First Impressions

[Sean64]

Four days into my first week shaving with a straight razor...
I have honestly never had this much fun cutting myself.
Nothing really bad, I've actually had worse with my old Mach3 years ago.
I have almost no issue with the right side of my face. I nicked my chin and upper lip a little when I first tried them, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.
My problem is with the left side of my face. If I use my right hand, it puts my arm right in the middle of my vision... so I can't see much. If I try my left hand, I have a difficult time getting the angle right (and not cutting flesh) and it's still not _easy_ to see what I'm doing.

Does anyone have any advice on shaving the left side of their face/neck?
Or any advice on how to practice my technique without offering blood sacrifice to the straight razor gods?

[hi_bud_gl]

Great news you have not had too much blood on your first shaves. The .easiest way i think will be train your left hand. i am right handed too . My problem was i was always cutting my right side and never left side. Later i find out i was very careful with left side and wasnt paying attention to right side. Try use left hand for left side and right hand for right and slowly you will get there.
In the other hand you can use your right hand and shave left face too.Just turn your face to right side and use heel of the blade close to your left ear hand move down middle speed not too fast or too slow. Remember please when you shave your wrist shouldn't move it should stable like a robot hand.including your finger's etc.
Think about how gillette 5 blade will cut your hair you grab handle and move straight down blades doesn't move right? they keep their angle always same .You need to achieve this.
hope this helps. gl and have a lot fun

[JimmyHAD]

Welcome to SRP Sean. I know that with 4 shaves in you may not want to start over but here is how SRP founder Lynn Abrams recommends beginning straight razor shaving. That article is from the SRP Wiki here which is filled with tutorials and videos to help us along the path. Besides that don't hesitate to ask questions as SRP members are always willing to share their experience.

I happen to be a right handed shaver and have yet to become an ambidextrous straight shaver but I have evolved a technique that works quite well for me. Part of shaving the left side of my face is probably by feel but I can see most of it. As you progress whether you use both hands alternately to shave either side of your face or just your dominant hand you'll gradually get a system going that works for you.

In a recent video posted a barber says,"Stretching is the key to successful straight razor shaving'. I have found that to be the real tip. As far as cuts and nicks, read my sig below and follow the advice and I think you'll have as much luck as I have had with it.

[Sean64]

Thanks Jimmy,
Actually, I've read your sig line and taken it to heart before I even started with the razor. The one day I had most of my nicks I realized that I was holding the razor too tight and relaxed a little.
Helped out a lot. I've read a good deal of the tutorials... maybe I need to go back and reread now that I have a little practical experience.

Thanks again for the advice.

[dannywonderful]

I learned to use both hands by holding the razor in my left hand while I was watching TV. I sometimes practiced making strokes with it in the air, or just turning it one way and then another till eventually it didn't feel so alien in my hand. After that I started using my left hand while shaving and being able to switch hands has really improved my shaving experience. I now get incredibly close shaves on both sides of my face and neck.

[JimmyHAD]

I learned to use both hands by holding the razor in my left hand while I was watching TV. I sometimes practiced making strokes with it in the air, or just turning it one way and then another till eventually it didn't feel so alien in my hand. After that I started using my left hand while shaving and being able to switch hands has really improved my shaving experience. I now get incredibly close shaves on both sides of my face and neck.

That is good advice. I think I may try that . So far I have tried shaving with the left a couple of times but found it so awkward that I just went back to what works. Practicing holding the razor might be just the ticket. Thanks.

[Oglethorpe]

I use both hands but sometimes I use a slightly different grip with my left hand (I'm right-handed).

So, allow me to try to explain this. Try to picture what I'm saying. With my right hand, if the stamped part of the shank is the front, I put my first two-three fingers on the top, my thumb on the bottom, and whatever fingers are left on the tail. Most pictures in the wiki show this formation.

However, due to the awkwardness of my left hand, when I move from my face to my neck, I let the grip shift (WTG pass) from top and bottom to front and back. This gives me more control over the blade since the part I'm gripping now (where the stamps are on the shank) is wider than the other part (where the jimps are).

Make sense?

YMMV, but when I do N-S passes on my neck with the left hand, this is SO much more comfortable.

Hope this helps,

G

[Lynn]

When using your left hand on the left side of the face, turn your head a little to the right and that will help open up your field of vision. The more you use the opposite hand, the easier it will become.

Lynn

[sebell]

I use the same grip all the time, in both hands, and
shave my face symmetrically. If you can manage to
learn this (I started this way from the beginning) I
think you'll be able to achieve a greater level of
consistency in angles and pressure.



- Scott

[fccexpert]

I too am a single hand shaver as I found I can get a perfectly good shave using only my right hand and thus, never saw the need to learn how to use both.

When doing the left side of my face, I keep my elbow low and use a back hand stroke. This pretty much keeps my arm out of my sight picture.