First Straight Shave Results!!!!

[dod.e.ratherwell]

OK fellows I have done the trick! First straight shave in the books!
The task was accomplished with the following kit: Joseph Allen & Sons non XXL razor acquired shave ready from Cheech, Vulfix Best Badger, Tabac soap and Thayer’s Lavender Toner.
Cheech had the razor honed by Ken at RupRazor and sent directly to me. This is the only shave ready razor I have or have ever held, but let me tell you Ken must be very good at what he does (as his reputation on here would suggest!) as I managed a DFS shave right on the first go!!!!!

Shoddy pic of a very nice razor that exacted no blood from me!


As you can see here the shave was pretty good, I was not able to edge my beard very well as I simply just could not stretch my skin, get the right grip and the blade in the right spot with the right stroke.


One perfectly smooth cheek! Yes I am a little red and no it was not the most comfortable shave I have ever had but I would go to work with this shave and it is ten times better than the first DE shaves I had!


In summary a very exciting and rewarding experience. I owe B&B and all of you thanks for the information I studied before attempting this and to Joel for his video which I tried to emulate...
The positives were a great shave, excitement, nerves and a great first experience. The only downside was that this shave took 55 minutes (ok that's not really a downside!) to accomplish. It was one WTG pass ½ a XTG and ½ a ATG pass. Three completely new loadings of my brush and about eight re-lathers of my face...I started out with lather a little dry and thin in haste to get started. Not a good idea so I stayed well lathered and hydrated after that! Every movement was slow and well planned although I did do some buffing WTG!
Again thanks everyone, couldn’t have done it without you!

 

[michiganlover]

Congrats on the first straight shave. Even if your shave took a long time, and you got some irritation, walking away blood free on your first shave is quite the accomplishment!

Enjoy the journey, it only gets better from here.

 

[Luc]

Congrats!! It gets better indeed!

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Congrats on the first...many happy returns to you!

 

[alabamalawyer]

Congrats on the first shave! Keep at it, as the transition to a straight does take time and practice.

 

[dod.e.ratherwell]

Second shave now in the books...today was better because I was more careful about the lather right from the start! Similar end result shave wise but I felt more relaxed and took about 30 mins instead of nearly an hour!

I think I had a faster shave because I worked on my grip a bit before hand.

My biggest problem is how to stretch the skin and see what you want to shave
and where the blade is all at the same time!

I am however really hooked! I love standing there with razor carefully shaving...you know something odd...I have never been lacking in the confidence dept. but yesterday and today I felt like I was walking a bit taller?

I think straight shaving has boosted something in my psyche? All I know for sure is I am hooked!

Cheers

Dod

 

[kwigibocity]

Of course you're hooked...hundreds of devotees can't be wrong!

 

[mattbikes1]

Fantastic! Keep posting your progress!

 

[sproosemoose]

congrats dude

 

[dod.e.ratherwell]

Fantastic! Keep posting your progress!

Oh I will! Stropping has actually been harder for me than the shave?!
It's actually kinda embarrassing! I figured, former varsity athlete, really good on the pistol range, hockey player (Stropping = stick handling? SO I thought!)
how hard could stropping be? Just hand eye coordination right?

Thank goodness I bought a 5$ junk shop razor and a cruddy worn out strop to practice on!!!!! If I go really slow I can do the proper movement perfectly....
If I try and speed up everything within a 5' circle is in danger of getting a less than DFS from me! Ahhhh well good excuse for me to spend some quality time practicing and thinking about shaving and heck I haven't cut myself either shaving or stropping...yet!

 

[Pumpkin]

Congratulations! I'm equally hooked

Thank goodness I bought a 5$ junk shop razor and a cruddy worn out strop to practice on!!!!! If I go really slow I can do the proper movement perfectly....

IIRC going TOO slowly can cause more problems than it solves. I've been practicing on my "working" strop with a blunt razor. I still need more practice but it's definitely making things easier

 

[dod.e.ratherwell]

Congratulations! I'm equally hooked



IIRC going TOO slowly can cause more problems than it solves. I've been practicing on my "working" strop with a blunt razor. I still need more practice but it's definitely making things easier

Exactly why I am using junk shop garbage to practice there is no way I'd actually use any of the stuff...just working my way up in speed and coordination!

 

[rickboone1]

Here's a bit of tip that helps me.

Take it or leave it.

When lathering it is likely you are used to lathering for a multi-pass DE shave. Every pass has a thick load of lather awaiting the blade. This is fine and good. The difference is using a straight, you are much slower. That groovy lather begins to dry out and your razor starts to drag, causing irritation.

- Don't be afraid to add water to your face. I think we worry about the lather washing off and getting poor results. Not so. You can do touch ups with your straight after your initial pass using just water. The lather leaves something on your face, a film if you will, that water tends to reactivate. It provides enough lubricity for another stroke or so of the blade. It's easy to feel when you need a splash of water too. Simply if your face feels dry and the razor is dragging and tugging, spash a little on your face and keep shaving.

If that doesn't work, in other words you do that and you still feel tugging, change direction. If you were shaving N-S, reverse it, or perhaps come in from the side. No need to kill yourself over a shave. Just because you have been told it is customary with a DE to shave this way then that, etc., you do what your face tells you to do. Even if it is different than what you did before.

I break all kinds of "rules" while straight shaving. I use only one hand (because I can't even wave hardly with my left) and I typically only do one pass. No, I don't get BBS off of one pass, but I never have irritation. I had irriation a few weeks ago for the first time in ages. It was because I shaved with a dull razor.

 

[dod.e.ratherwell]

Here's a bit of tip that helps me.

Take it or leave it.

When lathering it is likely you are used to lathering for a multi-pass DE shave. Every pass has a thick load of lather awaiting the blade. This is fine and good. The difference is using a straight, you are much slower. That groovy lather begins to dry out and your razor starts to drag, causing irritation.

- Don't be afraid to add water to your face. I think we worry about the lather washing off and getting poor results. Not so. You can do touch ups with your straight after your initial pass using just water. The lather leaves something on your face, a film if you will, that water tends to reactivate. It provides enough lubricity for another stroke or so of the blade. It's easy to feel when you need a splash of water too. Simply if your face feels dry and the razor is dragging and tugging, spash a little on your face and keep shaving.

If that doesn't work, in other words you do that and you still feel tugging, change direction. If you were shaving N-S, reverse it, or perhaps come in from the side. No need to kill yourself over a shave. Just because you have been told it is customary with a DE to shave this way then that, etc., you do what your face tells you to do. Even if it is different than what you did before.

I break all kinds of "rules" while straight shaving. I use only one hand (because I can't even wave hardly with my left) and I typically only do one pass. No, I don't get BBS off of one pass, but I never have irritation. I had irriation a few weeks ago for the first time in ages. It was because I shaved with a dull razor.

Good advice, I sort of felt that water was the key, especially with the Tabac soap. It does leve something behind that when mixed with water is very slick on the face. I was so busy trying to concentrate on where the blade was I largely ignored the lather at first!