Thread: Shaving with your left (non dominant hand no lefties excluded)

Afternoon

I have this one spot on the left side that grows at a ridiculous angle. The blade acrobatics that I have been preforming to hit the spot is bordering on lunacy.

So I have begun attempting to shave with my left. No major slips yet. Yet. This is like relearning the whole skill.

Just wondering if anyone else has tried and been successful in this change after many years of single handed shaving.

Any tips?

Not many years but over a year. I shaved left and only left until it drove me crazy that the shave was missing two spots both on the neck. When I switched the very first touch was a cut high on the cheek. Since then I have been shaving fine with both hands. Blade angle was a bit strange in the mirror for a while too but yes you can make the change

Some searches will reveal previous threads that may help. Some are happy a clams going one-handed, but most seem to use the non-dominant hand a lot or a little.

Something that helped me: find some other odd jobs for the non-dominant hand, especially in the grooming routine. Brushing teeth, combing hair, lathering with the shave brush, whatever. Just to wake up those connections in the nervous system.

It's all a matter of facility whether you are right or left handed. A good exercise is write with your off hand. It helps to build control and fine motor ability.

I shave with both depending on what part of my face I'm shaving

The best advice I can give you is to go slow when you are learning to use your off hand. It is just like you are starting over new again.

Originally Posted by CyberShdw

Afternoon

I have this one spot on the left side that grows at a ridiculous angle. The blade acrobatics that I have been preforming to hit the spot is bordering on lunacy.

So I have begun attempting to shave with my left. No major slips yet. Yet. This is like relearning the whole skill.

Just wondering if anyone else has tried and been successful in this change after many years of single handed shaving.

Any tips?

When switching to from DE razors to straights, I started early-on shaving with my left and right hand, as the situation demands.

Found that the contortions required to shave only with my dominant hand gave me a sub-par shave and limited my field of view.

Once I alternated hands the shaves around the jaw-line on the left side of my face (right-handed, as you can tell) became so much better. As there is less precise control in the subordinate hand stretching is essential though.


"I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous." :-)



B.

I had done a lot of reading on SRP before attempting a straight shave, and one of the things I read strongly advised beginning learning to use the non-dominant hand right away, so that's what I did. I got used to it really quickly, and two weeks later it felt completely natural. Funny story: about 2 years after I switched to shaving with straights, I had to shave at the airport in Atlanta en route from NC to Texarkana, TX for a family wedding, and had to buy one of those little cheese-grater and canned shaving cream kits they sell at the airport, went into the men's room, lathered up--and had a hell of a time trying to remember how to shave with a twin-bladed razor, which is all I had ever used until I switched to straights. It felt completely foreign, and I hope to hell I never have to do it again!

In the long run (and in the short run, too), I think you'll be better off taking the plunge and learning to shave with your non-dominant hand.

Shaved for 40 years with DEs and then twinblade disposables using one hand. Still shave with a DE one handed. I found I could not do that with a straight and hold it comfortably so I took it slow and learned to use my non dominant hand where it was needed. Just took it slow and eventually it felt natural. Slow and easy does it.

Bob

This is actually similar to what i was about to look for, tonight was my first straight shave, and i was just coming to look for stuff about non dominant. I tryed moving to left hand to shave left side and it was just weird. Now here is the strange thing... i have a amazon razor that isnt really sharp or shave worthy, i had planned on using it to aid in learning strop strokes and stuff, i been sitting with it in my hand for about 40 minutes running it over my jogging bottoms and i decided to put it lefty and see if i could find a comfortable angle. Strangest thing is it felt fine shaving the left side of my face with my left hand as long as i couldnt see it, then i looked in the mirror and it was awkward again. I tryed a few times with and without the mirror (the mirror is about 3 meters away, so this has to be some subconscious thing) and i found every time it felt a lot more comfortable without.

I gotta add too, i also shave my head and today was my first straight razor head shave. I expected the back of my head to be a little troublesome but it was fine, also without a mirror..

it seems that if i can practice lefty without a mirror, i will get the muscle memory much faster than if i could see what i was doing.