Thread: First shave with a "Real" straight razor

Well this morning I got to try a REAL straight razor (as opposed to my shavette) Was a bit nervous but learned quite a bit..

Stropped 40 passes on my poor mans strop, then took a nice hot shower, used conditioner on my whiskers in the shower like I always do, got out and applied AOS pre shave oil then lathered up some AOS lavender cream. Time to shave!

Did 2 passes, one WTG and one ATG, didn't get a very close shave, but not bad for my first time out, nicked my ear a little ( Didn't even realize I had done it until I noticed that it was bleeding a bit, styptic cleared that up right quick) on the WTG pass, but all in all not too bad, still adjusting to different angles, how to hold, how to properly stretch etc and putting almost NO pressure on it (Still nervous, figure I'll build confidence over the next year or so).

After the 2nd pass I used my DE to make it BBS, was surprised that there was VERY little sting with the Alum afterwords, some witch hazel and then AOS lavender ASB and I was all set.

Cleaned off the razor with a towel, stropped another 40 passes and put it away after ensuring it was quite dry

Looking forward to trying it again tomorrow Really enjoying this hobby!!!

Congratulations! Kinda' funny how enjoyable shaving can be, huh?

Congrats on your shave! You'll learn more and more with every shave!

Joshua

Hehe...I thought I was the only poor sap that nicked his ear first day out. I remember it well, it was only about 10 weeks ago. I had not yet managed to shave a single hair on my face when the razor touched my ear lobe. I learned a lot from that. Mostly that a shave ready razor does not need much pressure to cut skin I'm thankful to say that since then I have had only one very tiny little nick, probably because the first one made me paranoid.

Keep at it and the shaves will improve. The first few weeks I used a straight razor I didn't dare go out without cleaning up the shave with a cartridge razor as people would have surely laughed. These days, I'm not even sure I can find my old cartridge razor. I know its the house somewhere though

Well I am learning alright,,, I decided to have a SR shave tonight and to be honest it was the worst shave I think I have ever had My neck is red, nicked in like 5 places and burning from the alum/styptic

I hadn't shaved since yesterday morning so my plan was to do 2 WTG passes with the SR then finish the ATG stuff with my DE, so I stropped 40 passes, dunked my shaving mug and brush in hot water and hopped in the shower. Lathered up with my L'Occitaine soap and some AOS lavender cream (Nice creamy lather) used some AOS pre shave oil and off to the races..

The cheeks weren't too bad, was having a hard time figuring out which way to pull the skin etc to get the SR to pass smoothly but on the cheeks /jawline I did ok (I don't shave my chin since I have a Goatee) The first pass on the neck felt ok so I went for pass 2, it felt ok but I felt some burning...at that point I decided to stop, re-lather again and finish with the DE...but it was burning etc so i didn't even get a good shave since I didn't want to further irritate it, the alum block burned bad and I was using styptic to stem about 5 weepers.....

Going back to my DE for a few days to let my neck heal before I attempt the SR again, clearly more learning and practice is in order here

Sorry to hear about the bad shaves. Razor burn typically is caused by too much pressure, too steep of an angle or both. Trust me, the shaves do get better in time with practice. Patience is a virtue here and you will be rewarded in time. Focus on the basics and before you know it everything will click and you will get the great shave you've been after all this time...then they get better.

Yeah, at this point I am determined to learn this art and start getting BBS shaves with the SR, always some setbacks to overcome...but overcome them I will!!

I ordered Lynn's DVD so hopefully I can get some insight there...