Thread: The long road: My personal journey to shaving success

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

What frustrated me and at the same time kept me going was the guys who would buy my newbie razors and then post the next day about how they got the best, most BBS shave ever with no nicks and no razor burn.

Josh

People aren't always totally forthcoming and truthful about such things --- I might not have mentioned it but I did have a definite break-in period of about 2 weeks -- pretty bad razor burn but I guess some people do have a better start out of the gates .

Justin

"I still couldn't get the razor to cut through my chin hair without skipping and stuttering."


This is were I'm having trouble, although its early days yet and I think its just bad technique. I can single pass my cheek and its BBS, other areas vary from shave to shave which points to practice but under my chin the razor just struggles to cut the hair skips and digs in ouch . I'm sure I'll get the hang of it, but would be grateful of any tips on shaving this area.
when you tried the feather on the chin did your problems go away or was there still a technique issue?
Would you recommend the feather for learning?

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

People aren't always totally forecoming and truthfull about such things --- I might not have mentioned it but I did have a definite break-in period of about 2 weeks -- pretty bad razor burn but I quess some people do have a better start out of the gates .

Justin

I think there's also the "new toy" elation as well as the additional care, prep, time, care, shaving just easy areas, etc. that may go into it for some people.

I know my first shave wasn't BBS but was a very nice shave. It was also only cheeks and took about 45 minutes and I already had my prep pretty much down from using the DE for quite a while before that. If I still took that long on just my cheeks I'd never make it out of the bathroom.

Ant

Hats off to Josh for sticking to it, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't in his shoes.

I was lucky, my first straight razor shave was incredible - the best shave of my life including some pretty great DE shaves. Unfortunately I dulled the razor, and my norton wasn't flat, so I struggled along for awhile (including a diversion to the Feather AC) before getting things back on track. But it was many months before I had another shave as good as that first one, and another month or so after that before I could do it on demand. But all those months of fighting the hone, at least I knew that the shaves I wanted were achievable.

I'm not sure I'd recommend the Feather AC to beginners. I was already very comfortable with handling a straight razor when I first tried the Feather. I actually found it easier to use, because it cut rather than skipping. I was also terrified by its reputation for being ninja-sharp, so I used the lightest pressure possible--actually holding it off my face. That turned out to be exactly what I needed.

I would recommend it to guys who try a regular straight for a couple of months and are still struggling.

The Feather eliminates the variables of stropping and honing, and maybe also blade grind. So you can focus on technique and prep.

It seems like some guys knock the Feather as "cheating," but it may be a valuable learning tool for some of us.

The worst part for me is that for now I'm still dependent on disposable blades, although they last longer and are 1/6 of the price of a Mock 3 blade...

Josh

How many shaves do you get from a blade? I always suspected they would smooth out after a while, do they? I never used a blade more than about 3 times before I gave up.

For me, the blade seems to do well for about five or six shaves. Then it dulls enough that I start using more pressure, and things get ugly.

I've only gone to six shaves once, though, so this observation might change as I get more experience with the Feather. Previously I've only used a blade four or five times before changing it.

This seems to match up with what I've heard about Feather blades from the DE forums. They're wicked sharp, but they once they start to go, they go quickly. Woe to he who shaves with a Feather past its prime.

Josh