The school of straight razor. (class room diary)

every time I carry my razor and strop into the bathroom to shave.. class is now in session.

Each time I shave I make progress. A large amount of progress generally.

A class room diary.

My last shave 3 days ago, my hand became steadier and I am learning to manipulate angles better across my face. ATG still seems a little testing but WTG is cake.

Tonights shave, wow leaps and bounds. I decided to make 3 passes before attempting ATG or even skip ATG just to save my skin. After pass 3 I still had a lot of beard left as its pretty thick on my chin. Figure I will try a few ATG strokes and maybe call it lesson learned, after a couple ATG strokes things started going pretty good, shaved the whole face ATG learning what the best angles of attack are for my beard. There are still some tough spots under my jaw but progress is good.

I am definitely a newbie. what are my fellow newbies experiences..

I am finding learning can be fun :)

Dear diary...

Angles Angles Angles..

I am successful a straight razor shave that didn't feel as if it was done with sandpaper. Smoothest shave ever and more comfortable than a cartridge ATG!

Why was I so successful? Well I read about straight razor shaving and I keep reading everyone repeat about angles.. well let me say its all about the angle! Two unique angles. Angle of attack and Angle of entry. Angle of attack is the one most talk about which is the 30 degree angle off the face which makes a huge difference as you may thing well if you go with a steeper angle you wont cut a layer of skin off and it will still shave, but at a huge sacrifice of comfort, with a 30 degree angle off the face the razor just glides removing the stubble and not disturbing the skin. Amazing revelation.
The angle of entry is unique to each shavee as this is to deal with the angles your hair grows off your face. Going truly with the grain will reduce your beard significantly and it makes going ATG a lot easier on you as going across the grain doesn't work too well.

Ah what a nice shave.. One last note.. If you are taking you time like I am DO NOT let your lather get a little dry as it will make your razor drag painfully.

I just truly learned the angle thing today as well and got my best shave to date since starting with a straight edge (two weeks ago).

Regarding soap drying...I cover my entire face with lather just to help keep the moisture in but after I move from one area of the face to the other I re freshen the lather before shaving.

I use a bit of hair conditioner before even putting on the first of the lather to soften things even more. I use a paddle strop and I've learned to keep both my razor (s) and strop in my home office rather than the bathroom. It's drier and more convenient for me.

The most interesting aspect of this learning curve is getting better with the different ways of holding and moving with the razor depending on the direction and area of the face.

The one thing that has worked well from day one is using the brush/lather. I've had good thick (but moist) leather from the start.

I love the styptic pencil, Witch Hazel and cream balm that I use as aftershave.

My house (and therefore bathroom) is old and the medicine cabinet which is built-in was looking a bit rough inside. Since starting this shaving "hobby" I've redone the interior of the medicine cabinet with ivory spray enamel, Windex for the glass shelves and everything in there has been organized around shaving equipment/supplies. :)

I've also learning that honing (assuming non-damaged razors) is not hard at all.

Those are my two-week newbie observations. :)