Thread: My first straight razor

I experienced my best ever shave tonight. I recently purchased myself an alum block and a bottle of Speick aftershave splash - i figured both would make a good excuse to go for a full face BBS shave.

Mission half accomplished

My cheeks and sideburns are as smooth as they have ever been, but my chin and jawline are still faintly sandpaper like. After multiple passes i could feel my face was starting to burn - so i finished up and tried out the alum block for the first time. WOW! what a sensation! and immediately i could feel my face beginning to calm down. I rinsed up and finished off with the Speick aftershave (which is just excellent btw). My face feels fantastic!

Also i managed to proper nick myself for the first time, catching myself right beneath my nose. Luckily, the alum quickly put and end to the blood flow. I'm about 12 shaves in, so i guess it was about time my razor tasted blood! It must have been very thirsty

It must be something in the air. After two weeks of blood-free shaves, I let a spike bite me. Fortunately, it was a clean cut that immediately closed up.

Getting a truly BBS on the chin is not easy. My only few times of success is when I overdo the moisturizer and shaving cream and then use a slight slicing motion in very short strokes. It works but takes practice. Any pressure on this stroke and you are suddenly slicing skin rather than whiskers. I often hold the blade with two hands to get the very last of the sandpaper stubble.

Some days I am lazy and do WTG and XTG grain with a straight and then finish with ATG with my Jagger DE89L. I really enjoy using the Jagger as well as straights and it is an easy way to get a BBS shave. Yes, you may call me a "cheater." Fortunately, since I turned 68 this week, I feel pretty free to shave any way I want to. LOL.

Congratulations on your perseverance. One question: I have not used Speick and can't find it locally. How do you characterize its scent?

I'm pretty sure there are a few members in your area that would be more then glad to help you out and sharpen your razor if you feel it's tugging too much.

As for the video I must say it was entertaining to watch. It's been so long since my first shave I forgot how awkward it could be at moments lol.

Kind of reminds me of a teenager trying to unhook a bra for the first time. You have to fumble around with it for a while but eventually you get it lol


Lol have fun

Originally Posted by lapp

I experienced my best ever shave tonight. I recently purchased myself an alum block and a bottle of Speick aftershave splash - i figured both would make a good excuse to go for a full face BBS shave.

Mission half accomplished

My cheeks and sideburns are as smooth as they have ever been, but my chin and jawline are still faintly sandpaper like. After multiple passes i could feel my face was starting to burn - so i finished up and tried out the alum block for the first time. WOW! what a sensation! and immediately i could feel my face beginning to calm down. I rinsed up and finished off with the Speick aftershave (which is just excellent btw). My face feels fantastic!

Also i managed to proper nick myself for the first time, catching myself right beneath my nose. Luckily, the alum quickly put and end to the blood flow. I'm about 12 shaves in, so i guess it was about time my razor tasted blood! It must have been very thirsty

Glad you had a great shave. I don't shave my chin. But, the jawline's a little tricky and takes some experimentation with stretching in different directions. I have to be honest and say that most nights I'm wanting to wind down, so I don't sweat it too much. IMO it's only really important if someone else is going to be touching your face.

Originally Posted by DLB

Getting a truly BBS on the chin is not easy. My only few times of success is when I overdo the moisturizer and shaving cream and then use a slight slicing motion in very short strokes.

Some days I am lazy and do WTG and XTG grain with a straight and then finish with ATG with my Jagger. DE89L. I really enjoy using the Jagger as well as straights and it is an easy way to get a BBS shave. Yes, you may call me a "cheater." Fortunately, since I turned 68 this week, I feel pretty free to shave any way I want to. LOL.

Congratulations on your perseverance. One question: I have not used Speick and can't find it locally. How do you characterize its scent?

I use the slicing motion on my upper lip (gillette slide as per mantic) and find it works really well, but must be used with extreme care! As for cuts, i have found that the straight gives the cleanest of the bunch - If i ever managed to nick myself with a cartridge, i would bleed like a stuck pig. It was a rare thing to do, but when it happened i'd know about it! With my DE i would nick myself regularly in pursuit of the closest possible shave - the nicks would stop bleeding quickly though. With a straight, the nicks stop bleeding almost instantly! A tiny spot of blood may appear, but never flows. Even with a cut, the bleeding was minimal. Ironic huh?

I haven't touched my DE since i got a straight, but i think i will look at where i can incorporate it into my shave. I don't see it as cheating, but rather enjoying the best of both worlds

I love the scent of the Speick. It is a very light citrusy (orange mainly) scent that lasts an hour or two. I don't find it to be overpowering at all. I had to buy it on the internet - i think the only place you can buy it locally is in Germany. Give it a shot, it is inexpensive compared to most other brands.

@BigJim - the BBS shave is a matter of personal satisfaction for me. I am not worried about other people touching my face, although the g/f loves the BBS feel

@Lapp

I have a set of German Chroma kitchen knives designed by F. A. Porsche that uses Japanese Type 301 stainless steel and incorporates a Japanese style 15 degree angled bevel. They are razor sharp. The sharper the blade, the less the flesh of fish is destroyed. A dull knife injures the delicate flesh and causes decay much quicker. For sushi, the sharpness of the knife partially determines the quality of the taste. In the same way, a really sharp straight razor cut does far less damage to the flesh than a dull blade. That is why the cut heals so quickly.

Originally Posted by lapp

I love the scent of the Speick. It is a very light citrusy (orange mainly) scent that lasts an hour or two. I don't find it to be overpowering at all.

I have to confess to not really being interested as I don't generally use any after shave, but I'm a big fan of citrus scents. Now you've piqued my interest!

Originally Posted by lapp

@BigJim - the BBS shave is a matter of personal satisfaction for me. I am not worried about other people touching my face, although the g/f loves the BBS feel

The wife loves the BBS feel too, and at the end of a good day I love to get a nice BBS shave. At the end of a rough day I don't push it...I get a good 2 or 3 pass shave and enjoy the warm lather and the scent of the soap along with the shave. I've had a couple days where I thought not to shave at all, particularly when my Genco started to fade and I wasn't relishing the possibility of a less than glorious shave, but even then I couldn't bring myself to pull out my fatboy. There's something deeply satisfying about a straight shave, whether BBS or just a DFS.

Congratulations

I managed my first completely irritation free shave today. Performed 70 laps on the strop beforehand and i really felt the difference! Zero pressure and a good lather helped too. Speaking of lather, i normally whip up a nice thick lather of Speick (it is almost like a meringue) when i shave, but today i decided to add more water than usual. The lather was a bit thinner and took a lot more work to lather, but the shave was much smoother also. Will continue to experiment with a thinner lather and report back on progress.

I still haven't touched my DE yet. I just enjoy straight shaving too much to consider using anything else!

Congrats to you! Over the weekend, when my son was born, I still shaved with my straight. I probably should have shaved with the DE as I managed two slices the morning after, and one the next. Only one has stuck around for any length of time, but I just enjoy my straight so much.

I started out too thin on my lather, now I'm working back from being too dry and getting the same results you are with VDH soap.

Keep at it!

Peace,