Thread: How was you first shave with a straight?

Originally Posted by 10Pups

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

Muwhahahahaha, Lols

I looked like I lost the fight w/ Freddy Kruger.

My first shave with a straight was rough, one cut to the ear and not very smooth. One wtg pass on both cheeks and sideburns then finished with my EJ89. 4 weeks later and i can get very smooth on the easy bits but still learning the angles on chin, neck and upper lip. My first straight was a kropp 5/8.

Jim

There are a lot of posts here, and I didn't even attempt to read the majority of them, but....my experience?
My first shave was with my Father in Law's Boker, which I found all black with tarnish and had to clean up and put an edge on. The only stones I had were ones used to sharpen hunting knives, etc. Not meant for razor sharpening. But I chose an older stone that I had had for a long time, that I thought was the finest grit in my possession, and put an edge on the razor.
The edge was pretty decent for what I had to work with, and the shave went well, considering. I was going to just do my cheeks, but the sensation of holding that straight to my face was so incredible that I did not want to put it down, so I soldiered on, and shaved my whole face. Had a bit of tugging and skipping over the chin, but I managed to finish without any blood letting.
Was the shave close? Not really, but it was passable in public, and I was addicted. It took me a couple of months to get my angle down consistently, as well as learn that the razor wasn't properly sharp and to get that fixed, before I got consistently good shaves. I am 6 or 7 months in now, and getting good shaves. But I am still learning, and improving, with each shave.
When someone says they shaved with a straight for the first time and got BBS, or the "closest shave of their life", I admit to having a high degree of scepticism. But I don't have their face, and I was not standing in front of their mirror. As long as they keep shaving with that straight I'm good with it. I really wish that many more men would experience shaving with a straight. Putting aside for the moment the closeness of the shave, the straight is the most pleasant, smoothest and most comfortable shaving experience I have ever had. And even though it wasn't really a close shave, that first straight shave really was the best shave I had ever had before.

Your first Straight shave is like your first sexual encounter.

You are highly impressed with yourself. Want to brag about it, you feel it was the best thing ever.

In hind sight you realize that you were awkward, your Technique sucked, the results while enjoyable were far from perfect. And then finally you realize that only person who really truely cares about skill is you and maybe the other person touching you.

My first straight shave was the best of my life, simply because I didn't do it, a professional barber did! The first time I did it myself, I recall being so nervous that my hands were shaking. Like you're not supposed to, I shaved (more like scrapped) my whole face. It was not a great shave at all. About 10 shaves in, I could get a mediocre shave without blood loss. About every 10-15 shaves I would have a breakthrough in my technique. Anyone that claims the first time they shaved with a straight was their best shave, is definitely "padding their resume" !

In a very very brief story, my first shave with a str8 razor was: very very bad (to be polite). Now i can have a good ok shave, but far away to be perfect.

My very first shave was in 1985/86 i think and i don't remember how it was.