First SR shave...

[Hydguy]

So I did my first SR shave.
Used the Gold Monkey from Crescent City. I did not strop the razor prior to use.
Had almost 48hrs of growth.
Did my normal prep: Shower, hot washcloth, PAA The Cube.

Some things I learned that apply to me: If you think your lather is slick, add water, then add some more.
Using a SR with glasses is difficult. Using a SR with bifocals because you can't see up close is worse.
I was born missing a 3rd arm and hand. That is detrimental to using a SR.
The scales will always be in your way any way you turn the razor.

Positive thing: I didn't remove any body parts, and don't look like I was attacked by a rabid squirrel, but it wasn't bloodless.

I started just trying N/S,and I did my cheeks and neck that way, and then S/N on my neck, as my hair mostly grows sideways across my neck Then I did try ATG from the ears in. The nicks I gave myself were on the right side of my face. They closed up on their own without any use of the styptic pen. Did get a weeper on the left side. I do have irritation.
Have a goatee and stache, so no issues there.

Keeping the blade angle consistent is going to take a lot of practice.
I tried to go over my face with my P4 Super Speed, but it was very uncomfortable due to the irritation. Still lots of stubble left.
I will have to give my face a few days rest to recuperate, and let the nicks heal.
I think I will wait until next weekend to try the SR again.

I will attempt to strop the razor in the morning, after it has had time to try overnight.
I started out trying the sponge method to clean the razor, but it wasn't working for me, so I used running water, being careful to avoid getting close to the tap.

 

[Lightcs1776]

Congrats on your first shave with a SR. It only gets better from here.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Ravenonrock]

You did it! Congratulations! I second that the shaves will improve with time and practice. Glad you are intact. My preference is to rinse my blade under the tap, I have dinged it though, so I really try to pay attention now.

 

[global_dev]

I was born missing a 3rd arm and hand. That is detrimental to using a SR.
The scales will always be in your way any way you turn the razor.

yeah, sucks for people without the third arm/hand. I heard Gold Dollar will be selling this with their new razor and strop kit soon.

 

[FarmerTan]

Congrats!

 

[rbscebu]

Congratulations and welcome to the gentlemanly art of SR shaving. You are progressing better than @FarmerTan.

Don't worry about trying to get smooth results. Just try and remove the lather without letting the blood out. Shave the lather, not the whiskers. You should have a great edge on that razor that will cut your whiskers off as you remove the lather.

Any irritation you are getting is caused by one or two things; blade angle against your skin is too great and/or you are applying too much pressure against your skin. Flatten the blade against your skin a bit more. A super sharp SR like you have should be used flatter against the skin, about half a spine thickness from the skin. There should be almost no pressure on the edge against your skin, just enough to remove the lather. Also try using cold water pre and post shave.

Don't be concerned about the blade to scales angle. I also shave with glasses and use my dominant hand only - so far. Depending on what part of my face I am shaving, I might have the angle at about 270deg (normal) but often go to about 180deg (using it like a Japanese style SR) or 90deg. This allows my to see what is happening in the mirror.

With stropping, remember only VERY light blade pressure on the strop. Hold the strop tight enough so that you see no deflection in the leather as you strop. Do NOT use any paste or other abrasive on the strop. Your current SR should be good for 50 to 100 or more shaves with just stropping (about 50 laps before each shave) before it really needs a refresh honing. In the mean time look into diamond pasted balsa strops to use after your first refresh honing. Then that refresh honing will be the last that that blade requires.

After about 30 SR shaves, you will probably never want to shave with anything else. After about 100 SR shaves, you will be wishing that you started SR shaving in your teens.

Just remember, you are not alone. We all (well most of us except @Tomo, who was a natural SR shaver from birth) went through what you are going through.

 

[FarmerTan]

Congratulations and welcome to the gentlemanly art of SR shaving. You are progressing better than @FarmerTan.

Don't worry about trying to get smooth results. Just try and remove the lather without letting the blood out. Shave the lather, not the whiskers. You should have a great edge on that razor that will cut your whiskers off as you remove the lather.

Any irritation you are getting is caused by one or two things; blade angle against your skin is too great and/or you are applying too much pressure against your skin. Flatten the blade against your skin a bit more. A super sharp SR like you have should be used flatter against the skin, about half a spine thickness from the skin. There should be almost no pressure on the edge against your skin, just enough to remove the lather.

