Thread: First Straight Shave: Success!

Originally Posted by Catrentshaving

Welcome and congrats on your first shave! For me I strop before I get in the shower, soak my brush while in the shower, then lather and shave..but thats me You'll just need to figure out a system that works for you, there's really no stead fast way of doing it. Enjoy!

This is precisely how I do it and have since I first started wet shaving 3 years or so ago. IMHO, VDH Deluxe performs well over its price range and is a permanent member of my soap rotation. There are plenty of fancier, more expensive soaps out there but (again, IMHO) few that perform as consistently well as VDH Deluxe. Your lather will improve with time and practice so don't sweat that. VDH brushes are another underrated piece of shaving kit. They sometimes have quality issues or tend to shed but generally they too are a relable piece of affordable and locally available gear. I too reach for my VDH boar brush often, in fact it's probably the most used brush in my fleet. Glad to hear your first shave was a beauty! Welcome to the dark side!

Since you did so good out of the blocks, come on down to Cape and I'll teach you how to hone. You can also mess with a bunch of strops, AS and soaps........

Have fun,

Lynn

Originally Posted by con16721

Plus, it gives me a chance to tell my friends "I cut myself using a straight razor". There's just something about that. (In a non-arrogant way, of course)

Straight shavers are the only ones that are allowed to cut themselves. We can be proud of that cut. Just try saying, "I cut myself with my Mach 5000." Guys would come up with some great lies for that one. Not us. We can proudly tell the truth.

I usually soak the brush while in the shower. Then I lather (face lather) and rub it in, strop, lather again and shave. Today I tried using what was left in the brush to wash my face when I was done shaving. There was a thread I read about that the other day. I really liked it. I may add that to the routine. Of course, I am still only a few months into this and enjoy trying different things so this is all subject to change.

Originally Posted by Lynn

Since you did so good out of the blocks, come on down to Cape and I'll teach you how to hone. You can also mess with a bunch of strops, AS and soaps........

Have fun,

Lynn

That is what Id call an offer you can't refuse.

Yes indeed, I'm honored to have had that offer thrown my way! If I can grab a spare weekend sometime during baseball season, I'd love to see what it's all about. The college season is pretty demanding though, but if I'm in the area I'll definitely let you know.
Honestly the whole concept of honing terrifies me at this point. I'm sure I'll begin to dabble at some point and eventually learn how to be competent. Is it really as daunting as it seems?

I think the thing I love most about straight shaving is the fact that there is so much up for interpretation. While certain things are pretty concrete guidelines, there's so much room for flair and personal interpretation of techniques. I don't think many people realize how close a shave can be until they at least dabble in some different shaving creams and then possibly a straight. Now there's no going back though!

One more thought: Until I saw the wiki on how to build lather, I had no idea. I'm embarrassed to even put into writing what I thought building a lather was. The crazy thing is though, despite how far off I was, literally swirling the soap around in the dish and trying to work up a lather ON THE SOAP ITSELF, with only a tiny bit of water, I was still getting better shaves than the canned goo I was using before. Noticeably better. Just a fun thought. Don't laugh too hard at that one.

Also, thank you guys so much for all the advice and friendly demeanors. It really means a lot and needless to say I would be totally lost without it.

I've now shaved twice since I originally started this thread. On my second straight razor shave, I lost focus for a second, looked to my left, and just barely touched my face with the blade. I could hardly feel that I was cut, and the only reason I realized it was there is because my lady walked in and let out a huge gasp. It has since cleared up and didn't scar at all, but it sure let me know that I've got to pay attention 100% of the time while shaving with such a weapon!

Things definitely have improved from the first shave... but have also gotten a bit more complicated. I shaved part of my neck on the second shave, but then on the third I decided to be a bit more daring. I shaved my chin without a hitch, but then my neck presented some problems. Just below my jawline, especially on my offhand side, I have a really hard time getting a good angle on my shave. It's part fear, part confusion.

Is this one aspect of shaving that just comes with some practice? Is there a certain angle or grip that makes this area more easy to access? Any tips would be appreciated!

Welcome and congrats! Here is my routine.

soak brush and shave towel in hot water.
Jump in shower, apply pre shave cream.
Out of shower.
Rub palm of hand on strop for 50 laps (thanks Lynn)
Strop, 30 on felt, 50 on leather
Apply hot towel, dunk and apply 2 more times
Lather up and shave.
When done shaving strop 40 laps on leather
Feel the burn.

Have fun.

Looks like you're off to a great start! You will get far fewer (if any) weeper cuts than with DE's etc. You applied the correct pressure(none) with the blade.As for when to lather or strop, It's up to you but if you lather up before stropping, the lather has time to work on the beard.
Oh and welcome to the great world of real shaves!

Originally Posted by con16721

Just below my jawline, especially on my offhand side, I have a really hard time getting a good angle on my shave. It's part fear, part confusion.

First off, congrats on the improvement. I too cut myself more on the second shave. Lack of focus was the culprit for me too.

My jawline is troublesome for me as well. It did get better as I learned more and more about angle and pressure, but it's still an issue today. One thing that helped me was learning to strethch the skin at the jaw line either up above the bone, or down below it. This made it so that the skin I was shaving was never actually on the bone and seemed to help a lot.

Unlike a lot of hobbies, you can only practice this one once a day when you are learning and that means the learning curve is long and low. But you can practice stretching and "shaving" with your finger. Of course, your finger will move in ways that a blade cannot, but you will learn a lot about the growth pattern of your whisker and how to stretch so that you can work in the right direction. You will probably have to learn a different shaving "pattern" than you have used with a cartridge or even DE razor.

Good luck!

--David

Originally Posted by raneyday

...Unlike a lot of hobbies, you can only practice this one once a day when you are learning and that means the learning curve is long and low....
--David

I have used a cheap razor, dulled the edge and shaved several times a day to get the angle, feel of the razor in my hand, try out techniques and simply experiment, without worry of getting razor burn or nicks. One thing about this practice shaving was it led me to really find out the lay of the whiskers on my face. As an example, under my chin near my ears the whiskers point up, so I needed to do a stroke upward there as the first stroke, as opposed to going down. Along my chin the lay is toward my ears and my chin is simply straight out. Each person is a little different, of course.

The practice razor gave me more confidence and in my last 3 shaves I have not nicked myself nor gotten razor burn AND this Tues night it was with a mighty peculiar razor that I honed from compete dull (won't cut your hand, ever) to sharp enough to shave with. I really enjoyed the "practice" razor. And, I have heard from others that knew barber schools that taught the students with dulled down razors to get the technique down. All I can say, is for me, it worked!