On the benefits of a square edge / spike - from a newbie

[backsideslappy]

I'm not sure if, at a whole 2 posts, I've sufficiently graduated from the "beginners" forum to be posting here yet so I'll take any "this has been covered n00b" rebukes right on the chin.

Monday this week I received my first straight razor from a ShaveSmith - a T. Noonan Bros & Co full hollow 5/8 spike shipped "shave ready" pictured below (photo credit to ShaveSmith)



I was warned about the spike prior to my purchase, but as my primary purpose for buying into a straight after using a DE was because I keep a short beard / corporate stubble I wanted something to keep clean lines and curves under the jaw and above the cheeks, and I had heard good things about square points for detail work.

3 shaves in and I'm absolutely hooked. There is no chance in hell I would have been able to get the precision out of a DE, much less a cartridge, that this thing is providing. Individual outlying hairs under the nose but not quite part of the moustache - gone. Neck / jawline is no longer an unbalanced curve but a neat elipsis. Sideburn to cheek curves are going great, and I think the electric beard trimmer might get more of a rest than it's used to as well, given the ability to just pop any rogue fast-growing hairs off at the level of the stubble or beard.

I took a picture the morning after my first shave just for an idea of the shape I'm going for. It's looking much less scrappy now that I've got some of my angles a bit better sorted. I've found (interestingly) that any nicks I'm getting (which are minor and few in number thank goodness) seem to be in places I had no issues with using a DE, and those parts I did sometimes find blood with a DE are now the easier parts to shave with the straight (I have a few south-to-north spots and one east-west patch under the jawline which often gave me grief).



In short - very impressed with the blade, the point and will highly recommend to anybody I know looking for some precision around the edges of a maintained beard / stubble.

I am concerned of how much the hobby may cost though. If my relationship with fountain pens and guitars is anything to go by, this may be an expensive journey.