Thread: My first straight razor...

So I just tried my hand at straight razor shaving and it went as I expected. I nicked my face, got razor burn, and didn't get a very close shave. Reading other posts on the forum, I know I'm not the only one going through this. I know I'm still getting use to the angle, holding the blade, and confidence when shaving. I would like to share my experience and see if any of you had any suggestions.

First off, I have an extremely thick beard that proves difficult for even my proglide on some days. I also have extremely sensitive skin on my neck. I picked up a Dovo from classicshaving.com and had it professionally honed. I use The Art of Shaving products - sandalwood pre-shave oil, soap, and after shave balm. I have a badger brush and scuttle for lather, and I have a roo strop from straight razor designs with cloth and leather. And of course, I have my trusty and now much used styptic pen. So here's how day 1 went:

I let my beard go for about 2 days. I started by stropping my razor, 15 times on the cloth side and 40 on the leather. Set it aside and jumped in the shower. I washed my face and even put some of my wife's conditioner on my beard for the remainder of the shower. When I got out I lathered my soap in a nice hot scuttle and set it aside. I put the pre-shave oil on with a hot towel over it for about 30 seconds to soften up my beard a little more. I added a little more water to my brush to hydrate the soap a little more and then lathered my face up. I let the lather sit for about a minute, lathered a little more and the started the shave.

Right of the bat, the razor pulled. I know this was from my inexperience. I'm pretty sure my angle wasn't right. I shaved my right cheek with my dominant hand. I was a little hesitant with the blade which resulted in a few nicks and one straight up cut. I know the beginner post suggested only doing side burns but I let the excitement get to me. I did my entire cheek, and then jumped to my left side with my left hand…. same results. I was actually a little more steady with my left than right which I wasn't expecting. It wasn't going as I had hoped but like I said, I had expected to suck my first time. So I finished up with my proglide and walked away with some cuts and razor burn.

I followed the same procedures for my second shave but my cheeks went a lot smoother. I was curious how the razor would perform on my neck and chin so I did a test spot on each. My neck was difficult, I was just scraping off lather. My chin is going to be my everest. The blade didn't even want to budge. This discouraged me a little but it's definitely not stopping me.

So far, I feel like I'm getting use to holding the razor in my dominant hand and the angle I have to use on my cheek. The rest is still shaky. I would really like to hear any suggestions or feedback. My main concern is that I have such a thick beard, I can't tell if the razor is tugging and pulling because of that, the razor isn't as sharp as it should be (had it professionally honed), or my angle is wrong.

Will repost after my next shave on Monday… Looking forward to it, the only place to go from the bottom is up!

When you got your razor already professionally honed I would think it would have been professionally stropped too. Did you happen to check to see if you needed to strop it? If not you added a variable in the first shave that could also explain why you had tugging, but being new to straight razors does complicate it. I would read some posts on stropping just to make sure you're making the razor more shave ready and not less. You could also try a steeper angle at first if 30 degrees isn't working for you try starting out at 15 or 20 and moving the angle out from there.

Yea I was wondering if I stropped it right so I tested the razor on my arm since the hair is thinner. Picked a spot, washed it, treated it like my face with the pre save oil and a little lather. I stropped it and it cut like a champ. Nice smooth strokes with no tugging. I played with angles too. I know my face is different but the main thing I learned is that the razor seemed sharp with no bite after I stropped. I did use 15 strokes on the linen but I bumped it to 50 on the leather.

Practice makes perfect, man. I don't think any of us got it right the first time. I did two weeks of research before my first time and still had it rough the first few shaves. But yes, you can only improve from here. Stick with it, and best of luck!

The angel will take a bit too perfect, Start with the blade nearly flat (a spine width or so out),
and slowly angle out until you get the easiest most comfortable movement.
Watch your pressure; you also did not mention stretching/ pulling the skin taut.
This is another big part for the comfort as well as closeness.
It sounds like you did OK, keep at it will come.

Welcome to SRP

I think from your description you need to work on three main areas.

First, things that contribute to razor glide; good lather, less pressure, and shaving angle. It is worth while to wast some soap by heavily loading soap onto the brush then build more lather than you need. The lather needs to be wet, slick, foamy enough not to brake down during the shave but not so stiff/dry that you lose glide. At first aim for so little pressure that only 1/3 of the razor is removing lather on areas gently rounded areas like the cheek. The razor should not deform your skin. On your WTG pass try for about two spine widths, on XTG one spine width, on ATG almost flat but not having the spine dragging on the skin. Skin stretching will help with both glide and closeness.

Second, Razor sharpness. It sounds like you got the edge back by stropping. 50 on leather is my minimum, more good stropping wont hurt.

Third, Shaving technique. Start now learning to use both hands. Starting right is much easier than fixing bad habits. Don't worry that the commonly hard areas are also hard for you. Keep reading and practicing it will come together.

It is a lot to git right at first but it will all come together for you it you hang in. Don't worry about asking questions, a lot of us are here to pay the help forward.

Edit: I forgot face mapping so you are truly doing the pass you think you are doing. Some beards like mine are odd and need care to have a good shave.

Jonathan

I appreciate all the input. I feel like I have my lather down. It took me a while to realize I wasn't adding enough water. You guys are definitely right about the angle though. I really liked the info about using the spine width as a reference to the angle. That is going to be extremely helpful.

I have a question about face mapping. I know you use it to map your strokes in reference to the direction of hair growth but with such a thick beard, especially around the chin, what do I do if the razor won't even budge starting off in that area? Do I just try different directions despite hair growth direction or should I look more to my razor and just keep stropping until the edge takes care of the problem?

I'm definitely excited about shaving on Monday and using all the advice. I'll be sure to let you know if I improve or not.

there are a couple of techniques more advanced that will help you with tough patches but for right now figure your cheeks out. adding more lather on the chin helps and use your angle an short strokes on your chin.

regarding face mapping. do it. i have a crazy patterned beard as well as a tough one. figuring out how to move my razor was tough and I'm still perfecting my atg but face mapping helped. take it slow and learn technique. and as stupid as this sounds if your razor doesn't move on hair decrease your pressure and your angle.

finally look up a guillotine motion and study it a lot. get comfortable with shaving and then try it.

So yesterdays shave went ok. I followed my normal routine minus the shower because I didn't have time. I went about 3 days without shaving and my beard grows pretty quick. The WTG pass was a little rough. I think it's because I went so long withough shaving. I practiced on both cheeks and then finished my first pass with my proglide. The XTG was pretty smooth. The razor did all the work and before I finished up with my proglide it was relatively smooth skin.

Today's shave was much better. I did just SR on my cheeks WTG and XTG and they are pretty smooth. I experemented with the sides of my chin and under my lip. A little rough but over all better than last time. The face mapping helped but I'm having a little trouble maneuvering the blade around my face and seeing some of the areas I'm trying to shave. That's still just me getting comfortable using the razor.

All and all it was an improvement. I think I'm going to end up switching my cream though. It starts to dry out after a while, not sure if that's just because I take so long right now or what. I use a fair amount of water lathering it up and it's perfect at the start, rich, creamy, and slick. I like the AoS sandlewood scent so does anyone know of a good sandlewood cream and preshave?

Good to hear you are having some good progress.

If your shaves take as long as mine did at first, It is more likely that the lather is ok you just need to refresh the lather with a bit more water added to the brush.

Jonathan