Thread: First Shave Quit Lengthy (Sorry)!

Well my Ti Evide Sonnant Extra 5/8 arrived from Lynn this morning. Exactly one month from placing the order with Classic Shaving. (Quite acceptable given I live in the UK.)

My two strops, a practice strop and a 3" Artisan Latigo, had arived form Tony Miller earlier in the week, so this morning I was ready to take my first str8 shave.

I made my way hastely into the bathroom and bolted the door. This was just too important an endeavour to risk any interuptions from the wife or the cat!

I took a good hot and prolonged wash to soften my facial hairs and then proceeded to lather up using my C & E Sienna soap and Rooney Super Badger Brush.

I then flicked the blade open and wiped off the protective oil dressing. The blade felt substantial and sparkled like a new diamond in the sunlight. A smile crossed my face and I knew my initiation had at last arrived.

Starting with my right hand I took long and confident strokes down my right cheek. As I did so I could hear the whiskers yelling for mercy as the blade scythed them from my face. OMG it felt soo good.

I was then left with my left cheek. Should I stick with my right hand or bite the bullet and use my left. I bit the bullet and went with the left. I was amazed how easy this blade was to control even with my none domminant hand. Again the whiskers yelled for mercy as they met with their demise.

Next I moved onto my neck. Still going WTG I used the appropriate hand for the right and left sides. Again, things went pretty well so I decided to lather up once more and started a XTG pass.

When I had finished my cheeks and chin felt BBS. Unfortunately my neck only felt about as good as it would after a shave with my Braun.

I can see that this is going to take time to perfect, but all in all I am pretty darned happy with how this first shave went.

Injuries you ask? Well yes there was, I didn't get off scott free. I managed to pick up 3 tiny nicks when I tried to get a couple of rough areas smooth.

What scares me most now is damaging that sharp edge on my strop. I didn't realise stropping was quite as difficult to get right as it is, so I'm going real slow with it.

Sounds like a great first step. Stropping is a piece of cake when you get the 'hang' of it. Just keep the strop reasonably taut and take slow passes until you develop a good technique. Use an X pattern and take it about 40 laps and you'll be good to go. I don't strop fast, but I haven't dulled any blades either. I think if you were to strop the way I've seen in some old movies, with a belly in the strop and about 20 laps per second, you could probably screw up. Otehrwise take it slow and get used to the feel of it.

BTW, my first str8 shave took 45 minutes.

Good luck,

Congrats on the first shave!!!!!!!!!!!!

If only everyone's first introduction to straight shaving went this well! Congrats - you're now shaving like a real man.

I promise it just gets better from here - the one piece of advice I can offer from experience is to not get over confident in a few weeks - you can and will pay the price if you don't properly respect the blade and pay attention to what you're doing with it at all times (also beware of the faucet!).

Congrats again,

Mark

Thanks for the kind comments.

I totally respect the sharpness of the blade and just how easily it can be ruined. I wish I felt as confident holding the strop in my hand as I do the razor. Here was me thinking that was going to be the easy part, but I have already managed a couple of nicks in the practice strop . Glad I've put the Artisan away for when I have my technique down.

Just a quick question if I may...... Do you apply any oil to your blade each time after you have used it, or do you simply ensure it is properly dried?

I did the latter, but really want to take care of my blade.

Definitely take Milton Mans advice about not getting over confident..........I paid the price, and its taken a week for me to return to the str8s after removing far too much skin trying to go bbs

Congrats on yer 1st REAL shave...
It only gets better from here....

I don't use oil, just make sure it is dry.

Glad to hear your first shave went so well. Like you, I had a pretty easy-going initiation, and it's helped keep me commited, even when I have the occasional bad shave. If I have a bad shave, I just remember that it's the good shaves you enjoy, the bad shaves you learn from. Good luck.

Leon

Interesting to read about the delivery times from Classic Shaving. I am in Northern Ireland and am thinking of getting a razor from Classic. Glad to hear your first shave went so well. I only started shaving with a straight about a week ago and my first shave was pretty poor. Next 3 have been great and getting on a par with my DE shaves.

Hope it keeps going well for you.