First straight razor shave, but with a Sextoblade

[rudyt]

I've been looking forward to this shave. It did not go well and my 26 year bloodless streak is over. Yes folks, my skin does bleed (hen I got my tattoo two years ago, the artist asked me why I don't bleed when getting inked)

First pass WTG: went easier then I thought. No blood at all. Shaving the right side of my face felt natural, but shaving the left side felt awkward with my right hand, and even more awkward with my left. Couldn't get a comfortable grip.

Second pass XTG: this is hard. My face has angles, tight skin, and not much give. Poked myself twice with the sharp point. First blood! Not a cut, and not a weeper. What do you call a poke? I'm going to round off the sharp points on the disposable blades since real straights don't have them.

Third pass ATG: I should have listened to everyone and stopped at the first pass while I build up my technique, but since I survived the second pass, I'm an expert now, right? Plus ATG is just WTG in the other direction, so no jaw and neck angles to deal with. Hahaha! First stroke gave me a 1" cut. I'm done!

Finished the shave with the Little Soldier, used alum to disinfect the cut, and rubbed it all over my face. Stinging everywhere. Broke out the medicated witch hazel, and finished with CL Colonia Balsamica balm. My face still hurts.

Definitely not giving up. Till we meet again, Mr. Sextoblade ...

 

[sfeile]

Someone else that learned the hard way to build their technique before getting cocky! (I did the same thing...)

Congrats on your first semi-success! Keep at it, but take it a bit slower, you will get it. I've found that a bit of stropping can help the edge on a Sextoblade just like it will for a straight. And trust me, some straights have points that are way more wicked than what is on a Weck or Personna blade.

 

[troy]

I like to get the Sextoblade out from time to time. I use the guard for head shaving and go unguarded on the face. Well the parts of my face I shave, I skip most the hard spots. The first shave on those blades can be a bit harsh. I find they're much better and more forgiving after a shave or two or a bit of palm stropping. The guard actually works really well and helps to learn how to hold it. You do have to change it if / when you switch hands, but I pretty much just use my right hand.

 

[rudyt]

Thanks @sfeile and @troy. I'll strop it before my next shave. Unfortunately, my razor did not come with the guard, or else I would have used the "training wheels" for sure.

 

[rudyt]

Second Shave

I didn't shave yesterday, and despite my better judgment, decided to take a second run with the Sextoblade. I only did the WTG pass; I want to build up my technique before tackling the more complicated passes. The razor felt a lot more comfortable in my hand this time, and I got through the first pass without incident. I'd call that a success.

I did my second pass WTG again, but this time with the DE, and confirmed that I actually did a decent job with the straight. I stuck to my guns and completed my shave with the DE. There was a lot more alcohol sting than usual when I applied the Floid, but no lasting irritation. My face feels good.

Edit: I might have nicked myself; can't say for sure if it happened today or last time since I noticed no blood on the lather today. I may have cut myself more than I thought on Saturday ;-)

 

[rudyt]

Third Shave

Third shave with the Sextoblade on Tobacco Tuesday. This time, I did a couple of palm strops before the shave to mellow out the blade a bit. First WTG pass went great again. With my confidence built up, I decided to tackle the weekly goatee purge. I had no trouble at all, in fact, it was even easier than using a safety razor. In retrospect, this makes sense because a straight doesn't clog.

Again, I decided to tempt fate and tried XTG again. I struggled and can't see how this will work due to the shape of my face. I cut myself again, between 3/4" and 1" right next to my nose. Looks manly ;-) I had to finish with the Little Soldier again.

Definitely not giving up, and in fact, I'm looking forward to taming this beast.

 

[rudyt]

Aug 30: Weck Wednesday - 4th Shave with the Sextoblade

This is my fourth shave with the Sextoblade. I stuck to my guns again and only did the WTG pass today. I've been struggling with left handed shaving, but today it didn't feel as awkward. For the first time, I did the over-the-head reach-around skin stretch and it didn't feel as stupid as it looks ;-) No cuts or weepers today, and I stayed away from yesterday's manly rugged-looking 1" vertical cut on my cheek.

For the first time, I watched some straight razor shave tutorials last night and didn't see many people doing a front-to-back or back-to-front vertical blade XTG pass - the one that gave me the cut. Most WTG passes I've looked at have been back-to-front at a 45 degree angle going downward. I'll do some more exploring as I build up confidence.

Again I finished the shave with the Little Soldier. Love that razor with the center-punch handle.

 

[rudyt]

Aug 31: Fifth Shave - Weck Sextoblade

Fifth shave with the Sextoblade was the best one yet. I did a full three passes and figured out a couple of things. (1) My skin is tight enough that I don't need to do the over-the-head reachover, and (2) I discovered that ATG upwards on my neck is easy if I go opposite hand (i.e. right hand to do left side and vice versa). I haven't figured out if ATG on my cheeks is easier cross-hand or not.

I still can't get the hang of XTG, and gave myself another 1" vertical gash, this time on my right cheek. Now both my cheeks have a 1" vertical scab; thankfully, I'm not a bleeder ;-)

I did a cleanup pass with Il Soldatino, but frankly, it was more to confirm the closeness of the shave. There was not much left to shave - three passes with the straight was as close as three passes with a DE.

 

[Christian1212]

WTG was easy for me to learn and XTG didn't take to long. ATG when I was good at the other passes I started doing this on days I wanted really good shaves. When you are good at other passes this won't be hard to learn as well. It takes time though to learn it correctly, very important to pull skin

 

[rudyt]

Sept 1: One Step Forward - Two Steps Back

6th Shave - Weck Sextoblade

Thanks for the tips @Christian1212. Even though my skin is pretty tight and I don't really need to stretch, I am making an effort to do it so I don't pick up any bad habits I have to unlearn in the future.

Before today's shave, I had already decided that all my further straight shaves would be all or nothing. I can zip along WTG almost as fast and confidently as with my DE now, so it doesn't make sense to just to the WTG pass - XTG and ATG is where I need to practice.

Sadly, I got yet another shallow 1" vertical cut going XTG, and a relatively deep cut at the base of my neck going ATG. Analyzing my performance over the past week, all of my cuts have been with my left hand. I can't do anything left-handed, so it's not just learning a new tool for me, it's learning to use a new hand. I would probably slice my face to ribbons shaving left-handed with a DE ;-)

All the parts of my face that were shaved left-handed today are still on fire. Yesterday's shave was a masterpiece by comparison. I'm gonna master this thing ...

 

["6"]

Nice thread ! Keep at it @rudyt

Im on a similar # of shaves so far with my sextoblade. I think its my 5th shave today. Everything except for WTG is awkward for me, and the under chin area is a particular challenge. I did 2 passes today, WTG and XTG. No cuts, but my under chin area is pretty raw. I think I need an alum block for feedback on my shave, I only have a syptic pen.

Still, being able to have a no bleed shave, although probably a fluke, makes me feel like...

 

[Dick peck]

Keep at it. Not sure if this will help but I rarely use entire length of blade at once. So my strokes are front half or back half or center . It's a lot of blade to try to make full contact . Good luck

 

[rudyt]

Keep at it. Not sure if this will help but I rarely use entire length of blade at once. So my strokes are front half or back half or center . It's a lot of blade to try to make full contact . Good luck

I didn't pay attention till I read your comment, but I also do the same. I usually wind up having half the blade in contact with the skin.

 

[Dick peck]

Cool.

 

[rudyt]

Still, being able to have a no bleed shave, although probably a fluke, makes me feel like...

Hey He-Man ;-) No blood is always the goal. It seems that goal is moving further away the more I use the straight though. It's always with my left hand, so for me, it's due to lack of coordination with my non-dominant hand.

 

[rudyt]

7th Shave - Weck Sextoblade

Today's straight exploration consisted of doing three passes, but all WTG. This resulted in not one but two more cuts. I'm starting to look like I was in a fight (you should see the other guy ;-)

To add insult to injury, I lacerated my thumb pretty deeply cleaning a spice tin, the type with the screw type lid with a plastic insert and razor sharp edge.

The good news is that the alum had very little sting after the shave. I don't normally use alum as part of my regimen, I just use it to gauge my shaves occasionally.

The bad news is that 3 WTG passes does not get me a very close shave, and I had visible stubble by mid-afternoon.

 

["6"]

Yes it really is 2 steps forward, 3 steps (or cuts/nicks) back for me as well. Most of my cuts come as soon as I lay the blade to my face.

I end up shaving 75% of my face with the dominant hand when I know I should be practicing my right hand (Im left handed).

I wonder how many shaves these blades have in them. I'll keep going until I feel tugging I guess.

 

[Ice-Man]

Nice going gents!! I'm the same with my left hand so I don't use it lol, but I'm about 30 in now with a straight they are more forgiving. The key is stretching the skin and keeping it taught, try doing 2 passes not 3 for now go WTG then ATG and just keep moving as you go.

The main thing is your making progress and that's what counts.

 

[rudyt]

The key is stretching the skin and keeping it taught

Excuse the possibly stupid question, but if your skin is really tight to begin with, do you need to stretch it?

 

[skimonster]

Greetings. I started out on my voyage with a straight a couple of weeks ago, and I believe I'm a few shaves ahead of you. I wanted to learn to shave with both hands, so with my off hand, I was diligent, and took it slow and easy, and concentrating on keeping light pressure. I have been following the advice of stretching out your skin, and believe me, it is the way to go. Remember, your in the learning phase. Just take it easy, and slow, and pay attention to the task at hand. I'm getting great shaves now, and really glad I took this up. You'll get there soon, just don't try and rush things. Now I'm on to thinking about honing, strops, etc, lol