And so the Journey Begins

[pauls51]

About a month and a half ago I got in contact with John (johnmrson) to get myself into straight shaving... He kindly offered me a 5/8 Solingen that he would hone himself prior to sending...

The package arrived a couple of days later, whilst I was in the middle of moving homes. I had also purchased a 2" Filly strop from Rup razor..
2 weeks had gone by and everytime I went to shave, I would come up with an excuse as to why I would stick to using my DE..

Yesterday I finally garnered up the courage to pull out the Solingen... She sat on the counter top in all her glory, tempting me to dare. I wrapped my fingers around her spine, looked up at the mirror as if this was the last time I would see my face and went for it!

The first touch of the cold steel to my face sent shivers down my spine as I begun.. Stop! I could feel the blade tugging.. That didn't feel right at all... I stopped and took a deep breath, made a slight adjustment to the blade angle and continued...

All my Christmas' came at once.. That sweet, sweet sound of my whiskers being mowed down by the Solingen was like music to my ears... I began getting comfortable and was even able to swap hands... Then it happened; She bit and she bit hard... She had taught me a lesson.. When you have an extremely sharp piece of steel at your face be vigilant!

Rinsed off and applyed some Witch hazel and some Proraso balm, cleaned up the Solingen and continued on with my Sunday evening.

All I am certain about, is that I cannot wait to shave again with "Soli"..

Which brings me to the next part of my post; I did 2 WTG passes, Do the straight veterans here, use the same process we use for DE shaving e.g. WTG, XTG & ATG???
I notice I have plenty of stubble after ~24 hours and it will take practice and plenty of patience before I can yield the same results I got with a DE...

Hones and a 3" strop is next on the list, followed by razors (Oh dear just when my AD's were under control!) To say i'm excited right now is an understatement!

 

[Luc]

Good work on the first straight razor shave!

Yes, I shave WTG/XTG and ATG almost everywhere. I do the same than when I had a DE.

If you are not ready for ATG, that's understandable. Wait until you are ready for ATG. If it doesn't feel right, stop. Nice picture, looks like we are back in the '70s...

 

[RF1963]

Yes I follow the same routine I did when I was DE shaving. I did find that I was taking just that bit more care in mapping my whisker growth in the early days of straight shaving.

Enjoy your new ADs!

 

[DrColossus11]

Congrats on your first straight shave! I'm new to straights as well. For now I just do two WTG passes with the occassional XTG on the cheeks.

 

[johnmrson]

I do a WTG, a XTG and about 2/3 ATG.

When you start out though, just do WTG until you get a little more comfortable with it. Then add in the XTG and again, keep doing that for a while before you think about ATG passes. You'll know when the time is right to move to the next steps. I've been straight shaving a while now and I've only recently added an ATG pass on a regular basis.

Sound like you're doing fine.

 

[Gustav]

+1 on taking your time and not doing anything that does not feel right. That is the way to do it and before you can pull a whole straight shave off it is quite allright to clean up with the DE.

Congratulations on your first shave and keep us posted on your progress!

 

[pauls51]

Thanks Gentlemen... I think for now I will stick with 2 WTG passes (that way I get to shave more often!!!)... Looking forward to the shave tonight... Now to get onto Stropping a straight!

 

[pauls51]

2nd Shave was alot easier and no major nicks....

I tried to give the ATG a go and it did tug and pull a bit.. I suppose I will put that down to very poor technique...

I also did slightly nick the Filly strop and again I'm putting that down to poor technique, however when I did strop the blade after the shave, it felt like I was stropping correctly..
Hopefully over the weekend I will order a 3" wide strop and some hones to practice on another straight.

 

[Luc]

2nd Shave was alot easier and no major nicks....

I tried to give the ATG a go and it did tug and pull a bit.. I suppose I will put that down to very poor technique...

I also did slightly nick the Filly strop and again I'm putting that down to poor technique, however when I did strop the blade after the shave, it felt like I was stropping correctly..
Hopefully over the weekend I will order a 3" wide strop and some hones to practice on another straight.

Wait until you get a straight on that new strop! Use the Filly for as long as you can. You don't want to nick a 3" strop...