Don't be concerned about the blade to scales angle. I also shave with glasses and use my dominant hand only - so far. Depending on what part of my face I am shaving, I might have the angle at about 270deg (normal) but often go to about 180deg (using it like a Japanese style SR) or 90deg. This allows my to see what is happening in the mirror.

With stropping, remember only VERY light blade pressure on the strop. Hold the strop tight enough so that you see no deflection in the leather as you strop. Do NOT use any paste or other abrasive on the strop. Your current SR should be good for 50 to 100 or more shaves with just stropping (about 50 laps before each shave) before it really needs a refresh honing. In the mean time look into diamond pasted balsa strops to use after your first refresh honing. Then that refresh honing will be the last that that blade requires.

After about 30 SR shaves, you will probably never want to shave with anything else. After about 100 SR shaves, you will be wishing that you started SR shaving in your teens.

Just remember, you are not alone. We all (well most of us except @Tomo) went through what you are going through.

My day is coming!

 

[rbscebu]

My day is coming!

I'm not going to the lodge above until it does.

 

[Robert Anderson]

Congratulations. Being able to see what you are doing is not discussed much. For me, it is better to take off the glasses. It gets easier with practice. Quite a bit of practice.

 

[Hydguy]

Congratulations. Being able to see what you are doing is not discussed much. For me, it is better to take off the glasses. It gets easier with practice. Quite a bit of practice.

Sadly, without them I cannot see anything. I was far sighted when I was younger, in single vision lenses. got my first bi-focal script about 10 years ago. Plays hell with shooting too, as I have to tilt my head back to see the front sight of my pistols. I need to check into shooter's glasses, with the bi-focal on top, and that might help with shaving too, as I won't have to tilt my head back when shaving the upper part of my face...
But it's also a good excuse to go get an updated contact lens script.

 

[FarmerTan]

I'm nearsighted. So I won't be able to use the same excuse! I just take my glasses off and stand real close to the mirror when DE shaving. I hope that works for straights.

 

[MurderousCrow]

Well done, and welcome to the brotherhood

 

[slim6596]

Congratulations. My first couple of SR shaves were also bloodbaths. In my case, I was bucking 40 some odd years of muscle memory with my dominant (left) hand insisting it knew what it was doing and then proceeding to shred my face. I tried something that I hadn’t considered before: I handed that insanely sharp blade to my stupid hand and told it to have a go. Because I had no experience with shaving in any way shape or form with my right hand, I had to constantly think about shave angle, pressure, flattening and stretching skin, etc. Turns out I shaved better (with a straight) with my dumb hand. Now they’re equally experienced.

Good job and don’t get discouraged.

 

[haggis]

Congrats on taking the plunge.

Because I had no experience with shaving in any way shape or form with my right hand, I had to constantly think about shave angle, pressure, flattening and stretching skin, etc.

This brings up something that I have noticed and enjoy about SR shaving generally. It benefits from 'emptying the mind' of anything but the process at hand. At first it's pure survival and there is a bit of stress associated, but as the iterations accumulate the stress reduces and I find that after the shave I am more relaxed than I would have expected. It reminds me a bit of juggling where there is just enough concentration needed that the mind tends to empty of extraneous thoughts and it becomes a meditation of sorts.

Have fun. Stay focused

 

[Hydguy]

Congratulations. My first couple of SR shaves were also bloodbaths. In my case, I was bucking 40 some odd years of muscle memory with my dominant (left) hand insisting it knew what it was doing and then proceeding to shred my face. I tried something that I hadn’t considered before: I handed that insanely sharp blade to my stupid hand and told it to have a go. Because I had no experience with shaving in any way shape or form with my right hand, I had to constantly think about shave angle, pressure, flattening and stretching skin, etc. Turns out I shaved better (with a straight) with my dumb hand. Now they’re equally experienced.

Good job and don’t get discouraged.

I will have to try that time I use the SR, which will be no later than next weekend..

The nicks don't look nearly as bad today as they looked yesterday, so I might be able to stick to by general 48hr schedule if I use a DE tomorrow..

