Completed the WTG passes without incident!

[Shave Ready]

After my 3rd SR shave on Monday, I decided that (a) my face needed time to recover from my poor technique and (b) that I needed to put the SR down for a few days in order to prevent my poor technique from turning into bad habits! So I put away the SR until I came back from Thanksgiving vacation, and made a fresh start this afternoon. Although it took me an hour, I managed to complete two WTG passes without nicking or cutting myself! I should have stopped there, but decided to try the XTG. Suffered a small nick in the sideburn area near the jawline, and decided to put the SR down and complete the XTG pass with the DE.

All in all, I consider this a victory. Slowing things down and making careful, deliberate strokes proved to me that I can do this without hurting myself - either from irritation or from cuts. It also helped me to remember that when I first started out with a DE, I similarly had trouble getting a complete WTG pass without missing spots. And, it's pretty cool to think that I just held a sharp piece of naked steel to my throat and lived to tell the story

 

[maxman]

Great to hear! Taking it slow is important. Soon enough it will become super easy and you won't even think about it.
I always go WTG be it with a DE, SE or straight.

Keep it up and let us know how it goes.

 

[hotreds]

Bravo! It does get easier- but NEVER let down your guard! I decided to keep using my DE/SE collection for ATG/XTG.

 

[Doc226]

 

[Wid]

Good job, congrats.

 

[Shave Ready]

Thanks all! I forgot to mention that the wiki article on blade angle (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Holding_the_Straight_Razor_and_Blade_Angle) was a big help for me. I previously tried to dial in that "magical" 30 degree blade angle, which I think caused me to use too steep of an angle on my previous attempts. This time, I started at near zero, and cranked up the angle until it felt "right".

I >think< I also used a little less pressure this time, which no doubt helped out!

Finally - interestingly enough - this morning - about 18 hours later - I only needed a single XTG pass with the DE razor rather than a WTG/XTG pass that I would normally need. This was a little surprising to me - is the SR cutting my hairs down closer than my DE does?

 

[Krodor]

Finally - interestingly enough - this morning - about 18 hours later - I only needed a single XTG pass with the DE razor rather than a WTG/XTG pass that I would normally need. This was a little surprising to me - is the SR cutting my hairs down closer than my DE does?

to be less than helpful --> No, it's just that the hairs are scared you're going to go after them again with the straight, so they don't wanna poke their heads out.

 

[Shave Ready]

to be less than helpful --> No, it's just that the hairs are scared you're going to go after them again with the straight, so they don't wanna poke their heads out.

Or perhaps they are afraid I'll throw down with the Veg again!