Thread: First real SR shave

Good start!

Don't worry about the time; you will get faster soon enough.

Originally Posted by BrickBag

And the sound, it cannot be described. A soft grating sound, even better than the sounds I heard on the straight razor video's

I'll describe that sound for you - kind of like buttering toast.

BTW - congratulations on both shaves - You haven't said it - but I suspect there is no way you are going back now.

Thanks for the, especially Obie. I'm not worried about how much time it takes to shave. As I do it mostly on free evenings or in the weekends, for my boss doesn't care about my scruffy look.

I haven't shaved since the last time(about a week ago), I have however been stropping the razor almost daily, 20 laps on the linen and 30 to 50 on the leather. The sharpness is coming back to the razor: I can now shave the hairs from my arms with almost no pulling. Before it just went over the hairs and pulled them.

I also noticed that the stropping really improver after I applied Dovo yellow paste on the leather side of the strop. It is only grease for the leather, but after I applied it 3 days in a row after the stropping, the feeling while stropping is much better. The leather feels less dry and there is more drag while stropping.

I'm going to try to shave this weekend someday and report back when I've done so.

BrickBag,

Thanks for sharing this first experience.
A very in depth description of what/how things were done!!
Congrats!!

Regards,

RazorBack

Alright, I had my third shave with the same razor yesterday. It was in 1 word: awesome. The whiskers were quite long from a week without shaving, but that didn't prove to be a problem.

Preperations
I took a half hour shower in which I washed my hair and beard with shampoo. Then the entire beard was treated with hair conditioner to soften up the whiskers.

I then made the lather(again with TheBodyShop Macaroot cream), which was even better then before(I'm getting the hang of this). Applied it and started stropping the razor.

Stropping
First 20 laps on the linen side, warmed up the leather side by rubbing it with my hands and stropped 40 times on the leather side. After a quick armhair test(where the hairs popped off while the blade was above the skin) I was ready to shave

The shave
At first I was reluctant to start shaving because the experiences of last time were still quite fresh in memory. After the first couple of WTG passes I got confident again. The blade was smoothly cutting the whiskers. At one point I accidentally shaved ATG on my neck. Usually this causes some nicks and scrapes. However, due to the thorough preparation, this didn't cause any problems.

The second and third passes were ATG. Again, no problems here.

Aftermath
After cleaning up my face with a warm towel, I applied a cold towel to my face. Now normally the aftershave balm stings a little bit, but after using the cold towel it didn't.

I cut myself on the last pass on my neck, but it wasn't bleeding after using the cold towel, so it's minor.

Because I didn't shave ATG this time, I was a little bit disappointed by the smoothness of the shave. Feeling WTG and ATG was really soft. But ATG had a really bad stingy feeling to it, but that was to be expected.

Observations
- Good stropping is key to good shaving
- Hair conditioner works very well in softening whiskers

In the future
- Keep practising stropping
- Don't shave with your girlfriend in the other room, she kept calling me, disturbing my concentration.
- Shave more often(bi-daily) to get the hang of it faster
- Buy some more creams and soaps to practice building lather.

Originally Posted by BrickBag

bleeding after using the cold towel, so it's minor.

Because I didn't shave ATG this time, I was a little bit disappointed by the smoothness of the shave. Feeling WTG and ATG was really soft. But ATG had a really bad stingy feeling to it, but that was to be expected.

In the future
- Keep practising stropping
- Don't shave with your girlfriend in the other room, she kept calling me, disturbing my concentration.
- Shave more often(bi-daily) to get the hang of it faster
- Buy some more creams and soaps to practice building lather.

First - congratulations - sounds like it is coming together for you quite nicely.

A couple of things. Over time, keep lightening up your pressure while shaving. This comes with experience and will do wonders to get that ATG pass more comfortable.

The only time I ever cut myself was when my wife was in the bathroom talking to me - so yeah, concentration is a must.

Finally, I don't know about shaving twice a day. A straight razor is one hell of an exfoliate. You need some time for skin cells to rejuvenate. I think I push it at once a day, and there are guys that do every other day.

Keep pushing - it only gets better!

Originally Posted by Alembic

First - congratulations - sounds like it is coming together for you quite nicely.

A couple of things. Over time, keep lightening up your pressure while shaving. This comes with experience and will do wonders to get that ATG pass more comfortable.

I am perhaps a little unclear there, I didn't shave ATG, only felt ATG. And the whiskers felt stingy. But expected as I didn't shave in that direction

Originally Posted by Alembic

The only time I ever cut myself was when my wife was in the bathroom talking to me - so yeah, concentration is a must.

Finally, I don't know about shaving twice a day. A straight razor is one hell of an exfoliate. You need some time for skin cells to rejuvenate. I think I push it at once a day, and there are guys that do every other day.

Hmm maybe a little unclear again on my side, I meant once every two days.

Originally Posted by Alembic

Keep pushing - it only gets better!

Even better?!

Congratulations! Don't worry about the time element. It's the fastest half hour of my day!

Originally Posted by flyman

Congratulations! Don't worry about the time element. It's the fastest half hour of my day!

It's the finest whatever-how-long of the day . I never worry about the time. I take it.

[QUOTE=BrickBag;678381]I am perhaps a little unclear there, I didn't shave ATG, only felt ATG. And the whiskers felt stingy. But expected as I didn't shave in that direction
/QUOTE]

My mistake - I thought you had - but nonetheless - your shaves really get comfortable when the right amount of pressure is used. We state "no pressure" or "just the weight of the blade".

This is just something you learn over time.

[QUOTE=BrickBag;678381]
Hmm maybe a little unclear again on my side, I meant once every two days. /QUOTE]

I think bi-daily means twice a day. I think "every two days" is correct. How often are you shaving now?

Originally Posted by BrickBag

Even better?!

Now this is clear!