Thread: Slowly making progress

Hi all,

I thought I'd share my story so far. I'm sure some things will ring true with a lot of people.

I'm a 37 year old British Ex-Pat and I've lived in Toronto, Canada, since I was 26. I started shaving as a teenager, and by the time I was 18, I was already fed up with the disposable razors I was using. As a result, I went out and blew about three weekend's worth of wages from my part time job at a local supermarket and bought a 3-headed electrical razor that I loved to bits.

I'm not quite sure what happened, but not long after moving to Canada, I had a bit of a falling out with my razor, and I think it had something to do with my dabbling with a Mach-3. Over the next years, I swapped back and forth between electric and Mach-3.

Move forward to about this time last year, and here I was now with a mortgage, fiance and dog, and whilst the world around me was changing, this swapping between electric and Mach-3 was getting on my nerves...

I think it the issue was mainly due to the cost of the Mach-3 cartridges, and the inferior shave off of what was now a nearly 20 year old electric razor if I used that instead. On a number of occasions, I vocalised my angst among my friends because I begrudged paying this ridiculous amount of money to keep replacing the cartridges (which then lead to me using them for about 10 times their design-lifespan, and this then made the shaving worse to boot). Now, my friends are very much like myself - we're all mainly immigrants and are not afraid to start questioning the stuff that general masses don't question. The expensive cartridges issue and shaving struck a cord...

One of my good friends in Canada is a Polish guy that takes an interest in all things with blades... Doesn't matter if it's weaponry from the 1800's, or a Henckels steak knife, the chances are that if I'm going to be exposed to something blade-related that I've never seen before, it'll be because of him. Not long after the shaving angst had been brought up, he announced one night over a beer that he'd just tried out a straight razor. After clarifying to me because of my naivety, that this is what I would know as a cut-throat, he advises that this might be the solution to our problems. Another member of our group (an Irish Engineer) orders another beer and then promptly advises us that we're nuts to contemplate it.

A few months go by, and we heard regular updates of how the straight-razor investigations were going. I'd learn over a beer things like what a strop was, how it's used and why, then how my friend was having some issues with his cheap straight razors. Approaching Christmas of 2009, however, he announced that he was trying to secure some proper razors from a retiring barber in Europe, who had been the owner of some antique blades. We waited in anticipation to see what would happen with these new blades, and then I promptly and unexpectedly found myself sitting on a plane half way over the Atlantic as 2010 was rung in, landing in London at 6am on New Years Day, then trying to battle through bad weather to make it to a funeral.

In the rush to get back to England, I packed the electric razor but didn't pack the Mach-3 as the blades were shot and I really wasn't in the mood for dumping down more money. The electric razor literally worked up to the day I needed it for the funeral, then it died as well.

Now, visiting the UK will usually "do a number" on your wallet due to the weakness of the US and Canadian dollars, though this time it was relatively painless as the Pound had finally been trashed as well. Regardless, having just done Christmas and then unexpectedly having to fly home, I started looking for a new electric as I wasn't about to continue buying more Mach-3 blades. The problem was the cost of electrics were through the roof, and I really didn't want to spend money like that if I don't know what the shave would be like anyway.

So I did what any normal person would do - I spent about $2 on a pack of 3 disposables whilst I mulled the situation over. Upon being re-introduced to hyper-cheap disposables, my face told me that I'd better sit down and have a word with myself to never to buy them again. Upon my next meeting with my mates, I mentioned how terrible those disposables are, at which point my Polish mate says he got his new razors from Europe, how wonderful they are, and that I should try the razor he'd been using without much success, to see if I could do anything with it.

About a week goes by and over a beer one night, I'm asked for 10 cents. I hand over 10 cents and am given a straight razor (and an explanation about it being bad luck to give a blade to someone, hence the transactional 10 cent piece to remove the superstition). Given the amount of alcohol in my system at that point, I put it in a pocket and forget about it until the morning.

Having never seen a straight razor before that point, the first thing that hit me as I got it out of the plastic sheath was how little I knew about... I didn't even know how to hold it, so I started researching stuff online.

After about an hour, I thought I had enough knowledge to know what I was supposed to do with it, but holding it close to my face felt like nothing I'd ever done before, and my instincts were telling me to slow down. That's when I discovered the SRP site.

The first thing that I learned from the wiki was the likely reason for the previous owner's lack of success with the razor... it was a "Selective" razor. But, I read for a few evenings and educated myself, and inside I was starting to actually like the idea of reconnecting with the "tradition" side, and wondered to myself "What percentage of people use a straight?"...

Eventually, I plucked up the courage to try one cheek, WTG. I probably only shaved about 2 inches, but I clearly remember the heart pounding and shaking hands. Swapping hands, I did the same on the other cheek. I remember then marvelling that although it hadn't been the cleanest cut, I'd actually not cut myself.

Within a few days I bought a strop, and within a few more days I'd gotten my rhythm going to the point where in a split second when I made a mistake my "muscle-memory" took me through the process of successfully removing a nice chunk out of the strop.

