Thread: First full shave with a straight

I've been wet shaving for a while but have only done two shaves previously with a straight (a professionally honed Dovo) - mainly the flat part of my cheeks. Today I thought I'd go a bit further. On the negative side, I started off using a cheap razor I've been teaching myself to hone on (I'll post details in the honing forum) but quickly realized it wasn't up to "scratch" so I switched to the Dovo. I did my cheeks then thought I'd move on to the flat part of my neck WTG. Went really well so I decided to press my luck and go for a full WTG pass. Finished with no cuts or burns but the overall result wasn't all that great.

Did a second pass ATG. On this one I "chickened out" on my trouble areas (chin and adams apple) and just re-did those spots WTG. Result after second pass was better but a few areas still needed some work.

Did a third pass XTG on my cheeks and neck. Worked a bit more on my chin and overdid it. I realize after the fact that I was taking little short strokes and have some razor burn there as well as a nick. The nick was kind of funny. In the fraction of a second before I did it I thought "I don't have the blade at the right angle" but had started the stroke and the result was exactly what you'd expect: a small nick. Barely even bled and a little post-shave after shave put it right.

Overall, I'm happy with the result. Not the best shave I've ever had but I made it through relatively unscathed and the shave is certainly acceptable.

A few lessons learned though:

• The lather on the area I shave last (my chin) was pretty dry by the time I got to it. I should have re-lathered but didn't. I think that accounts for a lot of the razor burn.
• Since I was going to try the razor I honed I stropped it 40 laps on linen and 40 on leather before I shaved. When I realized it wasn't going to work I switched to my Dovo cold with no pre-shave strop. I think it would have shaved even better had I stropped beforehand.
• Need to work on my practice honing razor more.

Overall, a positive experience and encouraging for future shaves.

I'm also a noob but learning it takes time to get it down pat, but taking great pleasure in learning, on my face i usually do with the grain, xtg and my neck wtg and atg. Seems to be working out .. Good luck ur aheaed of me I haven't even tried to hone yet.. But I just acquired a large lot of razors guess I will be honing those...

Why not give consideration to shaving your chin first. Then the lather will be quit moist. I don't think there are any rules about where to start or it what sequence one shaves one's face.

Originally Posted by LeBois

Why not give consideration to shaving your chin first. Then the lather will be quit moist. I don't think there are any rules about where to start or it what sequence one shaves one's face.

I follow the general rule of starting on the areas where my beard is thinnest/least coarse and moving progressively to the area that's thickest/most coarse. The logic behind this is that the lather stays on your face longer and the coarse areas are therefore softer by the time you get to them. For me, the thickest/most coarse area is my chin so I've always done that last.

I don't know that there are any hard and fast rules but this one has always worked for me since I started wet shaving.

Awesome, it really only gets better. You also seem to be very cautious. I was, um, not so much. I got several bad cuts in the beginning which have healed up-luckily.

Not sure of your logic however. It would seem that by waiting the lather dries out which doesn't seem to be softening up the beard. I might suggest you spend a little more time lathering up the chin area. IMHO.

Originally Posted by LeBois

Not sure of your logic however. It would seem that by waiting the lather dries out which doesn't seem to be softening up the beard. I might suggest you spend a little more time lathering up the chin area. IMHO.

As I said in my OP, I should have relathered my chin but didn't. I recognize that was a mistake but do thank you for the suggestion. I do have this tendency of "needing" to finish once I start and I should have seen it was dry, stopped and re-lathered then resumed.

Originally Posted by Weaselsrippedmyflesh

As I said in my OP, I should have relathered my chin but didn't. I recognize that was a mistake but do thank you for the suggestion. I do have this tendency of "needing" to finish once I start and I should have seen it was dry, stopped and re-lathered then resumed.

I have recently found that the addition of a pre-shave ritual has significantly extended the amount of time my lather stays moist.

What I do is rub a small amount of shave cream into my beard , add some water, rub, add some water... At first it seems as it's working up a bit of lather but then absorbs and there's a bit of thin milky consistency left. Then I leave it on as I mix up the actual lather, which takes me a couple of minutes. Then I rinse my face and lather as normal.

I think this is somewhat like the barber routine of lathering, hot towel, cleaning and then lathering again. Aside from softening whiskers, the cream moisturizes the skin and so when I apply the actual lather my skin isn't pulling out as much moisture. I'm still kind of slow but with this method I am no longer ending with dry lather on my chin and moustache. I used to use plain water in a simlar fashion but it just didn't do the job as well.

Originally Posted by Nubo

I have recently found that the addition of a pre-shave ritual has significantly extended the amount of time my lather stays moist.

What I do is rub a small amount of shave cream into my beard , add some water, rub, add some water... At first it seems as it's working up a bit of lather but then absorbs and there's a bit of thin milky consistency left. Then I leave it on as I mix up the actual lather, which takes me a couple of minutes. Then I rinse my face and lather as normal.

I think this is somewhat like the barber routine of lathering, hot towel, cleaning and then lathering again. Aside from softening whiskers, the cream moisturizes the skin and so when I apply the actual lather my skin isn't pulling out as much moisture. I'm still kind of slow but with this method I am no longer ending with dry lather on my chin and moustache. I used to use plain water in a simlar fashion but it just didn't do the job as well.

Great suggestion, I'll try it!

What I did was after showering I mixed up my lather, wet my face and applied a layer of lather to my face. Then I went and stropped my razor (40x linen, 40x leather), went back and rinsed off the lather with hot water then re-lathered and started to shave. My system is similar to yours (I think) but not exactly the same so I'll try it your way and see if that's better.

I think part of the deal here is that, being new with a straight, I'm pretty darned slow so it takes a good long while to do my whole face and neck. I'm guessing the lather drying out will become less of an issue as I get more confident and shave faster but in the meantime I just need to make myself stop and re-lather if needed.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Another thing to add is glycerin to your mixture. It has really helped me.