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Haagiboys straight journal!

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Thanks to the huge cut I got right under my sideburn, I decided to use my DE for a couple of days. More entries will come eventually!

Don't worry about it, it will heal fairly quickly and you will be back (I hope). Do you know what happened? Too much pressure, bad lather, etc?
 
It was me rushing my ATG... Rush + Pressure + way too steep angle = big cut.

Didn't to the same mistake for the other side though! :)
And I am still making progress! I'm still proud of my decent face shave with the straight only!
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
It was me rushing my ATG... Rush + Pressure + way too steep angle = big cut.

Didn't to the same mistake for the other side though! :)
And I am still making progress! I'm still proud of my decent face shave with the straight only!

That's good! It's easier to improve the shave when you know where it went wrong!:thumbup1:
 
It was me rushing my ATG... Rush + Pressure + way too steep angle = big cut.

Didn't to the same mistake for the other side though! :)
And I am still making progress! I'm still proud of my decent face shave with the straight only!

Dont worry about it...we all make mistakes. Best of luck and keep going!!
 
Shave #5

Best shave with the straight today!! Even though I was thinknig this would be a bad shave seeing as it is 5 days since last straight shave.
I Did my usual prep, (30/60 laps), and went for it. WTG on my face, no problem. Even remembered skin stretching! But the first WTG was, in comparison to my DE, pretty lousy. Yes it did take hair, but it wasn't nearly as good as a DE. Did my jawline and chin WTG aswell. Went fine!

And when it came to my neck I did my best discovery yet!!! (This will come as a "ofcourse" from you guys, but noone mentioned it to me :S )

"Hey! I can move my blade 270 degrees out from starting position! Thought it would stop at 180!" In other words, I was holding the razor as normal, except the blade was on the opposite side, thus making the scales to not go in the way off my shave.

And thanks to that discovery, my WTG on my neck was MUCH more enjoyable then earlier. And better!

Washed my face and lathered up again and did the same WTG again. Still took alot of stubbles, but still not as good as WTG with DE.

And thanks to my discovery, I went for my XTG pass on my face. South to north.
And this was GOOD! Made almost all of my stubble disapear, and I didn't stretch my skin with my hand! (Should I do it on my XTG and ATG pass aswell?)

XTG on my face: Good, just like my DE xtg pass ;) BUT with 3-4 cuts about 1 cm each. One came at my left chin, when I was shaving with my left hand, and the skin wasn't completely flat. The point burried abit in my chin, and gave me a nice cut. The next was on my lower lip/chin. When I placed the razor ready for my XTG (east-west) shave, I came in with abit too steep angle, and way too fast. This seems to be quite a problem for me!! Rushing the shave! I need to calm down more, and not to throw the straight on my face -.-

And I don't dare to go XTG on my neck yet. Don't know the angle and how to do it properly. So I just said "what the heck" and dived into it ATG-style.

First I noticed was that my skin was NOT "tight", so the razor dragged the skin with it, and this made it skip a couple of times. I know the problem to this: Me not looking up in the ceiling. And I guess I don't dare that yet, not seeing where I shave and just feel it.

Only got a couple of nicks doing this, a little razor burn, but nothing major. All in all a nice shave! Almost on pair with my DE, except for the chin and upper lip area. Didn't dare to go atg on my chin/jawline or my upper lip.

So my ONLY touch up today was going atg on my upper lip with my DE. The chin/jawline was decent enough.

So Luc, I'm still here! :D
 
I have been reading your journal getting prepped and psyched for my own first straight razor shave.

Sounds like you are doing well. Thanks for the write-ups. :001_smile
 
great job, there are all sorts of little discoveries like that each time i shave...
on my neck, i go for a S-N first (it's an XTG -with a bit of WTG) and N-S (also XTG, but a bit more ATG) and then a diagonal passes (hope you understand this) if i am feeling lucky...

i find myself practicing my passes (and feeling the stubble grain) with my extended index finger all the time
 
I have been reading your journal getting prepped and psyched for my own first straight razor shave.

Sounds like you are doing well. Thanks for the write-ups. :001_smile

No problem! :) If this write up helps anyone at all, It's just a bonus! :thumbup1: First of all it let's me write down my ups and downs so I can look bad and see what I did different.

great job, there are all sorts of little discoveries like that each time i shave...
on my neck, i go for a S-N first (it's an XTG -with a bit of WTG) and N-S (also XTG, but a bit more ATG) and then a diagonal passes (hope you understand this) if i am feeling lucky...

i find myself practicing my passes (and feeling the stubble grain) with my extended index finger all the time

Sounds abit like my neck, although N-S is completely ATG for me. How do you do those diagonal passes?

And btw: I just recived my gold dollar from a pif, and I will certainly give that one a go tomorrow! It is shave ready and good to go. I'll just strop it twice as much as usual.

My neck got abit sore today doing the ATG without strethcing. I believe the angle was hard to find since I didn't stretch. I'll do my best to remember this tomorrow!

Luc, (or any other straight users), is there anything in particular I have to think about when going ATG? Especially for my neck. N-S pass.
 
Sounds a bit like my neck, although N-S is completely ATG for me. How do you do those diagonal passes?

i think i start with the middle of the blade at the bottom middle of my neck at a 45 degree angle and go towards my ear lobe or from the middle of my chin to lower outside of neck. with lots of stretching...
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
No problem! :) If this write up helps anyone at all, It's just a bonus! :thumbup1: First of all it let's me write down my ups and downs so I can look bad and see what I did different.