Unimpressed with myself, I pressed on. I started looking at getting myself a proper straight, and right now it looks like I'm still getting one for Christmas. The immediate problem was now getting off the Selective razor... Superstition or not, I was now beginning to feel like 10 cents was paying too much for this thing.

What I needed was something to get me through, until I have the real deal... Then this weekend I found a cheap temporary solution - a shavette-style straight with disposable blades. I bought that and 10 blades for the same price as the old Mach-3 cartridges. When I discovered that the blades were DE and therefore make 20 blades when you snap them in half, I was even happier.

Having been hacking away at some length with the Selective razor, shaving with this for the first time was like night and day. It was one of those "life-moments" when time seems to slow down as the moment happens and you wish that someone else was experiencing the very same thing simultaneously. Reflecting just seconds later about that moment, I am sure I'd already mentally added in the choir of angels going "Ahhhhhhh!" as well...

Let's just say it was a profound moment...

Today I did shave #2 with it. Whilst I've quickly learned that the unrounded corners are to be watched carefully (got a few nicks), the bigger lesson for me right now seems to be that with such a sharp blade, I can't shave everyday because although my cheeks are fine, the moustache and neck areas are a bit on the tender side...

Regardless, I will continue to practice, educate myself and hopefully improve my skills.

Cheers,

Jase

Welcome to SRP! Sounds like you've done a bit of homework and you're on your way. If you're looking for a quality straight on a budget, check out the classifieds as you can get a great vintage razor that shaves every bit as well or better than new ones for the same price as that pack of M3 cartridges.

+1 on the advise given above.
just take it slow and you will succeed
and when you're technique improves your face will be less irritated

keep up the good work

cheers
Stijn

Welcome...

One hint... take a cheap three minute egg timer to the shave den
and make sure you give a full three min to build your lather and
other shave prep. Keep things simple, do the small things well.

Many thanks all...

just take it slow and you will succeed
and when you're technique improves your face will be less irritated

Yes, as that song goes "Something tells me I'm into something good", so will keep at it - and will let you know how it goes as I slow down a bit.

Cheers,

Jase

I remember how nervous I was with my first straight shave and I worried about cutting and slicing myself the entire time.

Keep up the effort and keep building upon your success. Getting a great shave from a straight razor is just so satisfying.

Pabster

Welcome to SRP. Check out my sig line to avoid nicks and cuts and follow the link for more useful info. Smooth shaving.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

One hint... take a cheap three minute egg timer to the shave den and make sure you give a full three min to build your lather and other shave prep. Keep things simple, do the small things well.

Ok - the above advice actually helped an amazing amount, combined with a video I saw in another forum.

Having skipped a shave yesterday due to time constraints, I came home for lunch today (I work 4 doors from my house), had a shower because of the heatwave here, and decided to shave.

The setup:
1. Preshave - Proraso for sensitive skin.
2. Soap - Proraso menthol and eucalyptus.
3. Unidentifiable "Natural Bristle" brush from Shoppers Drug Mart.
4. Dannyco shavette.
5. Merkur Super Platinum DE blade snapped in half and shoved into #4 above.

Four things were done differently:
1. I took the three minutes with the prep work. Though at least 2.5 minutes of that was worrying about the lather on my face drying out prematurely and what else I could be doing during this time. I ended up just re-running the brush about - then started wondering if this was doing any more damage. Ha ha!

2. Having seen the video (I will find the link - but it's on this site), I was no longer doing 2 inch strokes and opted for about quarter of an inch per stroke. They say a picture is like a thousand words, but a video of some previously unknown guy to me shaving is like having a father teach you about the razor he never had - though I'd guess this guy is younger than me. Ha ha!

3. Instead of holding the blade at a permanent 30 degrees angle to my skin,
I lowered the angle until it stopped cutting and then raised it just enough to get the cut to happen again.

4. I eased up on the pressure. It took more strokes (at less length), but it still cut, which was somewhat counter-intuitive having used the Selective razors which almost required a "scrubbing" motion.

The result this time was: No nicks, but whilst the face was still relatively good, the neck and under the chin leaves a lot to be desired - however, it is shorter then when I started and more importantly it is not red... which means I should be able to tackle it again tomorrow!

Yay!

Conclusion: It was definitely a "technique" issue. Thanks to all for the pointers. I will find the video I am referencing, so you can see what I was referring to with the shorter strokes.

Cheers,

Jason

Found the video that showed me some of the errors I was making with the longer strokes. This guy did it in small strokes, which I copied and it helped a lot...

Video Here

Cheers,

Jase

Originally Posted by Coulls

.... snip ....
Four things were done differently:
1. I took the three minutes with the prep work. Though at least 2.5 minutes of that was worrying about the lather on my face drying out prematurely and what else I could be doing during this time. I ended up just re-running the brush about - then started wondering if this was doing any more damage. Ha ha!
.....snip....

Made my day....

The key is to take your time and not rush.

We all have different faces and whiskers
and what works for one does not work for
all.

Above all -- have fun.