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First SR Shave Today

RumpleBearskin

RumpleBearskin

Three more weeks of SR shaving and some new insights, this time about razors.

First I'll just check in and say that the SR shaving just gets easier and easier and take less and less time. And I'm experimenting with grips and which hand does which side of which part to try to find the best angles and strokes. My DE has been relegated to loans to friends interested in learning why I'm so obsessed with traditional shaving. Crazy evidently is contagious ...

I've started building out a hodge-podge 7-day SR set so I can have primo edges all week with my pasted balsa maintenances zen sessions relegated to the weekend. In that endeavor I picked up a quarter hollow blade while everything else to date has been full hollow in differing blade widths (5/8, 6/8, and 7/8) and different points (round, spike, and barber's notch). This morning was the first shave with the 1/4 hollow and all I can say is, WOW! The blade had next to no audible feedback, but it seemed to just glide over my face. It felt like sliding a piece of polished aluminum along my skin, but the whiskers just vaporized. The closest SR shave I've had, and maybe the closest shave I've ever had with any razor.

Full disclosure, I did end up with one nick at the base of my neck that closed with alum. But I attribute that to being unfamiliar with a new razor rather than the grind being more prone to biting.

So, this got me thinking. It's common to recommend a blade sampler for new DE shavers to help find the best razor/blade/technique combination to suit their individual situation and tastes. But, the process of acquiring all the different SR grinds, point types, widths, to try seems prohibitive. Have most of you started with a particular grind/design and just stuck with it? Or has everyone eventually shelled out for the "drawer full of razors" of different styles? If the latter, do you still shave with them all? Or are they just sitting there with appreciation, but without much love?
 
alex2363

alex2363

RumpleBearskin said:
I'm not much of one for posting on forums, but today was my first SR shave and I am ecstatic! This seemed like the right place to gush a bit.

I've been wet shaving (multiblade store razors) for all my life. I moved to an Edwin Jager DE89, Astra blades, and a Baxter of California silvertip brush (and more soaps than I can count) just over two years ago. I have loved the routine and gone from hating having to shave to truly looking forward to it on a daily basis.

After about 6 months with the DE I started drooling over straight razors. They both fascinated and terrified me. I spent more time than I care to admit reading reviews and checking catalogs, but always stopped short of plunking down the money and diving in. That all changed last week when I broke down and ordered a honed Dovo Forestal, an Omega 637 brush and a leather/linen strop. Everything arrived yesterday and this morning I screwed my courage to the sticking post and took the plunge.

View attachment 873971

I did one pass WTG on both cheeks, right handed for the right cheek and left handed for the left cheek. No cuts. No nicks. I then finished WTG with the DE. Results were passable. The places I shaved with the straight were not as clean as where I shaved with the DE, but I chalk that up to 10 minutes of practice with the SR and 2+ years building technique with the DE.

Just for giggles (after all this is FUN), I did a second WTG pass on my cheeks with the straight and removed significantly more hair. At least SAS and maybe even CCS. No doubt it will continue to improve as I learn what the heck it is I am doing.

Of course I finished my whole face with ATG and XTG because ... well just because. And of course I finished with an alum block and an ultra-light face lotion I use for AS.

Bottom line, I'm sold. I no longer expect to open my carotid, and I can't wait to give it another try tomorrow. I'll be taking it slow and sticking with my cheeks for a bit, but I can now see where this is going, and I like it. I am happy as a clam (except ... clams don't get to shave).

Thanks for reading. Just had to put it out there ...

Oh, two operational notes:
  1. I used a preshave of my own making (avocado oil and grapeseed oil 1:1). Works great with the DE, not so well with the SR. Seemed "sticky" on my first pass but was mostly gone for the second pass.
  2. That nice, creamy, THICK lather from the Don Marco was not optimal for the SR. I thinned it down significantly for the second pass and things went much better. Tomorrow I'll try with my Doc Elliott Classic which is typically a thinner lather.
Click to expand...
CONGRATS ALAN...
 
RumpleBearskin

RumpleBearskin

Time to come clean ... Completely clean shaven that is.

