First shave done; want advice on how to proceed, please?

I completed my first sr shave. I used a parker shavette with a shark blade. Did a wtg, and an atg successfully. Most importantly there was not blood. But............. I think I may have been cheating on the angle as when I was completing I had that razor burn kind of feeling. It just didn't feel that sharp either. Finally, I must admit that it wasn't as close as my de shave so I wrapped things up with and another atg with a de. However, when I was doing the third pass the pull felt about right for a third pass. I guess I'm not sure just how to wrap up a shave with a straight. Finally, I am a one handed shaver, which creates no problem with a de but I got to say is a whole new kind of difficult with a straight.

Comments please!

And thanks for listening.

Shaving w/ a shavette, though similar to a straight, is still not quite the same thing. It's good for familiarizing yourself with the techniques necessary to successfully straight shave. If you're getting razor burn, then it's likely that you're going too heavy on the pressure. Razor burn is really a type of abraision, where you've removed too much skin.

As for one handed vs two handed shaving, you're correct in that you can go one handed w/ a DE, as the safety bar will do the stretching for you. With a SR, you MUST stretch the skin, or you will get cut, nor will you get much of a shave.

The holy trinity, if you will, for successful straight shaving is light pressure (almost none), proper angle (30 degreees for WTG, 15 for XTG, 5 for ATG), and stretching the skin. If you stick to those, you'll end up w/ a decent shave and minimize damage to yourself.

Make no mistake a Shavette is sharp, dead sharp. I'm not familiar with the blades you used but I doubt they were dull. Shavettes are known for being very unforgiving so as has been said the usual parameters are even more important when using one of those.

Definitely agree on the light pressure comment. I'm constantly tempted to press harder into my skin with my razor, and every time I feel the results later in skin irritation. Last time I decided to see just how light was too light to get anything done and was very surprised to how far I had to go on that.
And yes, stretching is necessary. I can fake it in my cheeks, stretching the skin without using a hand, but everywhere else it must be done.

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Originally Posted by Zith

Definitely agree on the light pressure comment. I'm constantly tempted to press harder into my skin with my razor, and every time I feel the results later in skin irritation. Last time I decided to see just how light was too light to get anything done and was very surprised to how far I had to go on that.
And yes, stretching is necessary. I can fake it in my cheeks, stretching the skin without using a hand, but everywhere else it must be done.

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Now that you have learned more about the shaving angle, have you considered taking shorter strokes? You can do light shorter strokes and even go over the same area a couple of times .Keeping a slight angle on the razor will also reduce pulling and keep your edges sharper longer too.
Also going ATG for a beginer and even for many people with average to sensitive skin is almost a sure way to irritate your skin. As your skills improve, and surely they will, good technique will give you a BBS with ease with XTG and maybe even WTG and your face will feel pampered and refreshed not irritated.

thanks for the advice it is appreciated. As far as the blade it is a shark, and after I finished the first thing I thought was I probably wouldn't use one for more than one shave with a de, so I am going to use a gillette split or a feather split the next time and see what happens.

As far as the angle I used, yes, I am afraid I over compensated on the angle to better try to control the blade, hence, the harder pull (maybe).

However, to avoid a bloodletting I am going to suffer the burn as I progressively reduce the angle over time. Also there is the challenge of two handed shaving which I don't do now.

Now here is the kicker, I am going to be receiving a shave ready user from whipped dog. As I understand it a regular straight and a shavette are again two different things.

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Originally Posted by jebib3

Now here is the kicker, I am going to be receiving a shave ready user from whipped dog. As I understand it a regular straight and a shavette are again two different things.

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They are. Wait until you receive your "regular" straight and compare the results. I'd be interested to hear you thoughts on how they compare.

Please note that many guys who start out with shavettes often complain that their real straights aren't very sharp by comparison. This seems to be a normal reaction, however it is entirely a matter of technique. If it doesn't turn out how you imagined, stick with it. Give it a few shaves and then post your results.

Wait so shavettes and other feather razors are sharper than it's possible to get a straight to be? if you can do well with a shavette does that mean your all set for a straight? also does it mean it's more difficult and not as close with a straight?

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Originally Posted by tekbow

Wait so shavettes and other feather razors are sharper than it's possible to get a straight to be? if you can do well with a shavette does that mean your all set for a straight? also does it mean it's more difficult and not as close with a straight?

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1. Yes, maybe slightly
2. Yes
3. Yes, No

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Originally Posted by ace

1. Yes, maybe slightly
2. Yes
3. Yes, No

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Cool, cheers