Use a bit of sandpaper for the small nick and glue+sandpaper for big huge nicks.

For the ATG, it should be right but it's quick on shave #2... I would hold ATG for now.

 

[pauls51]

Thanks Luc... I used some 120 sandpaper and the nick is barely noticable now!

Ok a bit of an update... I have pretty much gotten use to the WTG pass... My next question is how do you guys hold the straight when going XTG??? I must admit it is sooo much easier doing ATG with a DE thanks to its size... But when I've got this straight i'm finding it feels too awkward...
Are there any helpful vids that shows how to do XTG effectively??? On Youtube there seems to be plenty WTG vids...

 

[Luc]

Thanks Luc... I used some 120 sandpaper and the nick is barely noticable now!

Ok a bit of an update... I have pretty much gotten use to the WTG pass... My next question is how do you guys hold the straight when going XTG??? I must admit it is sooo much easier doing ATG with a DE thanks to its size... But when I've got this straight i'm finding it feels too awkward...
Are there any helpful vids that shows how to do XTG effectively??? On Youtube there seems to be plenty WTG vids...

This should help: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/How_to_hold_a_Straight_Razor

 

[BladeRunner001]

...And the journey will continue . Congrats for not giving up. Keep at it. Nicks happen once in awhile...even to experienced users. This sport teaches you to be focused

 

[Munxcub]

So far I don't follow the same pattern with straight as I did with my DE. I can't figure out the angle to hold the blade, which hand, how to contort my face... Perhaps I need a shorty, heh.

For now (a whole 8 shaves in...) I do 2 down (wtg on face, mostly wtg/xtg on neck), one almost flat on my face, the other quite a bit steeper, then 2-3 up on neck (xtg/wtg) and xtg ear-nose on face.

My upper lip is tough to get anything but wtg on, but starting to figure out the right combination of facial contortion and blade angles for xtg heh.

Keep at it, don't push the envelope too much, but keep it just on the edge of minor errors. (that's where progress is made)

 

[pauls51]

This should help: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/How_to_hold_a_Straight_Razor

Fantastic... That's exactly what I was looking for!!!! Thanks again Luc



Certainly have no intention of giving up just yet!! (I haven't felt enough pain to want to give it away )

Munxcub I find it weird when going XTG on the neck.. I don't seem to get full contact with the blade to my face.. Maybe I need to just use the tip of the blade to cut those hard to reach places...

 

[Munxcub]

XTG on my neck is up, which was weird the first time, but feels great now. Going across my neck would be hinky for sure. I do find I spend next to know time using the heel of the razor, lots of time at the toe, heh.

 

[Luc]

Don't give up!!

 

[Gustav]

Fantastic... That's exactly what I was looking for!!!! Thanks again Luc



Certainly have no intention of giving up just yet!! (I haven't felt enough pain to want to give it away )

Munxcub I find it weird when going XTG on the neck.. I don't seem to get full contact with the blade to my face.. Maybe I need to just use the tip of the blade to cut those hard to reach places...

+1 on Munxcub's answer. It sometimes helps to take a step back with one of your feet and leaning forward slightly. In this posture you have somewhat more freedom of movement. Sometimes it also helps to hold the razor with the tip of the blade pointing downwards and moving from the ear to center of the neck (right side of neck using right hand). Good luck!

 

[pauls51]

Well its getting better I suppose... But I have a problem now... I seem to be on the hunt for more straights!!!!

My newly acquired JA Henckels 84 11/16 with rosewood scales(thanks to rambus007!!!).... Had a relatively good comfortable shave with it...

The mother in law has a couple she used when she owed a salon... A filarmonica and another JA Henckels!!!.. I'll be making a visit to my in-laws this weekend, like a good son-in-law!!!.

 

[rambus007]

For me I follow the same WTG, XTG and ATG as I do with my DE's with only one exception - I don't do ATG under my nose and only very very lightly on the chin because I don't want to slip and cut my nose or lips.

 

[Luc]

Mmm, good grand-ma... Everyone has a Filarmonica laying around doing nothing !