Is there a right and wrong way to hold the straight and skin stretching...

I've given myself about ten straight shaves now and I can tell you, there's no need to worry about the first few. It's after that when you "think" you are getting the hang of it that you will cut yourself.

I am wondering if there is a wrong way to hold the razor. Something tells me no, whatever works for you is fine but I was curious as to what you gents had to say on it. Below my sideburns I hold the razor like you would expect one to hold it: two fingers on the shank, one on the monkey tail, scales at a 90 degree angle from the blade. But on some of the harder to shave areas like the neck and goatee, I have found it easier to just hold the razor more like you would a toothbrush when you brush your front teeth with that up and down motion having the scales and blade at 180 degrees. Is this a bad technique for a newbie to get in the habit of?

And one more thing, how the heck are you supposed to stretch the skin where you have already shaved and it is really slippery? I can't get any kind of traction to stretch.

Plenty of wrong ways to hold a razor, most of them involve wrapping your hand around the blade in some shape or form. As for your slick grip, have you tried rubbing your fingers on an alum block just before you try and grip a suspected slick patch?


Mick

If it works for you do it. I myself, hold the razor all sorts of zany ways. Nothing wrong with that, just don't cut your self. As for traction, dry, and lather free finger tips work just fine for me.

The standard manuals show the correct way to hold a razor. These methods in general give the best grip for control during the various strokes. They were devised by shave professionals a long time ago. I think everyone should try them first. Having said that, in the end you use the method that works best for you.

If your method leads to bad shaves, cuts, razor slipping and other bad things you know it ain't a good one.

Yes, there are professionally recommended grips, but in the end you should do whatever is comfortable. There are sections of my face where I hold my razor with the scales parallel to the blade like a Japanese razor; it works fine for me but I don't recall seeing that in an old barber's manual...

As for skin stretching, I've never really had a problem as I stretch in areas not covered in shaving cream. But many members report good results by rubbing their fingers on an alum block before stretching.

To add on to what everyone else has said, we have an article in our library with pictures of several common grips:
Different ways to hold a straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

My grip is similar to #3 in that article.