Thread: First Straight Shave

If you pressed, then you made a mistake. You really should be fighting to keep pressure at a negative amount until the shave is done. Plus angle should be pretty low rather than high enough to scrape hair and your skin.

At least you have MadMen-ed yourself!

I think with my first shave last night I may have made the same mistakes with pressing a bit too hard and doing too many passes. Oh well, as with anything good, there is a learning curve!

Again agree with all that posted about to much pressure. The blade should glide and be smooth. How is your lather this can also make a big difference if it is to dry this will not help reduce the friction. You want a nice whip cream looking lather. I find if my lather is off my shave is not as good. Just another thing to look at.

the lather was nice and whipped up, really good, nice smooth even coverage, not runny, but i was finding that because it took me quite a while to do the shave, by the time i got to certain parts the lather was drying up and i had to remove and reapply. should I maybe try using a shaving cream until i get a bit more efficient?

Originally Posted by aeon

the lather was nice and whipped up, really good, nice smooth even coverage, not runny, but i was finding that because it took me quite a while to do the shave, by the time i got to certain parts the lather was drying up and i had to remove and reapply. should I maybe try using a shaving cream until i get a bit more efficient?

This is pretty normal when first starting out. You can try switching to a cream if you want, but it may not make a difference. I believe it's Glen (gssixgun) who usually recommends lathering your face in sections if you find your lather drying out too fast; I've never done it, but I can see the logic...

I like the idea of sections at first because you can take the face in smaler parts to begin with.

But then, by lathering the whole face, the part you don't get to yet is soaking in lather. Just don't let it dry all the way. The shaving brush is not that far away.

Originally Posted by jeffegg2

But then, by lathering the whole face, the part you don't get to yet is soaking in lather. Just don't let it dry all the way. The shaving brush is not that far away.

heh I agree but so far I can't really straight razor shave my entire face. So sections seem safer and more visible.

In Lynn's video he goes back and adds shaving cream. When I saw that I felt great you could shave a section and then shave a new section that included the old section. I know it's crazy but mentally I felt like I had to clean off the lather in a start to finish manner.

But you don't have to re-lather the entire face, only the part you have not shaved....

It is all just personal preference. No wrong way, just what you like.

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Originally Posted by Shoki

heh I agree but so far I can't really straight razor shave my entire face. So sections seem safer and more visible.

In Lynn's video he goes back and adds shaving cream. When I saw that I felt great you could shave a section and then shave a new section that included the old section. I know it's crazy but mentally I felt like I had to clean off the lather in a start to finish manner.

Originally Posted by aeon

I think with my first shave last night I may have made the same mistakes with pressing a bit too hard and doing too many passes. Oh well, as with anything good, there is a learning curve!

It may be that you are used to a closer shave after one pass. I remember someone saying on this forum that with mach blades there are three or four going over the skin. Also, I generally run over everything pretty quick with these blades, and realized that I do press down a bit, so that probably carried over to the straight. I'm giving it my second go this weekend and will try smoother, low pressure strokes.