Thread: 10 major mistakes made by a "greenhorn" in the first 3 months :):)

Horizontal movements on my neck are rather scary. Even tiny, slight moment of concentration lapse, sideways movements. These straight razors are kinda sharp...

1. Getting my straight razor and not getting is sharpened properly for almost a year. But I was reading and learning on what to do when I start shaving with my SR.
2. Having too much pressure when I started, a bit of razor burn.
3. Losing my cheap strop somewhere in moy house due to major remodeling work. On the plus side buying a good strop from Tony Miller
4. Not stretching my skin enough on occasion causing less the a close shave.
5. Not being able to shave the hollows of my throat close enough for the BBS feel.
6. Not having a scuttle to keep the later warm.
7. Not rinsing in cold water after the shave, I do that now and boy does it feel great!
8. Not having an after shave balm, I now use Nivea after shave balm.
9. Not having my Strop at waist level, was beginning to throw me off in my stropping technique. I have since changed that situation and moved the strop to waist level.
10. Using a boar hair professional brush. The brush does produce a good lather but my Casewell-Massey travel badger hair brush produces a better lather. I am in the process of putting together my own handmade brush.

-Jim

Originally Posted by mlangstr

10 should have started to shave with a straight at least 15 years ago..all those great shaves wasted...

Oh yeah, but -15 and +25 for me.
The other big one was not buying shave ready. That and not finding this place until I'd bought too much already.

Something that I just experienced about 15 minutes ago...

Just because your last couple of shaves went well, don't become overconfident in your abilities. You really didn't get that much better that fast. Good thing vintage blades threw in a styptic pencil...

On only my second shave, using a shave ready Wapienica, I tapped the faucet and nicked the blade. D'oh!

That sure accelerated my plans to learn how to hone. After a couple of days of abusing that poor razor with my green honing skills, I managed to remove the chip and put the razor back to some semblance of shaving readiness.

So, first shave back with the Wapienica everything's going fine and . . . I tap the faucet again! Noooooo!!

I really hadn't planned on learning to hone so soon in my straight shaving endeavors. I managed to get that nick out and hone the razor and use it for a couple of months, not with the best of edges, but certainly usable.

Then, about three months later, while I was focusing intently on touching up my neck, I tapped the Wapienica again! Good Googly Moogly!

That blade has spent nearly as much time on the stones as it has on my face. The good news is, it's made an excellent practice blade for honing and just two days ago I had a super nice, comfy shave with it. Hopefully I've got the faucet tapping out of my system and my other razors don't suffer the same abuse.

1. Bought a bunch of zeepk garbage (don't worry. I replaced it with good stuff from the classifieds)
2. Tried to go BBS my first shave and made neckburger
3. Shaved over the neckburger the next day and made neckburger with special sauce
4. Tried to heat up a drug store boar brush by leaving it a scuttle full of boiling water while I took a shower, and got out of the shower to find a brush handle and a soggy mess of loose boar bristles.
5. Broke 2 out of my first 3 ebay trash blades cleaning them up. (one is repairable, but will require a lot of honing)
6. Asked what hones I should start with (NEVER ask what hones to start with as an open ended question. You'll get sea sick trying to follow the responses)
7. Spent more on shaving swag than I could really afford.
8. Got so excited the first time I got the angles 'just right' on my lower neck that I accidentally sliced my throat open so bad that after 10 days, it's still healing and will probably leave a scar.
9. Spent WAY too long looking at the classified ads.
10. Shaved way too far into my beard, because a well honed straight doesn't stop at a bear line like a disposable does, and ended up looking like I was going for a line bear that was about an inch too low.

I've had some of the same mistakes as others. But here are some of mine that no one else has mentioned.
-Not thinking about the exchange rate when buying razors from the USA and then having to lie to my wife about how much money I spent.
-When showing a razor to a friend I handed it to them and then they dropped it.
-Caught said razor (no damage to me or the razor but my heart rate did momentarily jump up to about 220 bpm)

I was having a mental discussion with MYSELF and made a couple of points with my hand.......



That held the razor while in process of shaving my face........





NOT JUST ONCE....
BUT TWICE


DUH!!!!!


hahahaha
Someone else has got to have done this.....
Please tell me you did....
I am NOT alone



Tom

When I first started shaving with a straight I made a mistake that could have changed my life. We had a rather small bathroom when I was young. The bathroom door when opened just barely cleared the old sink. As I stood in front of the old sink and started my first pass a relative who will remain nameless came busting in with the urgency of a police raid,......well,the bathroom door slams into my elbow,...that telegraphs to the razor and,.............well I still have my ear, thanks to some adrenalin, young reflexes and great deal of luck!

My advice: LOCK the bathroom door!! A tasteful "do not disturb" sign in addition might be advisable, but no substitute for a good lock. Be careful out there fellas.

So many to mention...here are my favorites:

* not stropping my razor correctly and dulling the edge.
* reading too much about stropping and continuing to dull the edge.
* skipping the razor across my cheek and into my ear - good times.
* leaving the lather on my face too long, drying out and insisting it was suitable to for shaving.