Thread: Left Vs. Right

Hey everybody,
I'm a fairly new straight razor shaver. It's been going pretty well. I took a little time to adjust, but now I get the best shaves that I've ever gotten. I have rosacea, so everthing that I've tried in the past (and I've tried everything) has led to severe razor burn and inflamation. To my surprise, the straight razor has solved both of those problems, while giving a closer shave than all of the cartridge and electric razors that I have tried. The only problem that I am having is that the right side of my face always gets a closer shave than the left. I am right handed, and have been following the advice of shaving with both hands. I have tried to make sure that I shave the same way and hold the razor at the same angle with both hands, but it still doesn't come out perfectly even. Is this just something that will come with more practice, or does anybody have some advice? Thanks a lot!
-Dan

You can always go one-handed... I've done that since the very beginning. I'm learning to go 2-handed now, as a bit of a challenge.

It's not unusual for the beard to be different on the each side of your face. The right side of my chin and neck is much tougher than the left side, and grows at a slightly different angle, so I generally get a bit better shave on the left side than the right. This has improved with experience, but I still still notice it (but then I'm looking for it). Not sure anybody else notices this, though, at least the wife has never mentioned it.

update: this has been true for electric, cartridge, DE, and straights. I don't really worry about it.

Originally Posted by mparker762

It's not unusual for the beard to be different on the each side of your face. The right side of my chin and neck is much tougher than the left side, and grows at a slightly different angle, so I generally get a bit better shave on the left side than the right. This has improved with experience, but I still still notice it (but then I'm looking for it). Not sure anybody else notices this, though, at least the wife has never mentioned it.

update: this has been true for electric, cartridge, DE, and straights. I don't really worry about it.

Yep, me to. My left side seems to have slightly different growth direction than my right side. Surprisingly, it takes a while to actually figure that out. I'm getting constistently good shaves all over, now that I am very familiar with the direction of hair growth, so that I do multiple passes in the appropriate directions to get a close shave.

I could also be that you are more tactile with your dominant hand and get a better feel of the razors edge on the skin. If you didn't have this problem with your old razors then that rules out different hair growth.
At least you use both hands which is great and I'm sure with time it will get better.

Gary

It will probably get better with time, particularly as you are aware of it and your left hand comes on-line.

My hair also grows in slightly different directions from one side of my face to the next. A down stroke in one spot may be a with the grain pass on one side of my face and an across the grain pass on the opposing side. Although I have given up on being a two handed shaver myself due primarily to the fact that my sideburns are so thin and the learning curve just a little too steep for me to justify the effort, I do recommend you take the time to get better at it. I shaved two handed for several months before throwing in the towel and still think it would be a good idea if my whiskers were thicker and grew in heavier.

X

Wow, talk about bilateral symmetry. If your changing sides of the razor maybe the edge is better on one side as opposed to the other(just to throw a monkey wrench into the equation here).

I use both hands and I find both sides of my face are always the same in the end. Nice and smooth. I've been experimenting with my traditional japanese razor lately. Concave on one side and convex on the other. Its like learning to shave all over again.