Thread: First try - jury's out

The only thing I can add is to remember to perform an excellent beard prep, use light pressure with the thought of beard reduction with each pass and not complete beard removal on the first pass. Use a very good soap and relather as much as necessary.

Now give your skin a rest for a few days.

Day 2: I skipped the ATG pass this time (except a little patch on one cheek I couldn't resist). Like yesterday, the WTG and XTG passes were very smooth! I didn't draw ANY blood today, which is a huge improvement over yesterday's massacre. There was very little redness or irritation, and what there was was in damaged areas from yesterday that are still healing.

Overall the shave is not as close as I would like. It's passable from a distance, and even if I run my fingers over my skin WTG, but some spots definitely do NOT pass the credit card test, esp. on the neck (where I was going easy to let it heal) and up my jawline next to my ears.

psdarby suggested re-stropping in the middle -- I tried that because it seemed like my razor was starting to pull a little in the middle of the second pass, and I think it helped. I'll definitely have to remember that for when I get the guts (and skin) back to try ATG again.

On the whole, for a bloodless, low-irritation, pretty-close shave, I'd say it was better than most cartridge shaves I have ever had. (And no more jeers from my wife today! She was pretty shocked and alarmed when she saw the condition of my face when I came home yesterday evening.) Still looking for that magic combo of comfy and close to convince myself that it beats wearing a beard, but now I'm a lot more hopeful that it can be done!

Thanks again for the encouragement and the advice.

Razor v. whiskers W/L/T record: 1/0/1

Great to hear. Usually takes about a month to develop the skills to shave decently. I got your PM about being in my area. Sent you my #. If you ever need any help give me a holler. I'd be glad to assist.



Patrick

You didn't mention how many passes you made your strop before shaving. Under-stropping can cause irritation.

You might consider just doing one pass on your sides and cheeks and then finishing with a safety. When you're comfortable slowly increase the areas you use the straight on over time.




Man: Doc, it hurts when I do this.
Doctor: Don't do that.

Originally Posted by shuredgefan

You didn't mention how many passes you made your strop before shaving. Under-stropping can cause irritation.

Yesterday I didn't strop, since it was my first shave after receiving the sharpened razor from Lynn and I wanted to be sure I knew what it felt like before I had a chance to "mess it up" on the strop. My impression was it was plenty sharp for the first two passes.

This morning I stropped 50 laps on the linen and 50 on the leather before shaving, then I think I did another 10 or 20 laps on the leather halfway through the second pass.

It may be my imagination, but I do think the mid-way stropping helped, so you're right to suggest I be careful to keep the edge stropped and keen. I also put a drop of oil on the edge of the blade for overnight storage because I'm keeping it in the bathroom, so hopefully that will minimize dulling due to oxidation. (I noticed last night there was already a spot of rust forming at the hinge. It rubbed off but was a heads-up that I need to be more careful how I store it.)

(As for finishing with a safety, that's the LAST thing I want to do. I can't stand those things -- talk about blood and irritation! I'm afraid it's going to have to be straight or nothing for me.)

Thanks for the suggestions -- its nice to have help with the troubleshooting!

Originally Posted by psdarby

Great to hear. Usually takes about a month to develop the skills to shave decently. I got your PM about being in my area. Sent you my #. If you ever need any help give me a holler. I'd be glad to assist.



Patrick

Thanks! I got the PM. It would be nice to have a regional forum in here for people who are geographically close can get connected. I couldn't find an easy way to identify all the users from this area on the members list except to search city by city. I did see a number of other Seattleites listed though.

Today I worked a little harder on getting the shave close. There were still some areas that were still rough no matter what I did with WTG and XTG, so I did try a little ATG again here and there. Results:

Closeness: This is really good today! Not quite BBS everywhere, but almost.
Blood: Not quite as good as yesterday. One small nick and a small cut, but both had stopped bleeding before I was through so at least I didn't have to use the stiptic pencil! Definitely no bloody massacre like two days ago.
Irritation: The cheeks are fine, but the neck, esp. on the right side, is a bit red, hot, and stinging, so not quite as comfortable as yesterday, but not too much worse. It seems I have traded off a bit of irritation for a bit of closeness. The sweet spot in between the two really seems to be -- forgive me -- a razor's edge!

I'm declaring this one a marginal victory. Razor v. whiskers: 1/1/1.

That reminds me of my Dad's short-lived prize fighting career when he was 16. He fought 3 bouts: he lost one, he tied one, then he won one. Just like me and my razor. Then he came to his senses and hung up the gloves. As for me, I don't plan to hang up the razor, but I probably won't be posting these daily updates anymore since I'm sure it will lose its interest for anyone except me. Seems like I'm getting there, even with my perfectionist standards, so I hope that's an encouragement to other noobs getting started.

Originally Posted by BurnBeGone

As for me, I don't plan to hang up the razor, but I probably won't be posting these daily updates anymore since I'm sure it will lose its interest for anyone except me.

It might help to remember that the razor itself has nothing to gain by knocking you out. Just roll with the slashes.

And I take interest. I'll be showing a good friend how to shave with a straight this weekend and you are reminding me what to expect

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

It might help to remember that the razor itself has nothing to gain by knocking you out. Just roll with the slashes.

On the contrary, I was imagining the razor and me on the same team, like Dad and his gloves. The opponent would be the whiskers. Or maybe my skin. But then the goal would be to leave it as NOT bloody and beaten up as possible. OK, so the analogy doesn't really work... Still nice to think about dear ol' Dad! I wonder who looked bloodier after the first bout... :lol:

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

And I take interest. I'll be showing a good friend how to shave with a straight this weekend and you are reminding me what to expect

Thanks, Lee! Good luck with the lesson.

One more thing that I didn't see mentioned is that not only are you just starting out shaving with a straight razor, but you're also shaving areas that have been covered by hair for a year or two. It takes a few shaves with any razor for your skin to be conditioned to the blade. The longer you practice, the better your technique, and also the more comfortable your face will be in general since it will be used to the feeling of shaving.

Good on you for keeping with it. I'm sure that things will keep getting better with time.