Thread: First shave - WOW

Well done LeBuzz and welcome to the brotherhood of men!

Thanks to all for the great response. Like I said this forum rocks.

I had my second shave last night... slightly better results this time around. I did 1 wtg pass with good results, except for my upper lip and chin. Those are spots that I will need some time to learn, but I do not mind because I am really enjoying learning this new skill.

I am still very handicapped at making great lather as well, but I think my stropping technique is pretty good. My shave ready Dovo from SRD is still cutting like a laser.

That's all for now!

CONGRATS !!

For your chin & upper lip, when you feel ready go for it, but don't be afraid to stop if your comfort/confidence level goes down. The first times will be tough, you'll probably need to finish with you mach3, but then all of a sudden you'll get it. Your hands will just know what to do with the razor, all by themselves.

LeBuzz--you can try a method I use to get some nice lather. For thick creamy lather I use about a teaspoonful of shave cream and add about a pea size bit of liquid glycerin or a hair more which thickens the lather.I dip my brush in warm water and start working it in my mug. Just keep that up and you'll have a creamy lather in no time. You can get a bottle of Glycerin at most drug stores and it's cheap. The Glycerin also gives a smoother shave. Something to try anyway:-)

Originally Posted by Gunner777

LeBuzz--you can try a method I use to get some nice lather. For thick creamy lather I use about a teaspoonful of shave cream and add about a pea size bit of liquid glycerin or a hair more which thickens the lather.I dip my brush in warm water and start working it in my mug. Just keep that up and you'll have a creamy lather in no time. You can get a bottle of Glycerin at most drug stores and it's cheap. The Glycerin also gives a smoother shave. Something to try anyway:-)

I am currently using soap samples from SRD as I didn't really know what would work for me. I do think the cream might be the way to go from what I've been reading, so I'll have to pick some up. Also, thanks for the tip about the glycerin... I will try it out!

LeBuzz,

Check this out:

Making Überlather - Straight Razor Place Wiki

It works like a dream.

Great job,welcome to straight razor shaving.

Originally Posted by LeBuzz

Thanks to all for the great response. Like I said this forum rocks.

I had my second shave last night... slightly better results this time around. I did 1 wtg pass with good results, except for my upper lip and chin. Those are spots that I will need some time to learn, but I do not mind because I am really enjoying learning this new skill.

I am still very handicapped at making great lather as well, but I think my stropping technique is pretty good. My shave ready Dovo from SRD is still cutting like a laser.

That's all for now!

You are in luck! In order to practice shaving, you have to shave. But you can practice building lather and stropping anytime and several times a day.

Get a puck of Williams for about $2.00 and practice. You should be able to build good lather out of any shave soap, including Williams. There are guys here using Williams as their only shave soap. Toss it and build another batch.

Practice stropping several times a day. You can't overstrop a razor - you can ruin an edge by poorly stropping. This is an activity that requires muscle memory. There is only one way to develop that.

The upper lip and chin are the white whales of shaving for every new guy, so just take it slow and it will come.

Congrats.

We are all different as far as preference for soaps or creams. Many of us use both but I pretty much settled on creams for the most part.
This website, Superlather.com has a lot of the very best shave creams like LaToja. https://www.superlather.com/LaToja.htm
They also have sample aftershave decants so you can try various aftershaves etc for a couple of bucks each.

Linacman I didn't even know we had that Wiki on lather making and he is using Glycerin as well.Thanks for posting that link. Another reason I like cream is it takes some of the steps out of getting good lather. Soap takes a bit more time.

Decants at Superlather:
https://www.superlather.com/FloidDEC.htm