I'll be honest, I feel like a bit of a fraud. Yes I'm well over my 100th SR shave. Yes, I feel competent with a SR. Yes, I'm a believer in The Method. Yes, I'm experimenting with different grinds. So everything I've posted to date is true. But ... a little incomplete.

You see, I have sported a goatee for several years. So none of my 100+ shaves have included my chin or lower lip. I know these are tricky areas, so I don't quite feel like I have yet earned my stripes.

That changes tomorrow. My beloved goatee will be brought low by the clippers and then removed via the straight. I'm anticipating a return to the land of nicks and cuts for a while. But I am confident that by Movember I will have mastered the omitted facial areas and can regrow the chin warmer with full integrity.

Time to watch some more YouTube ...
 
Dzaw

Dzaw

Congrats on the decision to finish what you've started. The skill and mastery you've developed (especially along your jawline and neck) will serve you well. The chin and upper lip are definitely places where care is quite due, but you certainly don't need me to preach adequate caution, having learned it first hand.

The biggest challenge I have in these areas is the density of growth. Most of the individual whiskers are a little narrower than their cheekbound counterparts, but there are so many per square millimeter, it's just havoc trying to make the razor cut them without cutting me.
 
RumpleBearskin

RumpleBearskin

So Saturday saw my first attempt at shaving my chin. I used my 5/8 quarter hollow Waterville Unlimited, and it seemed to really do the job. No nicks or cuts, at least not on my chin. I did manage to slice my left cheek on the XTG pass (I think I was busy worrying about my chin). The alum said there were no other real problems. Overall, not too bad, although more stubble remaining than I generally accept. SAS is sometimes what we get in life. Figured I still had a chin and that was a win for the day.

Move on to Sunday. Brought out my 7/8, full hollow Dorko 118. No blood this time, but also not a good shave. Barely SAS everywhere. On the bright side, my chin was still attached. I chalked both shaves up to needing to do my balsa maintenance on all 5 of my razors after a full week of shaving. Ran them all on 0.25 and 0.10 and all treetoped at 1/4". (Yes, The Method works.)

Then came Monday. My usual 2.5 passes with my 5/8 full hollow Dovo Forestal. No blood again, but still lousy results. Not even SAS, but limited time in the mornings kept me from cleaning up. By now the stubble was so bad that when I got to the office a fellow traditional shaver asked if I skipped my shave that day. I think that's the definition of not making the SAS mark. At this point I was considering Sunday and Monday's shaves as possibly the worst in my life. I almost took it as a sign from the cosmos that I was meant to have a goatee.

But this morning (Tuesday) dawned fair, and I decided to give it another go. Picked up the Bresduck DblDuck Special #1, and darned if I didn't get BBS most everywhere, and DFS to BBS even on my chin! It's 13 1/2 hours after the shave and still almost no shadow. Excellent shave this morning!

So now I know I can do this. All I need to figure out is why the previous three shaves were so abysmal. Perhaps tomorrow will hold a clue ...

Two steps forward, one step (and sometimes two, or even three steps) back ...
 
Dzaw

Dzaw

Well, congrats on todays shave!

Let us know if you have any epiphanies about the prior shaves, though. Especially if it turns out to be something insidious. You know the sort - something so basic we can all easily forget it, or something so obscure no one would think about it.
 
Twelvefret

Twelvefret

RumpleBearskin said:
Time to come clean ... Completely clean shaven that is.

I'll be honest, I feel like a bit of a fraud. Yes I'm well over my 100th SR shave. Yes, I feel competent with a SR. Yes, I'm a believer in The Method. Yes, I'm experimenting with different grinds. So everything I've posted to date is true. But ... a little incomplete.

You see, I have sported a goatee for several years. So none of my 100+ shaves have included my chin or lower lip. I know these are tricky areas, so I don't quite feel like I have yet earned my stripes.

That changes tomorrow. My beloved goatee will be brought low by the clippers and then removed via the straight. I'm anticipating a return to the land of nicks and cuts for a while. But I am confident that by Movember I will have mastered the omitted facial areas and can regrow the chin warmer with full integrity.