 

[Slash McCoy]

STRETCH your skin. Stretch it tight. Keep your shave angle low. Scoop the lather from your face and most whiskers will come with it unbidden. Don't try to excavate the whiskers from their follicles or you will pay in blood. Then lather up again and do a second WTG pass. That is good enough. Keep the blood inside the skin bag. SURVIVE your first shaves. Don't try to beat your DE or cart shaves until you are about 20 shaves in. Closeness will come. Don't push it. Survive the shave unscathed unless you like getting scathed. I'm the guy who sold you the razor, BTW, and I shave daily with a straight, mostly with the same Gold Dollars or Gold Monkeys, just as a matter of principle. You can do this if I can do it. The three most difficult years of my life were fourth grade so I am no rocket scientist, but I can do it and hundreds of other guys following my method have done so, as well. Hang in there and follow directions. Don't freestyle ANYTHING until you are proficient at doing things according to the path most traveled. Don't go cross country through the swamps and over the mountains. Follow the path. The path. It's not easy, or everyone would be doing it. You must work at it and you must do it the way others have successfully done it.

 

[Hydguy]

STRETCH your skin. Stretch it tight. Keep your shave angle low. Scoop the lather from your face and most whiskers will come with it unbidden. Don't try to excavate the whiskers from their follicles or you will pay in blood. Then lather up again and do a second WTG pass. That is good enough. Keep the blood inside the skin bag. SURVIVE your first shaves. Don't try to beat your DE or cart shaves until you are about 20 shaves in. Closeness will come. Don't push it. Survive the shave unscathed unless you like getting scathed. I'm the guy who sold you the razor, BTW, and I shave daily with a straight, mostly with the same Gold Dollars or Gold Monkeys, just as a matter of principle. You can do this if I can do it. The three most difficult years of my life were fourth grade so I am no rocket scientist, but I can do it and hundreds of other guys following my method have done so, as well. Hang in there and follow directions. Don't freestyle ANYTHING until you are proficient at doing things according to the path most traveled. Don't go cross country through the swamps and over the mountains. Follow the path. The path. It's not easy, or everyone would be doing it. You must work at it and you must do it the way others have successfully done it.

When I found out that CCR was owned by you, and read about your reputation, I didn't hesitate to by the Gold Monkey so I would know what a shave ready razor was supposed to be be like.

I decided to go ahead and try shaving with the straight again this afternoon, and it went much better. I did give myself a little line when I let the angle get too great, but I knew it as soon as I felt it, and while I got a little line, the blood didn't flow.
Didn't even reopen the nicks on the right side yesterday.
To help facilitate pulling my skin, I'm going to pick up some of the blue disposable shop towels another member mentioned using because it gets traction even when the skin is wet.

 

[Hydguy]

Shave 2 with the straight. I did strop it. Started on the Illinois strop, and switched to the WCS 3" because I felt more comfortable using the wider strop. It didn't seem like the blade was staying flat on the Illinois strop. I didn't put any nicks in the WCS strop, so that's a positive!

I stuck to the cheeks today, doing a N/S than then a nose to ear. I did dig in and give myself a vertical line on the left cheek, but as soon as I felt it I stopped, and kept the blood loss to a minimum. Didn't flow at all, but It's obviously a cut. Once again, the glasses were a hinderance.
I did use cold water to do this shave, and the shave did not give me any noticeable irritation like yesterday, and the soap didn't dry out as quickly. I still need to work on getting a slicker lather for this. Had to add water several times to thin the lather out. Thanks for the tip @rbscebu!
After doing the cheeks, I finished up by doing a 3 pass shave with my P4 Super Speed, and the results were much better than yesterday with the razor. I attribute part of that to the lack of irritation from trying the SR today.
The report from the AS was also much reduced.
I did try to use my left had to do the right side, but just didn't find it very comfortable, but I will try it again, going slowly.
After the holidays, I'll be making an appt to visit the eye doc to get a new contact script.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Congrats on your first two shaves!

As a result of simple aging, I now wear my glasses when shaving. I usually shave under my sideburns without my glasses and then put them on for the remainder of the shave.

+1 for the skin stretching - very important.

Hand position is important. And shaving with both hands can have advantages.

And don't lose sight of the basics: 1) mapping your beard, and 2) shaving is about hair reduction. You will not be fined or fired for going over an areas multiple times - especially where your beard is the coarsest and thickest.

And if you stick with it, you will get better! Good luck!