Today marks my 30[SUP]th[/SUP] shave with a straight razor. I had serious doubts when I began, and wondered what I was getting into.
It was only January of this year that I started shaving with a DE. Before that it was carts and canned goo. As I was learning the DE, I wondered how I would ever keep with it. After all, I could get a great shave with my Sensor Excel in less than 5 minutes, and out the door. This new routine was taking more than 20 minutes…an eternity when you have to start a busy day. But I kept at it, and learned fairly quickly and with very little bloodshed…and it became my daily ritual, and I loved it.
Once I became comfortable with my DE, I became intrigued by straights…and started scouring the forum for advice, and tips and general knowledge. I bought a shave ready straight off the BST and jumped in.
The first shave wasn’t anything I could have expected. This razor sharp blade felt anything but as it grabbed and tugged at my stubble. What’s wrong with this? Why do people rave about this? But I followed everyone’s suggestions and kept at it. It was hit or miss at first, and till recently, I always finished with my DE for a close shave. I only cut myself once, when I lingered in one spot a little too long, but the bleeding stopped fairly quickly and I learned something valuable from it. But all these passes, and the irritation, arghh. By this time, my DE was the faster alternative…which made me chuckle to think back a few months.
Finally I got the hang of WTG, but XTG was just awful. So I made several WTG passes before I would even think of trying XTG (beard reduction…right?). Then one day, it wasn’t so bad. Then I tried ATG. No way…how do people do this? So many more passes WTG and XTG, and now I can get a reasonable ATG.
So today’s shave was pretty much a DFS, and I think I’m at that point where I can pretty much achieve a DFS or at least a SAS pretty regularly with minimal irritation with 4 to 6 passes. I seldom finish with the DE anymore. I have a long way to go, and I still enjoy my DE’s when I need to hurry in the morning (imagine that). But I’m going to keep at the straight for a while longer.
During this time, I bought a couple cheap razors off the bay, and a couple different stones, and now I’m learning to hone my own razors.
It’s so cool to think that I’m getting a decent shave from a razor that’s so very old, and it makes me think of the generations of men in my family that started their days like this.
But it’s only shaving, right? Sure…
It was only January of this year that I started shaving with a DE. Before that it was carts and canned goo. As I was learning the DE, I wondered how I would ever keep with it. After all, I could get a great shave with my Sensor Excel in less than 5 minutes, and out the door. This new routine was taking more than 20 minutes…an eternity when you have to start a busy day. But I kept at it, and learned fairly quickly and with very little bloodshed…and it became my daily ritual, and I loved it.
Once I became comfortable with my DE, I became intrigued by straights…and started scouring the forum for advice, and tips and general knowledge. I bought a shave ready straight off the BST and jumped in.
The first shave wasn’t anything I could have expected. This razor sharp blade felt anything but as it grabbed and tugged at my stubble. What’s wrong with this? Why do people rave about this? But I followed everyone’s suggestions and kept at it. It was hit or miss at first, and till recently, I always finished with my DE for a close shave. I only cut myself once, when I lingered in one spot a little too long, but the bleeding stopped fairly quickly and I learned something valuable from it. But all these passes, and the irritation, arghh. By this time, my DE was the faster alternative…which made me chuckle to think back a few months.
Finally I got the hang of WTG, but XTG was just awful. So I made several WTG passes before I would even think of trying XTG (beard reduction…right?). Then one day, it wasn’t so bad. Then I tried ATG. No way…how do people do this? So many more passes WTG and XTG, and now I can get a reasonable ATG.
So today’s shave was pretty much a DFS, and I think I’m at that point where I can pretty much achieve a DFS or at least a SAS pretty regularly with minimal irritation with 4 to 6 passes. I seldom finish with the DE anymore. I have a long way to go, and I still enjoy my DE’s when I need to hurry in the morning (imagine that). But I’m going to keep at the straight for a while longer.
During this time, I bought a couple cheap razors off the bay, and a couple different stones, and now I’m learning to hone my own razors.
It’s so cool to think that I’m getting a decent shave from a razor that’s so very old, and it makes me think of the generations of men in my family that started their days like this.
But it’s only shaving, right? Sure…
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