Time to watch some more YouTube ...
Click to expand...
Like you, I wore facial hair for years. I do agree that one only becomes proficient as a shaver when it involved the whole face since the more tender areas are around the lips, chin, and under the nose.

Something to consider, using more than one razor. I find the Schick injectors are easier to use up around the nostrils. Why do men think one tool should serve all the areas of our face?
 
RumpleBearskin

RumpleBearskin

So then it was Thursday...

I used the same set-up as yesterday: DblDuck, C. O. Bigelow, and an Omega silvertip. Same great results as yesterday, so it's repeatable. (One nick at the junction of my lower lip and chin: calling it operator error.)

So tomorrow I'll start varying razor or soap, one thing at a time. But I'm starting to think that it may just be that some days are better than others. And the law of large numbers indicates that there's a distinct probability that those bad days could be somewhat consecutive upon occasion ... Time will tell...
 
mumB_L_E

mumB_L_E

RumpleBearskin said:
So then it was Thursday...

I used the same set-up as yesterday: DblDuck, C. O. Bigelow, and an Omega silvertip. Same great results as yesterday, so it's repeatable. (One nick at the junction of my lower lip and chin: calling it operator error.)

So tomorrow I'll start varying razor or soap, one thing at a time. But I'm starting to think that it may just be that some days are better than others. And the law of large numbers indicates that there's a distinct probability that those bad days could be somewhat consecutive upon occasion ... Time will tell...
Click to expand...

I hate being the one to burst bubbles, but today is Wednesday! If it makes you feel any better, I woke up convinced today is Saturday and required convincing from my roommate (the one I share a bed with) to get out of bed.
 
RumpleBearskin

RumpleBearskin

And THEN it was Thursday (yesterday) ...

And I didn't hear the alarm and woke up too late to shave.

And then it was Friday (today) ...

I used my Torrey "Our 136”, Arko stick, and my Omega silvertip. No problems again, even with two days of growth. BBS or near-BBS all over. That makes great shaves with two razors, two soaps, and two brushes. I think that narrows the possible culprit for those horrible shaves to either the one razor (doubtful), or me (highly likely).

After DE shaving for many years, and SR shaving daily since late April, is it possible to be so out of touch two mornings in a row that the entire shave was "wrong"? Survey says...
 
GearNoir

GearNoir

Someone help Alan, he’s stuck in a time warp!

It’s not likely after so long and so many successes, but not impossible. It seems that with SRs especially, the most minor detail that is off will sometimes throw the whole shave off.
 
RumpleBearskin

RumpleBearskin

Another check-in. 5 more months of straight shaving have elapsed. That puts me at about 280 straight razor shaves since starting last April.

My regular routine is a post-shower, morning shave. From starting the lather to cleaned up and put away is about 30 - 40 minutes. Blood on the outside is a rare occurrence at this point.

As of today:
  • I own 15 straight razors
    • 5 are 5/8" but I have found that I vastly prefer 6/8" or 7/8"
    • 5 are full hollow but I have found that I vastly prefer old "hollow" grinds, faux framebacks, and framebacks
    • 7 are barber's notch and 5 are round points
    • 3 are modern razors but most are vintage and quite old. Seems that 1820-1870 is what I like for look and feel.
    • Two of my razors have been purchased new or NOS. The rest are all used from B&B BST or eBay
    • 2 were over $100, but most were $60 or less with many $30 or less
  • I own two strops
    • West Coast Shaving hanging strop
    • TI block strop
  • I own 3 stones (plus a lapping stone)
    • Norton 220/1000
    • Norton 4k/8k
    • Naniwa 12k
    • Norton lapping stone
  • I've made a set of pasted balsa strops
    • 0.5u, 0.25u, and 0.1u diamond paste on lapped balsa affixed to aluminum bar stock
  • I've made a razor jig from a 2x4, rare earth magnets, and polycarbonate sheeting
  • In addition, I've purchased:
    • a jeweler's block anvil (actually two because the first was so small)
    • flush cutters
    • 2 oz. ball peen hammer
    • pinning supplies (brass rod, silver rod, washers)
    • Dremel rotary tool
    • replacement scales in horn, bone, and plastic
    • wedge blanks
    • Flitz metal polish
    • Barkeeper's Friend cleaner
    • loupe
At this point I can confidently:
  • Shave with any traditional straight razor (haven't tried shavettes or kamisori)
  • Sharpen anything I acquire, and maintain the edge on it (at least to my own level of satisfaction)
  • Clean and/repair most things to at least a usable level
And if it's not abundantly obvious, yes, I am still totally hooked. This is more fun and provides more satisfaction than most anything I can think of.
 
RumpleBearskin

RumpleBearskin

My first year in straight shaving has gone by in a flash. My first straight save was April 7th of last year and today, April 20, makes straight shave number 350 (or thereabouts). I shave exclusively with straights (unless doing a DE convert demo) and will until my hands shake too much to hold the razor with even a modicum of safety. I am a straight razor shaver to the core.

Since my previous post, I've acquired a few more razors (up to 16 plus two beaters I used to use for honing practice). Two of those are in the "to be restored" bin, and four are put away awaiting their turn in my rotation again. I've sold two of my "original" razors, as I've learned that I vastly prefer wider blades, heavier grinds, and that I have a pronounced fondness for antique blades (1800 - 1890). I also am in the process of giving a restored razor away as a B&B PIF. So all told, I have 9 razors in my 7-day rotation, so I need to send a few more into mothballs or find loving homes for them to keep them off the bathroom counter top. (Yes, I store the straights in my rotation in the bathroom using a Lucite test tube rack from Amazon.)

As I stated previously, my confidence and skill in using, maintaining, and restoring razors for daily use has grown tremendously over this year. My first SR shave had me with "91" already dialed as I brought the blade to my cheek (so that all I had to do was hit the final "1" when I opened my carotid). It was entirely unnecessary (and wouldn't have worked anyway because the phone screen locked before I made the first stroke). I started easy, always staying within, but near the edge of, my comfort level. My progress was quick at first. And by progress I mean that soon the blood stopped flowing. Soon the shaves got closer. Soon the shaves got more physically comfortable. But it took time for the shave time to go down, for the emotional comfort to go up, and for the time it took until 5-o'clock shadow to increase. I stand by the "Capable by 30, Comfortable by 100" mantra so often repeated on this board. At over 300 SR shaves, I'm still learning. Still improving. I expect that to be the case forever since my skin, face, and beard will continue to change over time. It really is a journey, and a very rewarding one.

One key for me was to send my first razors to well regarded members for a real honing. It let me know what was "me" and what was "the edge" when things didn't go as well as I hoped. (FYI, 99"% of the time it was me.) And it provided me with a standard against I could compare my work as I got into honing, maintaining, and restoring.

For some, the journey could stop there. And that's not a set of skills to be scoffed at. There's real love and devotion in learning all that and then sending your razors off to be touched up as needed. But for me, the journey continued. I fell into honing and restoring.

A honing key for me was learning the Burr method of bevel setting and adopting "the Method", or at least the pasted balsa part of the full Method (you see, I discovered that I really like rubbing steel on rocks to make it sharp). Followed precisely and religiously, I always have a sharp, smooth edge (which means any issue I now have is 100% me). Having a "foolproof" sharpening process meant that this fool could buy less pristine blades at cheaper prices and then "put some love into them" to make make them useful again. But that inevitably lead to learning how to pin and replace scales. Not a bad capability to have in the bag of tricks at all.

So I concur with most on this board, SR use is most definitely a journey. Or at least it can be if you have the patience and the interest to learn new skills. I find it incredibly satisfying, relaxing, and just plain fun. I don't consider myself a throwback to earlier times. I don't consider my self any "cooler", or more masculine, or more [insert your own adjective commonly associated with "cutthroat" razor use here].

But that's not completely true... I am more happy, more centered, more satisfied, and feel more "in the flow" since I've been SR shaving. I love this hobby. And I love this rabbit hole.

Good shaves to each and every one of you. May your shave journey take you to wonderful and unexpected places.

-- Alan
 
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