Thread: How Long does it take?

Moonshae beat me to what I would say... shave the cream off, whiskers will come with it. Light pressure with the razor will do it. No need to press hard into the skin which will cause irritation. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

The Wet Shaving Journey is meant to be a pleasurable one; no reason to rush, as there is no finish line to cross.

I went through that 'pleasurable' journey when I switched to DE shaving years ago. Will never go back to 'cartridge land.' My dilemma after 6 SR shaves is, do I want to go on another journey? The SR journey certainly intrigues me. My adventuresome self is hard to suppress. I get fantastic BBS with my current DE setup. All the learning nicks and cuts along that path are basically history. Soooo, I'm trying like the dickens to convince myself that SR shaving is (I'm told) the greatest thing since sliced bread! All these years with my DE tools have given me what I consider extremely outstanding results. How much better can SR shaving be after the technique is mastered? Do I really want another journey? The answer, right now is, let's stay the course and persist with the SR experience. How long? That's the $64 question! At least, I'm aware of most of the areas (stropping, pre-shave routine, etc.) that need attention. When I feel I've exhausted those avenues and frustration still reigns, I think I'll have the answer to my $64 question! Thanks for listening.

Everyone is different, I know plenty of guys who have went back to a DE, it's a great tool, now my experience is this . I have over 40 years using a DE and I really had no complaints with it,i still get great shaves. The Straight was just calling to me when I found one I bought back in the 70,s that didn't really work out. So with the new info we have today, 2 years ago I went down the path again. I shave every day with my straights and I will till I can't, I like it better , either from nostalgia , coolness , not too mention the shave is great . But it takes time , I didn't put the DE away for almost 4 months straight before it clicked. Tc

Your skin will get tough as leather, and your wallet will get soft as skin.

Originally Posted by Firefighter2

Your skin will get tough as leather, and your wallet will get soft as skin.

So true.... so true...

Regards

Kaptain "[insert sound of head shaking here]" Zero

My wallet is already starting to feel a lot lighter. But you have to spend more money initially to get all the tools and equipment, then it gets easier on the wallet, doesn't it?

I think the truth lies somewhere between tcrideshd and rezdog's statements about your skin getting used to it.

My opinion (opinion only... I am no.. um... skinologist...) is that it does take the skin a while to get used to a straight blade. But I think that has more to do with a straight blade requiring a different technique then the DE/safety razor we are used to.

With that said, it took about three months before I stopped getting regular razor burn. I should add that I have sensitive skin, and allergies to some commonly used ingredients of shaving products, so it took me a little while to find some stuff that didn't contribute to irritation.

So, hang in there... technique take quite some time to get down. But you will get there!

I used to get irritation from cartridge razors. I used to have to "rest my face" every few months to try to reduce the irritation. Straight shaving almost entirely eliminated that irritation from the beginning and that was even before I had figured out much about honing.

I seem to have managed to reduce the razor burn, and I feel confident that in the fullness of time they will be a thing of the past.
I'm currently having some challenges of nicking my self around the corners of my mouth, I need to work out how to deal with that. It's all a one big learning curve, I watched a vid of a guy shaving last night and he was confident and obviously very comfortable around his nose mouth areas, with not so much as a hint of a nick, quite inspiring really.

My firts full face shave took me 10 minutes add at least 30 minutes for preparation.
May get better/faster but I am not in a hurry..