I received @rbscebu's PIF’d Titan straight in the mail yesterday after waiting 3 long weeks for it to arrive from the other side of the world. My original plan was to wait for the weekend to try my first straight razor shave so I could take my time, but the temptation was too much and I used it last night.
I used the SR for two WTG passes on my cheeks and the flat area under my chin, then finished with a DE.
Overall it was OK but far from great. No blood or weepers so I’ll count it as a victory. I wouldn’t say it was tuggy, but the whiskers didn’t come off like they weren’t there either, and the blade wanted to chatter across my stubble in some places. Some spots were easier than others and I think this probably has something to do with shave angle? I tried to keep the blade ½ to 1 spine thickness off my skin but as I found out it’s not so easy to do.
By far the part that gave me the most trouble was figuring out how to hold the razor. No matter what I tried it was always at an awkward angle and half the time my arm/elbow was blocking my view of the blade. Shaving blind is not how I imagined starting out. I need to watch some more videos to see how others do it.
Something else I noticed was that the face of the blade would stick to my face sometimes like a suction cup. Is this because the spine was too close? Lather too dry? It took me so long to do one cheek that I had to re-wet my lather for the other one.
After the shave I made sure the razor was dried off perfectly then stropped it on hanging 0.1um pasted balsa. I think I did a pretty good job because the bevel came out super shiny and tree topped arm hairs with a very satisfying pinging sound. I should also note that I shaved with @rbscebu’s edge as I received it to make sure I didn’t mess anything up.
Despite the shave being nothing special, I can’t wait to do it again
I used the SR for two WTG passes on my cheeks and the flat area under my chin, then finished with a DE.
Overall it was OK but far from great. No blood or weepers so I’ll count it as a victory. I wouldn’t say it was tuggy, but the whiskers didn’t come off like they weren’t there either, and the blade wanted to chatter across my stubble in some places. Some spots were easier than others and I think this probably has something to do with shave angle? I tried to keep the blade ½ to 1 spine thickness off my skin but as I found out it’s not so easy to do.
By far the part that gave me the most trouble was figuring out how to hold the razor. No matter what I tried it was always at an awkward angle and half the time my arm/elbow was blocking my view of the blade. Shaving blind is not how I imagined starting out. I need to watch some more videos to see how others do it.
Something else I noticed was that the face of the blade would stick to my face sometimes like a suction cup. Is this because the spine was too close? Lather too dry? It took me so long to do one cheek that I had to re-wet my lather for the other one.
After the shave I made sure the razor was dried off perfectly then stropped it on hanging 0.1um pasted balsa. I think I did a pretty good job because the bevel came out super shiny and tree topped arm hairs with a very satisfying pinging sound. I should also note that I shaved with @rbscebu’s edge as I received it to make sure I didn’t mess anything up.
Despite the shave being nothing special, I can’t wait to do it again
Last edited: