Thread: How was you first shave with a straight?

Originally Posted by lincoln65

This is the reason I like to shave with a straight razor. The tedious process is what I enjoy! Everything is done way to fast these days with usually crappy results. My shave is a chance to relax and collect my thoughts. Being aware and careful help sharpen your mind. Hate the way our society has become and my straight razor shave brings me to a time I never knew when slow was better.

I'm in total agreement. Traditional wet shaving... especially with a straight razor... is relaxing and satisfying, not a chore.

I think being stubborn, tenacious, confident, boyishly fanciful, etc. are what lead guys like me to try something that makes other men cringe or laugh at us. Most of us are hooked early by the sheer pleasure of the ritual even if it hurts like a bad sunburn or leaves cuts like a 14-year-old beginner. We are determined that we will achieve that bbs because we know it is possible,and we cannot imagine any reason why we should not be able to figure it out. So we set aside a perfectly good razor and begin to practice torture and mutilation on our face. Somehow we leave that den and face the world feeling as though we have conquered. Whether we actually got a good shave is not nearly as important as the new skill we just learned.
Afterward we face the world with a huge grin wrapped in irritated and/or nicked skin almost hoping someone will ask what happened to our face. And so, the first straight razor shave is the best shave ever.

My first shave with a straight was fine as I had been shaving with a shavette for neaarly a year prior, wasnt as close tho, however, my first shave with the shavette was colourful shall we say. It was bloody! bloody embarasing having to go into work the next day and explain to a team of guys what happened to my face, lols, but it quickly fell into place soon after. Even despite all the cuts, blood and moaning from the mrs's because of all her white towels getting stained red I did enjoy my first shave and got a small sense of achievement from the fact I had only butchered my face and had infact managed to not cut off my own head. That said on a serious note it was nowehere near the best shave of my life. While these guys have said its been the best shave etc etc I have to agree wih some of the other posters in saying that in ther excitement to actually have used a straight they maybe blowing their results slightly out of proportion but hey, shaving with straights is cool so who can blame them. lols.

Simply horrid, bad razor, didn't understand making lather, I had weepers, burn, all of it, it was just bad. I didn't do any research beforehand though, I tend to jump in feet first into the deep end.

My first attempt was limited to a couple of downward paths on my dominant side. Happy to say that I was very impressed with how smooth the result was. No weepers or rawness, yet. Added the neck area on the dominant side without much fuss. Don't know what to expect with the non-dominant side.

I'm coming from 15+ years of wet shaving with DEs. I know the importance of angle and light pressure, both of which seem to have even smaller margins of error when using a straight razor. Anyway, I'm happy and thankful.

Originally Posted by Bcunning

My first attempt was limited to a couple of downward paths on my dominant side. Happy to say that I was very impressed with how smooth the result was. No weepers or rawness, yet. Added the neck area on the dominant side without much fuss. Don't know what to expect with the non-dominant side.

I'm coming from 15+ years of wet shaving with DEs. I know the importance of angle and light pressure, both of which seem to have even smaller margins of error when using a straight razor. Anyway, I'm happy and thankful.

Nice job! It gets easier very quickly

A little scary but also kinda exciting. I did some down passes from the side burns and then finished with a DE.

That's were the journey starts...

I have several hobbies. Shaving with a SR is the most fascinating one I participate in. I learn something each and every day

Nicked a mole on my neck (quite hard to avoid moles on my face/neck - I have a few), but I managed a passable shave with no real discomfort.

I had a mole once, and a couple of skin tags, :<0) had.