First straight shave ever!

Hello everyone

Today I finnaly received my whipped dog straight razor
Attachment 202338
I received a nice J.R.Torrey.

With the razor I also got a few other items
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I have a few items from the art of shaving ... My brush and some pre and aftershave

So first I took a nice hot shower...sorry no pictures of that lol

The soap I am using is Bald Frog and I found that it makes a really nice lather though it take a little work to get it there lol
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I know that a lot of people suggest not shaving all of the face on your first go but once I started I just had to finish lol

I was not going for multiple passes on my first try and so I ended up with a good shave but not to smooth lol
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Only a few little blood spots and that's mainly on my neck in the same spots I hit if I shave with any razor so I thinkin did descent for a first try!

Now I Normally don't shave everyday but I am in the national guard and so occasionally I'll have to shave for weeks or longer at a time so I will continue to shave for about a week and see how it goes .

Congrats on your first shave. Read all you can here on the forum and in the library. Lots of extremely knowledgeable and helpful people here to help guide you into this great hobby.

In general I don't like rules. If your shave is going well, keep going, if its not stop and try and figure out why its going wrong, it can be that simple. Same thing with the right hand left hand thing. I use both hands but I didn't when I first started. It took me a good while to get my non dominant hand working well but I think its most important to get your angle and pressure worked out with the hand that suits you best. Once you get your shaving strokes down with your dominant hand try to mirror that with the other it just takes time and practice. You make your shaving pleasure your own don't feel you have to do any certain way. Light touch and proper angle is important. Whether you achieve this with right hand left hand or your feet is not. there is a ton of information on this forum on how to do things take what works for you and you will be happy. you dont have to fit into some one else idea of shaving.

Enjoy you new found pleasure.

Congrats! I just had my first straight shave two weeks ago. I also did my whole face the first time out. I think it's good to keep going as long as it's going well, and just put the razor down when it's not. This is an awesome and helpful place to be. Welcome and enjoy!

Welcome to real wet shaving and congats on the first success of many.
It only gets better and smoother with time and practice. Nice blades to start on as well.
Cheers.

Yah the shave went much better than I thought it would but when I started to shave the blade was comfortable in my hand for the most part the upper lip bit was really tricky lol but I think reading all that I have on here and watching a lot of the videos linked here has helped me a lot
I will definitely be around a lot more asking questions lol

Guidry:
Sound like you had a very good first experience, that's great , congrats!
Maybe start a shave journal so that we can see how you progress and help you along if you run into trouble.
Definitely ask questions and study the Wiki. tons of info there, we'll be glad to help.

FrankC

Congrats! Go slow and use BOTH hands. Learn your off hand now when you're still just learning. And go slow or you will learn humility with blood!

I actually found it easyer to use both hands from the start it was to weird with same hand

Well done! It looks like you had a great experience.

Congrats and welcome to an addiction that now has you drawn in! It gets better.....much better if you read and learn from those who have been doing this many years. You will more than likely get to a 3 pass shave (stroke down; stroke up; then ATG pass) which will hopefully give you a BBS.

Enjoy!

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Originally Posted by Guidry

Yah the shave went much better than I thought it would but when I started to shave the blade was comfortable in my hand for the most part the upper lip bit was really tricky lol but I think reading all that I have on here and watching a lot of the videos linked here has helped me a lot
I will definitely be around a lot more asking questions lol

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Use the "fools pass" to accomplish this. It works and will save you alot of blood letting!!!!

Just looked at the thread "fools pass" that sounds a little tricky lol sounds like a shave 4 or 5 thing to try

Congrats on the first shave!
Take your time and you'll figure out what will work best for you.
Everyone's face is different. Improvise on strokes and stretching techniques.
What works for others might not be the best for your face.
Slow and easy wins the race...... If something does not feel right .........STOP....back up and rethink it.....
Trust me on that one...... lol

I had to do the stop....wait how the....ooohhh so if I go like this....that was my entire shave lol

Nice job! I was not brave enough to try a complete shave for about a week, so well done! Just remember to pay attention while you are shaving and don't get too cocky about how good you are getting or you will pay.... I learned this the hard way:)
Have fun!

Well I finally cut myself good Attachment 203602

It will happen! That one is not the worst I have seen.

It has happened to everyone at one point or another. Do a "post mortem"...In other words, try to figure what went wrong so you can make the appropriate adjustments in future shaves. That particular spot has been the hardest for me even after 3 years of SR shaving, so don't feel bad.

Yah I still think I'm doing good that is the first cut I have had yet ..... Have not really had any small cuts yet ....so just have to not do that again XD

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Originally Posted by Guidry

Yah I still think I'm doing good that is the first cut I have had yet ..... Have not really had any small cuts yet ....so just have to not do that again XD

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I have seen folks post some real dooozies here in the past! Some make you think........quick get to the hospital before the blood loss makes you pass out! But in reality like anything...........a cut will happen. I equate it to motorcycle riding and newbies to riding and saying they are going to be careful to never drop their bike! I just laugh hysterically because you will eventually drop that bike!!!! Razors............eventually will take a slice from your face for sure. I think when you do it.........it makes you feel alive to a degree!

Yep, that's almost exactly how my chin looked 4 or 5 days into the straight razor experience. And there was a slice at the base of my nose that was even larger. :)

I think almost everybody has that happen a couple of times during the learning phase, and it's unfortunate that a few people end up getting scared off when it happens. But it's just part of the process, and it sort of really does make you feel alive ... and before long straight shaving will become second nature and pretty much cut-free.

One of the differences between straight-razor and safety-razor shaving is that while the straight razor cuts are bigger, overall there are a lot fewer of them ... you're not likely to get a dozen little nicks in a day like you could sometimes with a bad double-edge blade. It's a good trade-off, I think, and overall my straight-razor shaves are a lot more comfortable.

Be very point aware and NEVER make horizontal motions.
My worst cut to date was on an ATG pass under my bottom lip, I somehow caught my upper lip on the up stroke (ouch!!)
That was eight years ago, I usually only get an occasional weeper now so it does get much better

Nice cut, but not too bad:) just like razorthinnabove said, try to remember what you did to cause the cut to prevent a repeat!
Keep at it, it gets even easier!

This cut is taking forever to heal up enough for me to shave over it lol .... Is there any ways to make this happen a bit faster?

Neosporin is magic healing dust

Another option is a temporary goatee.

That is very true

alright well just had my first shave since I cut myself and it went pretty good.