Thread: Four Shaves In, My Experiences So Far

I Just had my fourth straight razor shave so far and I figured I would let everyone know where I'm at so far, with my entire straight experience so far!

Shaves: The shaves are coming along, my first two shaves were only sideburns and some cheeks, my last two have included some of my neck. Slowly but surly they are progressing, as I figure out technique and what works. (BIG THANK YOU TO randydance062449 FOR HONING MY RAZOR AND LESSON, RECOMMEND ALL MN MEMBERS PM HIM!!)

Lather/Brush: The lather I'm making with Van Der Hagen is okay, but my technique needs help. I noticed when I try working the lather into my face from my bowl, I usually end up doing more harm then good. Almost like when I swirl it on its just wiping off my face more. When I try less water I get very little quantity of lather, and it takes forever to build. (I assume practice will cure this)

Razors/Restoration: I have two razors, the first is a Original Schulze, Solingen Weyer 5/8 which I bought from the classifieds (Thanks Stimpy52 terrific shaver and fast shipping!) The second is a Geneva Cutlery Co. I got at an antique shop which I decided to semi-restore and clean (pictures below)

Last but not least Thank you SRP community for all this help and knowledge, I can't say how much I appreciate it and look forward to shaving everyday! Special thanks to HNSB, randydance062449 , Utopian, nun2sharp
You guys are always very helpful to me and quickly reply with great kindness and patience.

BEFORE:

AFTER

It sounds like things are going great so far! Keep it up.
The lather will just take some experimenting to get it just right. Every time you shave you'll find that your lather is improving.

Really nice work on the restoration!

You are off to a great start. Keep up the effort and you will thank yourself!

It wasn't long ago that I was only four shaves in with Straight Shaving with a strong desire to ditch the Mach 3.

Pabster

Nice start and beautiful restoration.

You'll find that you take something away from each shave that you can learn from, even the cuts and nicks.

Welcome to the club. I too was hooked from the get go. I was struggling a bit with lather as well, but just kept working with loading the brush and water to try and hit the sweet spot. I seem to have a bit more success with face lathering, because my 19 year old son took my scuttle for his start into straights. That aside I have had 50 or so shaves and the last one was by far the best. Practice makes perfect.

I use that Van Der Hagen lather myself I get at Wal-Mart. Last night was a learning experience!! I thought I'd be smart and put my old antique crock mug, with the shaving cream/soap, in a pan of hot water and put it on the stove to "pre-warm" the cup. Well, the soap kind of melted and I tried using that and when I got it on my face and tried shaving, it loaded up and was like tallow!! I had to completely wash off my face and build a little bit of soap on my face and get a nice lather that way as I could not get soap in the cup to stir up into a lather anymore since is was in in a state of flux.. LOL I WON'T pre-heat my soap from now on. I had dropped some of that lather on my chest and later it was like washing of bits of candle wax!

Sounds like you're moving right along. As a rule of thumb for making lather, it should resemble a soft whipped cream before you begin brushing it on. If it will make small peaks in your bowl, then you're good to go

Originally Posted by ace

Nice start and beautiful restoration.

You'll find that you take something away from each shave that you can learn from, even the cuts and nicks.

Thank you! Yes progressively I'm finding this to be true with every whisker!

Originally Posted by chipvj

That aside I have had 50 or so shaves and the last one was by far the best. Practice makes perfect.

Thank you sir, time to get a new scuttle then for yourself?

Originally Posted by Gibbs

LOL I WON'T pre-heat my soap from now on. I had dropped some of that lather on my chest and later it was like washing of bits of candle wax!

This made me laugh Gibbs! I find if I put my mug in the bathroom sink, full of warm tap water, then close the drain and dump in hot water from the microwave on the outside of the mug this works really well while I shower and let my brush soak!

Originally Posted by LAsoxfan

Sounds like you're moving right along. As a rule of thumb for making lather, it should resemble a soft whipped cream before you begin brushing it on. If it will make small peaks in your bowl, then you're good to go

LAsoxfan thank you very much! I had my 5th shave today, and my lather was 100% better!! I found that using my newly acquired old spice mug worked much better than a rice bowl I had, I think because it is smaller and lather didn't get dispersed everywhere.

Congrats and welcome--sounds like you're doing great and your razor looks awesome!