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boy how long does this take to master!!! i can scythe ok with my right hand but try to scythe with my left hand is a whole nother ball game,just another one of those learning curves i guess.this is the only way i can get a BBS on my neck and under the jaw but it does come with some risk factor, thank god for the alum block,burn baby burn!!
Yep - but it's worth persisting (assuming you haven't bled to death in the meantime...:tameshigiri:<- notice he's using his left hand!)
It's funny - some things I find better with my 'off' hand than my 'good' hand and vice versa. Seems to come down to practice and experimentation.
All the best,
Michael.
I dont know if it is the best practice but I find myself moving my face, instead of the razor in some of the harder places to achieve the proper schything motion. That way, I only have to move the razor in a straight direction, sometimes even just hold it still, and the skin movement creates the cutting stroke. I havent cut myself yet, but I do see how things could go wrong since it is hard to keep the skin stretched when your moving.
Yep! I am still trying to learn the technique of scything the right side of my neck toward the trachea, using my left hand, while holding skin tension from just below the right ear. It's tricky, but the only way I have found that I can get that side of my neck BBS all the way to the trachea.
People barely learning with right hand you are talking about non dominant hand . that must be fun. gl
I don't use my non-dominant hand, to me it is ackward and unnatural. Ackward and unnatural actions are asking for trouble.
I am a dominant hand shaver and it took me near two years to get comfortable with scything..... carefully.... or.... :tameshigiri::)
I'm not typical, but two handed shaving and scything with either hand came very naturally to me. I think within two or three shaves.
However, I still have to force myself to look at the end of the razor as I approach my face with my non-dominant hand. Especially with a spike point.:gaah:
Give it a few weeks, it'll come to you without a problem. Just make sure you're not applying pressure because you can really put a slice into yourself. I love this stroke, it's all I use now. Recently I found some professional barber videos that were saying the straight razor is designed to be used with this stroke and that's why using it with a more straight stroke without the scything doesn't work too well.
Hello, Nessmuck:
I am a two-handed shaver as well and use many scything moves comfortably with both hands. It's a matter of practice.
One thing that helps, especially with the non-dominant hand, is to keep the razor pressure feather light. Also, pay extra attention to the razor angle.
Practice. Practice. Practice. Then it will become natural. Use a dull butter knife to practice the scything motion with your non-dominant hand. You can do it. Stay with it.
Regards,
Obie
I sort of stumbled into scything. I was shaving with a swedish blade freshly honed by Max and as I started my second pass I asked myself, "how can this shave get ANY better?" Then I scythed. With both hands. It was a revelation!
I think the feedback I was getting from the XTG stubble and the blade taught me that moving it this way makes it easier to use less pressure, versus moving it that way creates more resistance. When you think of it that way it's easier to do. Scything is just the path of least resistance that farmers figured out long ago.
Mow those fields of stubble!!
Something about the term scything and trachea used in a straight razor forum just flat gives me the willies.
I throw like a girl with my left hand ergo do not trust myself with a blade and da trachea region. I do roll my wrist and get by pretty well using just mister righty.
There are no two of us whose beards grow the same way, so it is going to take many different individual techniques, to arrive at the desired result of a close smooth shave without irritation. Sometimes I wish my beard consisted of thin wispy hairs that are removed with one WTG pass, but unfortunately I am blessed with coarse wiry hairs that grow in all directions. It takes a combination of techniques to clear my daily growth, and every day is a learning experience, even after a few years with straights. For me, non dominant hand scything and judicious skin stretching is necessary to get BBS. I will say that I seldom nick myself anymore, and when I do it is extremely shallow. As for anatomical terms, I use those which are correct-saying that you use a "sickle stroke toward the windpipe" sounds just as ominous as scything toward the trachea! Wish I had a Dubl Duck Lifetime Grim Reaper to do it with:)