Thread: Anything you would change about your learning experience?

Before I got my first SR, I read a ton about the shaving process both here on SRP and other forums/websites. I watched YouTube videos, paid close attention during my first shave at the barber's and read more material. Most advice generally pointed to starting with your dominant hand on one of your 'burns, build confidence, add a section...

I intended to do this. But I didn't. My safety razors are still in the drawer, used once or twice to get bits I've missed, otherwise doing nothing.

It took me an hour and a half to complete my first shave. I really didn't want to be slicing up my face. It took time to figure out the best ways for me to hold the razor and hold my skin tight, figure out which ways my hair grew, re-apply lather that was drying out, figure out how to hold the razor in my OTHER hand, figure out the best way for me to clean the blade... HUGE LEARNING CURVE. It was FANTASTIC!

My first shave was incident-free. As close as I got with my disposables, but it felt so much... Fresher. I've never shaved XTG, usually just ATG or WTG depending on what part of my face I was shaving (this has become apparent to me AFTER picking up SR shaving), so I've never really had that BBS shave.


The only things I would change with my learning experience so far is learning more about and being more patient with lathering, either buying a second shave-ready razor or finding someone local to refresh the razor I have, and starting with my non-dominant hand.

Lathering up in a coffee cup (I had nothing else really) is a pain in the butt. I have learned that I get a much, much better lather if I just use the palm of my hand. And I've worked out why. It's because when I've been creatign the lather and swiping it off into my pre-heated coffee cup (sans coffee) from my brush, I'd rub my hands together and rub them onto my face to dispose of the rest. THEN I would apply more using the brush. I haven't been doing this the last few days and I've noticed a significant difference.

Not having a second razor that's shave-ready, or someone I can get to refresh the edge on my only razor real quick, means I'm forced to either learn how to do this myself before my edge is more like a spoon in terms of sharpness or I buy another razor that's ready to go so I have a bit more time to learn. I did buy some stones etc about 3 weeks ago, but because the retailer was out of stock everything was on backorder. I received these today however I won't have any spare time until next week.

My right hand is pretty darn unco-ordinated, especially with fine-motor skills. I can write a sentence with it, but it looks like something that might sell in a fine-art auction rather than legible text. My thoughts here are that when I try to do things with my less fortunate right hand, I find that my mind is trying to translate stored instructions for my left hand into interpetable instructions for my right. It rarely works out. I'm glad this time it did. Without knowing for sure, I reckon that it would have been easier to do the translating the other way around. Either that or I'd have given up earlier and gone back to the old disposables!

Everybody has their own path on this adventure. Sounds like your doing okay, your not bleeding all over the place. As for your non dominate hand....It is all in the mind. I have been working with both hands all my life so using a razor came quick for me. I would not say i am ambidextrous and couldn't write to words with my left hand. But getting back to the mind. I have taught guys how to back up a trailer and it is the same type of thing. Your looking in the mirror and if you think turn this to get that you will be crisscrossing all over the place . Just watch the direction and make slow movements to get going the way you want. Watch which way the trailer is going not which way you think it will go. Same with the razor. Don't go by feel, watch which way it's going. It will come with practice. Some say start doing things with your weaker side and it will help your motor skills. I don't know if that is a faster way or not but you may try that also. Use the Force , or what ever it takes and it will come to you.

I am quite ambidextrous, but I would have done even more 'un-natural' things with my left hand to help with angles with my left hand.

I'd sure do some things differently.
I would *NOT* have tried to learn the straight shave at the same time I was learning to hone. That was a big mistake, and my face suffered for it. But worse, I wasn't enjoying my shaves at all. They were challenges, but I could never call them pleasant.

I would not have bought a new razor from a brick & mortar vendor that has no clue what shave-ready is.

I would look to have gotten w/ experienced shavers - either by a meet-up or a local individual to learn the shave and learn stropping. I sent 5 leather strops to their reward with my horrible technique.

In the Immortal words of one member: 'Lousy technique ensures that you successfully cut everthing except beard.'

Yeah I'm seriously considering at least a second razor, if not more, so I'm not learning to hone via horrible shaving experience. I'll either buy from a member here or one of the highly recommended places I've seen mentioned.

My stropping technique has greatly improved since starting, but I still have a lot to learn. And I'll need another strop. It is sooo easy to nick a strop.

I usually start with my right hand and end with my left now, and I've noticed vast improvements with my right hand. My technique is almost matched - the proof is in the quality of shaves and the time it takes me to complete.

I would have emptied out my bank account and invested it all in razors. Seriously. Banks have a fraction of a percent interest; razors would have at least tripled my net worth.

I wouldn't change a thing. The way you learn is the way you learn. If that takes making mistakes then so be it. Ok scratch that the one thing I would change is that I would have done more research on what razor to buy as my first. I just looked through Amazon and picked one out randomly. As far as I knew a razor was a razor. I completely lucked out and picked a Dovo but I had never heard anything about it. The second razor I found I didn't have so much luck. I clicked the first site that came up when I googled straight razors and bought a razor from there that was complete garbage, and worse yet the site would not even return my emails. Thats when I stumbled across this site and the resources it offers.

I would have not been so hard headed and sought out advice much earlier on. This hobby has humbled me repeatedly and I've learned some things about myself on the way. I'm a hardheaded stubborn son of a gun. I've actually gotten better at keeping that under control because of straight razors and I intend to keep mellowing out as I grow with this art form.

I wouldn't change anything in my beautiful learning trip, though I made many mistakes.
Passionating experience in the joy and in the pain.

Yes, I would change just about everything!

Straight razor shaving and maintaining is said to be mysterious and almost esoteric while it is not. If I had had someone proficient at my disposal, there would have been no such thing as a learning curve. But because I didn't I had to figure out everything myself by trial and error. PITA...

Of course I enjoyed the smallest of gain/improvement. But just because I had so many failures...

Cheers