Hello All,
I've been lurking for a while, and enjoy the content here and have learned a lot about wet shaving and have used that knowledge in DE shaving for about a year now. But, I just got my first straight razor today and had my first shave with it tonight (a Dovo half-hollow grind round tip). It did come shave ready. I was able to get BBS smooth on my cheeks after 2 passes, and was able to get an acceptable shave on my neck--eventually.
The issue is 2 parts, I think. First, I have a full beard and only shave my cheeks and my neck up to the jaw line, so I have to be careful about the razor catching my beard or mustache. The second issue is that the hair on my neck grows left to right, and slightly up. So, there didn't seem to be a good mode of attack to shave my neck from right to left to go against the grain--at least none that seemed remotely sane or safe, with a blade this large. So, I kept trying to stretch my skin to make the hair stand up and kept attacking it from an up or down stroke, which caused some mild irritation.
So, how do you shave against the grain, right to left on the neck? Or is there another method?
Also, since I have a beard I ordered a Dovo Barbarossa which is shorter and supposed to be good for detailing beards. Haven't gotten it yet, but will report when I do, and not sure if it will help with ATG on the neck for me, but I'm thinking that it would be more maneuverable. Then again, it has a Spanish tip so might not be great for a beginner like me.
I do have to say that I am proud of the fact that I got no weepers, didn't cut myself, lop anything important off, and only had some mild irritation on my neck (nothing that alum wasn't able to handle--but I did really feel the alum where ever I shaved), and had a pretty decent shave, considering. I'm feeling more confident about pursuing this method of wet shaving, and no longer fear the blade.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Brett
I've been lurking for a while, and enjoy the content here and have learned a lot about wet shaving and have used that knowledge in DE shaving for about a year now. But, I just got my first straight razor today and had my first shave with it tonight (a Dovo half-hollow grind round tip). It did come shave ready. I was able to get BBS smooth on my cheeks after 2 passes, and was able to get an acceptable shave on my neck--eventually.
The issue is 2 parts, I think. First, I have a full beard and only shave my cheeks and my neck up to the jaw line, so I have to be careful about the razor catching my beard or mustache. The second issue is that the hair on my neck grows left to right, and slightly up. So, there didn't seem to be a good mode of attack to shave my neck from right to left to go against the grain--at least none that seemed remotely sane or safe, with a blade this large. So, I kept trying to stretch my skin to make the hair stand up and kept attacking it from an up or down stroke, which caused some mild irritation.
So, how do you shave against the grain, right to left on the neck? Or is there another method?
Also, since I have a beard I ordered a Dovo Barbarossa which is shorter and supposed to be good for detailing beards. Haven't gotten it yet, but will report when I do, and not sure if it will help with ATG on the neck for me, but I'm thinking that it would be more maneuverable. Then again, it has a Spanish tip so might not be great for a beginner like me.
I do have to say that I am proud of the fact that I got no weepers, didn't cut myself, lop anything important off, and only had some mild irritation on my neck (nothing that alum wasn't able to handle--but I did really feel the alum where ever I shaved), and had a pretty decent shave, considering. I'm feeling more confident about pursuing this method of wet shaving, and no longer fear the blade.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Brett
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