Thread: Anticipation!

The idea of starting out with just the sideburn to jawline is one I wish I had thought of or heard.

My first effort was with a shave-ready Dovo, but I went for the whole face, using just can shave cream. I ended up looking like an initiate to a Prussian Dueling Fraternity! Very discouraging!

I also think I took whatever edge the honemeister had put on my Dovo and destroyed it with my first effort at stropping. 40 hard strokes on a loose strop is hard on a good edge!

So…I hope every beginner takes advantage of this site, especially the Wiki.

3 months and about 150 shaves later, I feel like I'm getting a handle on this and shaving is actually fun, which for 40+ years it had not been before. Now it's something special I do for myself every morning and it brings me a lot of pleasure.

Went for the full shave right off. Not the greatest but I am not deterred. My only regret is that I have to wait to practice on my face some more due to a few trouble spots and a questionably sharp razor.

Just received my 1st straight today from Straight Razor Designs and attempted my first shave. I think I held the razor wrong but the shave was not bad just a little weird, not use to holding a razor that way.

I went from my side-burn down to my chin on both sides and ventured to my neck on one of the sides. The neck was interesting with the change in direction and I actually stopped shaving hair and just scraped off shaving cream, lol such is life. I actually think most of the swipes were mostly shaving cream but I did hear noise so I am guessing it cut some hair.

Unfortunately I did cut my check, just a small nick and it bled like nothing else. It was an interesting experience and I am looking forward to the next one, shave not cut. Now all I need to do is figure out how to hold the razor right. I have been reading the threads but I guess it never really sank in, now that I have the razor I can read and hold for a true visual.

I am curious, what is the risk of getting the razor wet? It has been a long time since shaving at a sink. Is it easy to clean the water out of the cracks or is it not advisable to get the thing wet at all?

Attempted to strop my razor after my semi shave. I held the strop straight as I could and ran the blade over a lightly as I could while keeping the blade on the leather side. The strop is about 2in wide so the entire razor was not able to be on the strop, my X attempt was not the best but I think for the first time it was pretty good.

Ordered a startup set from SRD, and am waiting with anticipation for its' arrival. I've been reading all the helpful hints and suggestions throughout the forums and feel it's time I take a "stab" at it.

Originally Posted by nelsonkent

I tried to shave for the second time using my straight razor (recently honed by L. Abrams) yesterday afternoon. I think I managed to ignore almost every suggestion that Lynn made in his post titled "Anticipation". I wish I had read the post earlier!

After successfully shaving both my left and right sideburns and with a false sense of confidence, I decided to tackle those usually tough areas: underneath the nose, the chin area and around the mouth. Things went badly immediately. Determined not to be a "quitter", I kept at it for about 45 minutes until I decided I must be doing something wrong or my razor was "broken". I stopped to lick my many knicks, so to speak. Later my wife asked me if I had been in a barroom knife fight.

I encountered two problems which perhaps someone in the forums can help me with.

1. I could not seem to get the razor blade "moving" on my face in these areas at anywhere near the generally desired 30-degree angle. I was frankly afraid to push too hard on the blade in this area of my face for fear of cutting myself (which I did anyway). What I did was give my self a good case of razor burn.

2. The razor just seemed to stop cutting hair when I moved to this area of my face. My fear is/was that I managed to damage the edge when I stropped the razor before and during this shave.

In my "postmortem" this morning, I used the blade to cut some of the hairs on my arm. While they did not fly off in great clouds, the blade did cut hairs with no noticeable effort on my part other than to push the blade up my arm. My razor is an old one, probably early 1900s vintage (Griffon) and while the blade may been sharp enough to cut the hair in my sideburn area down to the jawline, it may not be sharp enough to cut the hair around my mouth area.

At this point I am wounded, but not yet ready to quit by any means. If anyone can help me with comments or suggestions, I would appreciate it

I did lather frequently during this episode using a good, glycerin-based shaving cream.

First of all, I want to thank Lynn for all of his posts adn thank everyone for the wealth of knowledge this forum provides. I have only been straight shaving for about 2 and a half weeks, so I'm around shave 15ish. I did ignore some of the recommendations and shaved my whole face the first time. However, I had a very positive experience, due to the fact that i creeped the forum for about a month and a half prior to attempting the shave to aquire proper knowledge first, so I felt confident in 'knowing' the correct way to proceed, even if I could not physically perform it well yet.

Originally Posted by 8BallAce

First of all, I want to thank Lynn for all of his posts adn thank everyone for the wealth of knowledge this forum provides. I have only been straight shaving for about 2 and a half weeks, so I'm around shave 15ish. I did ignore some of the recommendations and shaved my whole face the first time. However, I had a very positive experience, due to the fact that i creeped the forum for about a month and a half prior to attempting the shave to aquire proper knowledge first, so I felt confident in 'knowing' the correct way to proceed, even if I could not physically perform it well yet.

Secondly, nelsonkent, I wouldn't be too discouraged about your razor not being able to move in certain areas as this is only your second shave. My first and second shave were not even as smooth as I would get with an electric in some places, and sometimes I could not get the razor to move at all. However, after about a week I was able to shave those same places with two passes and get very close to BBS. From what I have read most newbies to straight shaving take longer than that so I guess I was just lucky. But the thing to note is that as you become more confident, your stroke gets more purposeful, your stropping gets better (even if it doesn't seem like it your shave will tell you that it does), and your face gets use to the razor, so as long as you keep at it and follow the advice of the experienced people on this forum, those 'stopping' points on your face will soon not be as much of a problem.

I think one of the most valuable bits of Lynn's post is:

"if you feel uncomfortable at any time in the process, don't go any further".

There's nothing to be gained from just "pushing through". It's a learning process, and there's no shame in stopping and coming back another day. I have certainly benefited from that wisdom.

Well i followed the wiki and great advice on here, and its been a few months now and im getting great shaves, with no blood lol
Actually havent cut myself in a long time and im still learning.To bad that i see so many newbie trying to shave their entire face
on the first try and get poor results follow the wiki it really works im glad i did for sure and im still looking forward to shave!!!!!!!!

Well,tonight was not my first shave with a straight razor,but my first with a "real" razor.For two weeks now I have been using a straight razor the uses replaceable blades.It was smoother than my Mach3,but that great.My Dovo came in the mail today(FINALLY!!!)so i was looking forward to that!Wow,what a difference!ATG is still a little hard to acheive in a few places,but my face is smoother than it has ever been in my 17 years of shaving.I can't believe it took me this long to get a real razor.I have always charged into things too quickly.This new way of shaving has been no different.I wish I had learned to shave in steps,but I just went after it.Of course,I wear a goatee,so I don't have the whole face to shave.So far,so good...and no blood!!!Now if I can only master stropping...

Alright Lynn and friends,
I just ordered my razor and strop from SRD and I'm super excited to get it. I'm going to try my best to follow all the advice I've found here on the site. Thanks for the help to all of you, and I'll let you know how it goes. And Lynn, please give my new Dovo a little extra love and luck when you hone it. My face is a straight razor virgin! It aint pretty, but it's the only one I've got.