Either my best or worst SR shave yet

RouxBlade · Aug 5, 2022

Depends on how you look at it.

Today's shave was the closest/smoothest I've been able to get with a SR so far. Nearly my entire face was smooth to the touch. Light pressure makes a big difference. I can do more passes.

And I really, REALLY wanted the upper lip smooth. I started trying some new angles. So far it's been WTG and trying to figure out how to approach a XTG on it.

Which is how this happened. Not the first time I've bled but the first time I've left mark. Took several passes of the styptic pencil to stop the bleeding.

silverlifter · Aug 5, 2022

Yep: had pretty much the exact same cut trying to work out the same stroke!

What I find works best for me is to come down and around from the top of the cheek, in a J-stroke.

I cut myself up quite a bit between shaves 10-15. Since then, touches wood, it has been a bloodless event. Keep at it, its all part of the learning process.

rbscebu · Aug 5, 2022

I never tried an XTG on the upper lip. I started with WTG only and later added my coupes de maître.

Ravenonrock · Aug 5, 2022

Nice one! It happens sometimes, part of the learning curve unfortunately. Hope you heal up quickly. Part of the reason I enjoy sporting a moustache from time to time.

taffy · Aug 6, 2022

I have a beard, so currently only shaving my neck. Your photo brings back memories though of pre beard shaves.

Herrenberg · Aug 6, 2022

I have a beard, so no clean upper lip for me. But despite all the hoopla about the ATG "Fool's Pass," it seems much less scary to me than trying to go XTG over such an irregular and hard to stretch surface.

haggis · Aug 6, 2022

I do a ridiculous number of passes on the upper lip in a sequence learned by trial and error to end up with -- for me -- the best results with the least potential for damage. Your face will vary, obvs.

First pass I include the upper lip, N-S (half one hand; other half other hand' all subsequent passes dominant hand)
Second pass I do S-N everywhere *except* upper lip which I do from nose --> ear each side (easy, never any drama)
Third pass I do mainly XTG and ear --> nose upper lip and very carefully at that (shallow and light and don't care how close)
Final cleanup pass elsewhere, I do two AGT upper lip (so-called fool's pass)
1. Scales to the left, AGT each side
2. Scales to the right, AGT each side

I have a scar from childhood on my upper lip and this process of gradual reduction and the final pass combination of grips and angles (related to using the dominant hand only) seems to be safe and effective for me.

Loner16 · Aug 7, 2022

For those that would like to see a Master of the straight razor, and a barber himself, do ATG on the upper lip..

HazMat Shaver · Aug 7, 2022

I'm not talking from experience as I've had a hairy upper lip most of my life. But I saw a guy do the Fool's Pass by holding the razor in both hands and moving his face, not the blade. It looked like a great idea to me.

rbscebu · Aug 7, 2022

Fool's Pass With A Straight Razor - All You Need To Know

The information in this post is based on my experience with performing about 800 daily SR fool's passes. The fool's pass is shaving S - N on the upper lip. It is not a pass for everyone. Most people have whiskers growing about N - S on their upper lip so the fool's pass is considered here to be...

www.badgerandblade.com

Andris83 · Aug 7, 2022

Loner16 said:
For those that would like to see a Master of the straight razor, and a barber himself, do ATG on the upper lip..

(de shaver here.) wow, he is faster with those straights than I am with my DEs

the limited number of other straight videos I saw were nothing like this. so effortless and not a single nick!

p.s.: I had to put on the headphones and enable subtitles to get half of what he said. apparently, google also had a hard time understanding it, as it got so many words wrong

Loner16 · Aug 7, 2022

Andris83 said:
(de shaver here.) wow, he is faster with those straights than I am with my DEs the limited number of other straight videos I saw were nothing like this. so effortless and not a single nick!

p.s.: I had to put on the headphones and enable subtitles to get half of what he said. apparently, google also had a hard time understanding it, as it got so many words wrong

Gary is a good guy... and very knowledgable..

An old member of cot.be, so he knows his way around honing stones also.

CpnStumpy · Aug 8, 2022

Herrenberg said:
I have a beard, so no clean upper lip for me. But despite all the hoopla about the ATG "Fool's Pass," it seems much less scary to me than trying to go XTG over such an irregular and hard to stretch surface.

Just dig that French point right up in the nostril man, what could go wrong?

CpnStumpy · Aug 8, 2022

Andris83 said:
(de shaver here.) wow, he is faster with those straights than I am with my DEs the limited number of other straight videos I saw were nothing like this. so effortless and not a single nick!

p.s.: I had to put on the headphones and enable subtitles to get half of what he said. apparently, google also had a hard time understanding it, as it got so many words wrong

I've been looking for videos like this because truthfully, the majority of the straight videos you see actually get this wrong:

They're showing folks learning and or teaching, going extra slow and shaving very remedially.

I bet a significant number of the shavers around badger and blade shave much more similarly in speed and comfort to this fellow because that's what happens when you do it for a while.

Videos showing people shaving using only the first grip ever learned and slowly etching down their cheeks and face are not indicative of how someone who's used a straight for 2+ years shaves, but they're pretty much 95% of videos showing straight shaving.

Straight razor shaving should be as fast as or faster than a DE shave generally I would expect when the shaver's experienced, DE having higher likelihood of cutting you generally requires a bit more caution

JPO · Aug 30, 2022

Andris83 said:
(de shaver here.) wow, he is faster with those straights than I am with my DEs the limited number of other straight videos I saw were nothing like this. so effortless and not a single nick!

p.s.: I had to put on the headphones and enable subtitles to get half of what he said. apparently, google also had a hard time understanding it, as it got so many words wrong

Try to watch videos from John June

Staggers and Jags · Sep 8, 2022

RouxBlade said:
Depends on how you look at it.

Today's shave was the closest/smoothest I've been able to get with a SR so far. Nearly my entire face was smooth to the touch. Light pressure makes a big difference. I can do more passes.

And I really, REALLY wanted the upper lip smooth. I started trying some new angles. So far it's been WTG and trying to figure out how to approach a XTG on it.

Which is how this happened. Not the first time I've bled but the first time I've left mark. Took several passes of the styptic pencil to stop the bleeding.

thats gonna be a nice scar may want a moustace for it

AvocadoKing · Sep 8, 2022