I just received two out of three packages containing my first straight, and everything else I need for my first foray into the world of wet shaving. I had to beg my room mate to stop by the house (he delivers pizza) and bring my precious packages inside and out of the torrential storm that came out of nowhere. (welcome to TX) When I got home from work I immediately opened everything and was pleased to see that the razor is more beautiful than any picture can portray, and that the leather case I got for it is the same story. I was also pleased that I really liked the smell of the soap I bought as well (T&H Luxury Shaving Soap.) I then set to opening up the package that contained my strop and reveled in the smell of fresh leather for a bit.
Unfortunately the package containing my brush will not arrive until tomorrow. Not willing to let this minor inconvenience prevent me from attempting my first shave I decided to go with the canned goo in my bathroom. No wonder yall refer to that stuff with such distaste! More on that in a moment...
I set upon putting a hook in the wall so that I have a place to attach my strop, after getting that taken care of I hung the strop on it and got my razor out. Upon opening it and further investigating the thing of beauty I am about to put to my face I discovered just how sharp it really is! I didn't know metal could get THAT sharp! Thank you, wonderful folks at SRD! I then took hold of the strop and proceeded to (attempt) to follow the instructions for stretching and straightening it back out. I got my hand about a quarter of the way up the strop and the hook pulled out of the wall. I made a mental note about a trip to the hardware store and decided in retrospect that
I should have known that a hook from a picture hanging kit would not hold up to the job. (Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated) I decided that the door handle would make an acceptable substitute for now. After a few swipes up and down the strop with my hand I was satisfied that it was ready to go.
I opened my blade, wiped the oil off on my shorts with a motion similar to that of stropping the blade and was shocked to see that even backwards the blade was sharp enough to take fibers off my shorts. At this point I began to wonder if putting a blade that sharp to my face and throat was such a good idea but, I decided that if men had been doing this for centuries, so could I. I gave the blade a slow and gentle stropping, and on about the third stroke nicked the top edge of my strop. (Thank you all who advised against an expensive strop at first)
At this point I remembered that I had done no prep work on my face so I decided to take a short hot shower and leave some conditioner on my few days worth or growth for a bit. (Another idea I got off of here.) When I got out of the shower I "lathered" my face up with goo and let it set while I rid the mirror of fog and figured out how to get the blade comfortable in my hand. I decided to start with my cheeks since I wanted to wait until I had the brush to use my soap with to shave off my chin strap. With the blade in my right hand I began to fumble around for a comfortable and feasible way to put the blade to my face and figure out the proper angle of the blade. I
decided to use another technique I read about on here and leave the blade flat to my face gradually increasing the angle until I could hear the hairs being cut off. In the first stroke of the blade I realized just how awuful that canned stuff is! Its sticky, almost causes the blade to be suction cupped to your face or causes the razor to skip all over the place...worthless...As I worked on shaving my cheeks I quickly learned that using a straight means constant adjustment of angle and position. Many times I was very grateful that I followed the advice of using almost no pressure, otherwise half of my face would be in my sink right now. As a I felt the blade beginning to bite I would ease off on the angle. The fact that I was taking this almost painful slow also ensured that my face stayed in tact.
When I got to the point that I was ready to do my upper lip there was quite a bit of fumbling around and many attempts and how to hold the blade so as to leave my nose ON my face. Eventually I decided sideways was the way to go on this one. This was the only XTG pass that I made the whole shave. (Is it possible to shave WTG under your nose?)
Having completed the majority of the right side of my face I was confronted with the slightly unnerving task of tackling my neck and under my jawline... This provided a few minutes worth of humorous antics as I tried to figure out how to hold the blade, in what angle etc. Under my jawline proved to tricky for the moment so I decided to try my luck on my neck first. That was quite the experience having such a sharp blade, in my own hands, against my own neck. I could practically see my heart beat in my Carotid, which did nothing to assuage my hesitations! By this time, the goo on my face had dried so I washed what remained off and re applied. I started very low on my neck with the same slow change in blade angle I used on my cheeks. When I heard the ring of hair being cut and saw no blood pouring from my neck I began to gain confidence. Slowly and steadily I continued ridding my neck of three days worth of itchy stubble. As I went higher, I could feel the change in the grain under my jaw line. I tried again to figure out how to shave WTG but was decidedly displeased with the idea of taking a deadly sharp blade in a motion that appeared sure to give me a good start towards a columbian necktie. Shaving ATG it was then.
Having completed the right side of my face It was time to attempt the left side. More humorous antics ensued as I attempted to make a mirror image of how I held the blade in my right hand and figuring out angles and positions all over again, but this time on my far less dominant side. After a few minutes I was fairly certain I had the right idea so I followed the same steps I had taken on the right side, just much more slowly and I'm sure in a more comic manner had anybody been watching me. A few times I attempted to put the blade back in my right hand and discovered it didn't work well at all, also I decided that if I let myself cheat from the beginning I would never get the technique down (Thank you sports coaches.)
When I had made one pass over every part of my face I used a warm rag to wipe off the remaining goo then turned on the cold water to splash on my face to close the pores back up. I gathered some water in my hands, splashed it on my face and HOLY S***!!!! The faceturbating began! My first go with a straight, in a one pass shave gave me a smoother face than any cartridge I have ever used. While rubbing my face and neck in awe I began to realize that something was missing... pain, irritation, angry red skin, all over burning and tightness... Surely it has to come...right? So I pat my face dry, and grab my after shave fearing that all the missing things would suddenly appear, and expecting to recreate the scene from "Home Alone" ... Nope! So I then grab my face lotion, once again, expecting the burn I get from putting it on after shaving, once again, its missing! I could almost see the skies opening up and hear the angels singing! At this point I realized something else was gone as well; the stress from my day, a welcome relief.
