Thread: Newbie straight shave demolition, part 2!

Howdy everyone. I finally got my razor back from honing by the wondrous Onimaru today, and despite the fact that I shaved my legs yesterday, I JUST COULDN'T WAIT.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can read about my first attempt at straight shaving and related strop fail, lather love, and random political diatribes here.

So, take 2!

Weapon of destruction is the Wapi 9/16, Mama Bear's Chocolate Mousse shaving soap, a no-name brush (possibly boar, possibly synthetic? No idea), and a cereal bowl for lathering. Heh.

The prep was the same, but a few things changed from my first attempt.

First, is the bigger bowl. I used a small cup before and that was just too small. This one turned out to be a little too big. Somewhere in the world, though, is one that's juuust right. I'm sure of it.

I decided to wipe instead of rinse off the soap. Much easier for me.

I added more water to the initial lather than I did the first time, and I lathered in sections rather than a whole calf at once (still only doing calves). I also stopped to make more lather between legs. Har har.

One pass, ATG.

So! That's what I did. The result?

No blood! No razor burn! Wooooo!

And unlike last time, I did actually remove hair. Lots of it, despite having shaved about 20 hours ago. Front of my calves feel smooth, smooth, smooth. It's just friggin' beautiful.

I did, however, notice that the backs of my calves don't. And then I realized that at the back of my calves, the hair actually grows kind of sideways. I had never noticed this with a cartidge razor before. Perhaps because I shaved so quickly and it was so painful that I never really cared. That and the fact that I can't afford to spend 15 bucks every couple weeks, so my blade tends to get rather dull and I rarely get a close shave anyway.

But now I have the solution!

So, in summary, THAT WAS AWESOME AND I WANT TO DO IT AGAIN RIGHT NOW.

Yay.

Love,
Cassie

Congrats!

Its a really good feeling the first time you get a straight razor shave down! It just gets better from here..!

The mapping of the hair growth is definately a useful thing to do, and it will show you which way to stretch the skin to make the hair stand up to get a better shave.

It sounds like you're on a quest for the perfect scuttle now as well..! Hehe! Dont fight those aquisition disorders, embrace them and enjoy!

I keep wishing my beard grew faster so I could shave more than once a day...!

Damn, you got me. I gotta admit, once I get back to the States, at the top of my wishlist is... a Moss scuttle.

Huzzah! I'm proud of you, Cassie.

My favorite shaving mug is a straight-sided soup mug I found at Goodwill for 50 cents. I tried latte mugs and sugar bowls before that, but found the curvy inside radii made it harder for me to manipulate the brush. The soup mug is also pretty short, so I don't lose the brush in the depths.

Here's to more excellent shaves!

Congrats! Welcome to our world!

Congrats Nomad! It's only going to get better. Way to go... BTW, how do you like that soap? I am thinking of getting some for SWMBO.

Kudo's Cassie! It's a really cool thing to master and it will only get better with practice. Keep up the good work and as always feel free to ask questions

Hello, Cassie:

Well done.

Remember that the first successful straight razor shave leads to the second, the second to the third, the third . . .

Before long you'll be wielding the straight razor with the same magic that Elizabeth Barrett Browning wielded the words for her poems.

Congratulations. Stay with it.

Regards,

Obie

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

Congrats Nomad! It's only going to get better. Way to go... BTW, how do you like that soap? I am thinking of getting some for SWMBO.

Love it. Lather really quickly and well, even with my hard water. The scent lingers for quite a while, without being overpowering.

The believe Chocolate Mousse has now been replaced with Cocoa on the site. Apparently Mama Bear decided that in this cause, chocolate EO was the way to go.

But anyway, 3 thumbs up for Mama Bear!

And thanks everyone! YAY!

glad to hear it went well this time!! you dont have to go back stateside to get a scuttle! enjoy being a world traveler while you can still do it