Thread: How long to master the straight?

One thing is for sure is that without the help and the vast information from members, old posts, videos, comments, and the willingness to help and solve a problem whatever it might be, there is no way that i would be where i am today. That said still a lot to learn and still enjoying every part of it.

Originally Posted by Mike12345

The best thing I did to help my shaving technique is to stop shaving on weekends only and to start shaving every day with a straight razor. You learn not only technique but razor care much more quickly.

1+++ I agree 100%. The only way to learn is to practice.

I quit cartridges cold turkey last December. First shave with a straight was really scary and awkward. By the 4th shave, I thought I had mastered it. Now I know I was not even close. After about three months of daily shaving with a straight, I thought I mastered it. Nope, because three months after that, I was getting the best shaves ever, and I thought I had it mastered. And all my razors were honed by me. Well, here I am a year later, with 8 razors, and my technique and resulting shaves are steps ahead of where they were 6 months ago, and on rushed mornings I can complete a shave in minutes, but I now know or believe I will contnue to get better as time goes, I have no doubt.

This line from a T.S. Eliot poem comes to mind. Just when you think you have it mastered,

"In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions, which a minute will reverse."

For me the goal is to learn a little each day and each shave. It's an adventure and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. It has been written that to master any activity requires 10,000 repetitions. That would be 30 years of a daily straight shave. At 65, I won't live that long but I'll still enjoy the heck out of each one.

Took me about a year to feel comfortable and to get a shave I felt really great. I wanted to use the straight in my daily life, and I'm doing so, very rarely use the DE. I can also hone enough for my needs, which is what I was looking for, a sense of self-sufficiency in this.

I have been SR shaving for over a year and a half and I affirm this is a life long learning experience. It has been only recently that I found a niche in my shaving where I have seen some dramatic improvement in blade maintenance and shaving technique. Will I master it? Nope, but I'll keep learning more about it.

Originally Posted by dcaven

This is probably an unanswerable question but I am curious how long it took you to feel you had mastered straight razor shaving. I have been using a straight exclusively for seven months. I have definitely improved a great deal but still have a couple of problem areas that I can't seem to shave as close as I would like. Generally speaking, I feel I have crossed over to the other side and get good shaves. Just curious what other's experience has been.

when you do this, you are always learning.