really took a beating and it wasn't until I learned how to use a DE and straight that I experienced any comfort at all. Enjoying shaving was incomprehensible to me until I became a retro shaver.

Forever!


I messed around allot at first. When I swore I would only shave with my straight for a year no ifs, ands, or buts, things really turned around.

It tookme about 6 months to get consistent DFS, but a year for the "Wow, this is how it should be". It's putting your time on all the techniques, stropping, lathering, shaving.

Originally Posted by RollinCoal69

Well I am glad to see that my small victories have been about the same as others. I started late march this year. My first breakout was after taking time to get comfortable wtg xtg, I tried atg. Being able to make a full 3 pass shave an get a nice smooth shave was my major ah ha moment to this point. Narrowing my straights to the ones that work the best also has helped. I am finding I enjoy two of my straights out of 7 the most. An my shavette also.

I hear this. I'm about mid march to now as well. I jumped in both feet and started learning to shave hone and restore at the same time. As my honing improves my edges improve as my edges improve my shaves improve but as my edges are improving my shave my techniques is also improving. So for me between saving restoring and honing I have a straight in my hands almost 30 hours a week

Its amazing how my perspective on sharp and smooth ha changed in the last 3-4 months.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

After about 2 weeks for me. I never used anything but a straight from the plastic stuff. I remember sitting in my truck waiting for the signal to change and it dawned on me that my face actually felt great. No nicks , no cuts, no burn. Now I wasn't perfect but all the improvements after that first 2 1/2 pass shave were subtle and I still get them. Now, I shaved off an 8k the first year so although my honing skill improved there wasn't much difference in any leaps and bounds. Then when I moved on to finishers I could see how and why things I was trying before didn't work so well. And once again learned to do things a little different. There are so many variables that even if you change something like soap your going to learn something.

I have been the same way. I got the bug bad. I'm constantly tweaking my technique on my stones and on my face. Ditched the cartridge and have had no second thoughts.

my shaves took a while as I did it by the steps from the video, but the biggest change came when I stopped relying on my DE for the areas that were hard for me. a crutch so to speak that I went to immediately . after I just pushed through it and made myself take on the harder spots , everything came together. my DE still gets used when flying, but its rare and I now find I would rather shave with my SR, tc