Needless to say I am a convert, hooked for life! An enjoyable, irritation, nick, and pain free stress relieving shave. All the things a Fusion commercial implies and promises and fails to follow through with! I almost wish my beard grew faster so I could repeat this process again tomorrow morning.
Unfortunately the package containing my brush will not arrive until tomorrow. Not willing to let this minor inconvenience prevent me from attempting my first shave I decided to go with the canned goo in my bathroom. No wonder yall refer to that stuff with such distaste! More on that in a moment...
I set upon putting a hook in the wall so that I have a place to attach my strop, after getting that taken care of I hung the strop on it and got my razor out. Upon opening it and further investigating the thing of beauty I am about to put to my face I discovered just how sharp it really is! I didn't know metal could get THAT sharp! Thank you, wonderful folks at SRD! I then took hold of the strop and proceeded to (attempt) to follow the instructions for stretching and straightening it back out. I got my hand about a quarter of the way up the strop and the hook pulled out of the wall. I made a mental note about a trip to the hardware store and decided in retrospect that
I should have known that a hook from a picture hanging kit would not hold up to the job. (Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated) I decided that the door handle would make an acceptable substitute for now. After a few swipes up and down the strop with my hand I was satisfied that it was ready to go.
I opened my blade, wiped the oil off on my shorts with a motion similar to that of stropping the blade and was shocked to see that even backwards the blade was sharp enough to take fibers off my shorts. At this point I began to wonder if putting a blade that sharp to my face and throat was such a good idea but, I decided that if men had been doing this for centuries, so could I. I gave the blade a slow and gentle stropping, and on about the third stroke nicked the top edge of my strop. (Thank you all who advised against an expensive strop at first)
At this point I remembered that I had done no prep work on my face so I decided to take a short hot shower and leave some conditioner on my few days worth or growth for a bit. (Another idea I got off of here.) When I got out of the shower I "lathered" my face up with goo and let it set while I rid the mirror of fog and figured out how to get the blade comfortable in my hand. I decided to start with my cheeks since I wanted to wait until I had the brush to use my soap with to shave off my chin strap. With the blade in my right hand I began to fumble around for a comfortable and feasible way to put the blade to my face and figure out the proper angle of the blade. I
decided to use another technique I read about on here and leave the blade flat to my face gradually increasing the angle until I could hear the hairs being cut off. In the first stroke of the blade I realized just how awuful that canned stuff is! Its sticky, almost causes the blade to be suction cupped to your face or causes the razor to skip all over the place...worthless...As I worked on shaving my cheeks I quickly learned that using a straight means constant adjustment of angle and position. Many times I was very grateful that I followed the advice of using almost no pressure, otherwise half of my face would be in my sink right now. As a I felt the blade beginning to bite I would ease off on the angle. The fact that I was taking this almost painful slow also ensured that my face stayed in tact.
When I got to the point that I was ready to do my upper lip there was quite a bit of fumbling around and many attempts and how to hold the blade so as to leave my nose ON my face. Eventually I decided sideways was the way to go on this one. This was the only XTG pass that I made the whole shave. (Is it possible to shave WTG under your nose?)
Having completed the majority of the right side of my face I was confronted with the slightly unnerving task of tackling my neck and under my jawline... This provided a few minutes worth of humorous antics as I tried to figure out how to hold the blade, in what angle etc. Under my jawline proved to tricky for the moment so I decided to try my luck on my neck first. That was quite the experience having such a sharp blade, in my own hands, against my own neck. I could practically see my heart beat in my Carotid, which did nothing to assuage my hesitations! By this time, the goo on my face had dried so I washed what remained off and re applied. I started very low on my neck with the same slow change in blade angle I used on my cheeks. When I heard the ring of hair being cut and saw no blood pouring from my neck I began to gain confidence. Slowly and steadily I continued ridding my neck of three days worth of itchy stubble. As I went higher, I could feel the change in the grain under my jaw line. I tried again to figure out how to shave WTG but was decidedly displeased with the idea of taking a deadly sharp blade in a motion that appeared sure to give me a good start towards a columbian necktie. Shaving ATG it was then.
Having completed the right side of my face It was time to attempt the left side. More humorous antics ensued as I attempted to make a mirror image of how I held the blade in my right hand and figuring out angles and positions all over again, but this time on my far less dominant side. After a few minutes I was fairly certain I had the right idea so I followed the same steps I had taken on the right side, just much more slowly and I'm sure in a more comic manner had anybody been watching me. A few times I attempted to put the blade back in my right hand and discovered it didn't work well at all, also I decided that if I let myself cheat from the beginning I would never get the technique down (Thank you sports coaches.)
When I had made one pass over every part of my face I used a warm rag to wipe off the remaining goo then turned on the cold water to splash on my face to close the pores back up. I gathered some water in my hands, splashed it on my face and HOLY S***!!!! The faceturbating began! My first go with a straight, in a one pass shave gave me a smoother face than any cartridge I have ever used. While rubbing my face and neck in awe I began to realize that something was missing... pain, irritation, angry red skin, all over burning and tightness... Surely it has to come...right? So I pat my face dry, and grab my after shave fearing that all the missing things would suddenly appear, and expecting to recreate the scene from "Home Alone" ... Nope! So I then grab my face lotion, once again, expecting the burn I get from putting it on after shaving, once again, its missing! I could almost see the skies opening up and hear the angels singing! At this point I realized something else was gone as well; the stress from my day, a welcome relief.
Needless to say I am a convert, hooked for life! An enjoyable, irritation, nick, and pain free stress relieving shave. All the things a Fusion commercial implies and promises and fails to follow through with! I almost wish my beard grew faster so I could repeat this process again tomorrow morning.