Sounds abit like my neck, although N-S is completely ATG for me. How do you do those diagonal passes?

And btw: I just recived my gold dollar from a pif, and I will certainly give that one a go tomorrow! It is shave ready and good to go. I'll just strop it twice as much as usual.

My neck got abit sore today doing the ATG without strethcing. I believe the angle was hard to find since I didn't stretch. I'll do my best to remember this tomorrow!

Luc, (or any other straight users), is there anything in particular I have to think about when going ATG? Especially for my neck. N-S pass.

When going ATG, it should be the last pass. It's done like WTG or XTG. The same rules apply. Don't go too quickly. If it doesn't feel right, stop.
 
Shave #6, #1 with the gold dollar!

I recieved my gold dollar yesterday. Won it in a pif.
Showered, lathered as usual, and spent about 5 full minutes stropping it on my strops. I did the hht before and after, and I believe it got abit sharper. It was shave ready when I recieved it.

The blade seemed abit shorter then my king cutter, but it could just be my imagination (didn't compare them).

Did my usual WTG with no problems, stretched where I could and so on. No problems, no nicks, no cuts. But instead of going for another WTG, I went for a XTG just after my WTG. Washed my face and lathered up and got ready for it. XTG on my face is s-n, so that's what I did. I believe I didn't stretch enough for this one, because it wasn't as smooth as yesterdays shave. And on my neck I tried what global_dev said. Goin from the center to the earlobe. This is opposite of my XTG with a DE, but it did work! I didn't put the straight in a vertical position, but more at a 45 degrees if you watch straight on my face, and worked my way to the sides.
I felt abit of pulling, but no skipping. So still no cuts today! Yey!

And now for the final: ATG.

On my face it went fine. Used right hand for my left side and vice versa. ATG for me is ear to nose on both sides. And yet again, I believe I didn't stretch my skin enough. Because I could still feel ALOT of stubbles, but it looked decent, so I stopped there.
And just for comparison, I tried 1 small stroke with my Futur on 1 just to see how close the straight shave was. The Futur still took stubbles :/
Although, in my mind, my Futur on 1 is pretty aggressive! I normally use it on 1 when I shave with it for all my passes.

ATG on my neck: I tried first to just stretch my skin by looking up, but it still skipped and dragged untill I decided to move my hand down and REALLY stretch the skin. This did wonders! No skipping, no drag, just clean shaven strokes. I noticed that there was some problems with stretching everywhere on my neck, but I think I will be better at it tomorrow :)

ATG on my chin: I shaved atg atleast... but it was not close at all. Tried to stretch as much as I could. Did the bullfrog and what not.. But there was still visible stubbles left.
The major problem area is the chin/jawline overlap, where it is impossible to get a close shave. As of yet.

All in all: Decent shave. Lots of stubbles, but atleast it looks representable! Don't know if the closeness can have anything with me trying another razor, because I felt it was abit closer yesterday WITHOUT the atg then today. And the king cutter won the hht :)
So, should I stick with the gold dollar seeing as I didn't cut myself at all, or should I go back to the king cutter in which I got a closer shave?
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Shave #6, #1 with the gold dollar!

I recieved my gold dollar yesterday. Won it in a pif.
Showered, lathered as usual, and spent about 5 full minutes stropping it on my strops. I did the hht before and after, and I believe it got abit sharper. It was shave ready when I recieved it.

The blade seemed abit shorter then my king cutter, but it could just be my imagination (didn't compare them).

Did my usual WTG with no problems, stretched where I could and so on. No problems, no nicks, no cuts. But instead of going for another WTG, I went for a XTG just after my WTG. Washed my face and lathered up and got ready for it. XTG on my face is s-n, so that's what I did. I believe I didn't stretch enough for this one, because it wasn't as smooth as yesterdays shave. And on my neck I tried what global_dev said. Goin from the center to the earlobe. This is opposite of my XTG with a DE, but it did work! I didn't put the straight in a vertical position, but more at a 45 degrees if you watch straight on my face, and worked my way to the sides.
I felt abit of pulling, but no skipping. So still no cuts today! Yey!

And now for the final: ATG.

On my face it went fine. Used right hand for my left side and vice versa. ATG for me is ear to nose on both sides. And yet again, I believe I didn't stretch my skin enough. Because I could still feel ALOT of stubbles, but it looked decent, so I stopped there.
And just for comparison, I tried 1 small stroke with my Futur on 1 just to see how close the straight shave was. The Futur still took stubbles :/
Although, in my mind, my Futur on 1 is pretty aggressive! I normally use it on 1 when I shave with it for all my passes.

ATG on my neck: I tried first to just stretch my skin by looking up, but it still skipped and dragged untill I decided to move my hand down and REALLY stretch the skin. This did wonders! No skipping, no drag, just clean shaven strokes. I noticed that there was some problems with stretching everywhere on my neck, but I think I will be better at it tomorrow :)

ATG on my chin: I shaved atg atleast... but it was not close at all. Tried to stretch as much as I could. Did the bullfrog and what not.. But there was still visible stubbles left.
The major problem area is the chin/jawline overlap, where it is impossible to get a close shave. As of yet.

All in all: Decent shave. Lots of stubbles, but atleast it looks representable! Don't know if the closeness can have anything with me trying another razor, because I felt it was abit closer yesterday WITHOUT the atg then today. And the king cutter won the hht :)
So, should I stick with the gold dollar seeing as I didn't cut myself at all, or should I go back to the king cutter in which I got a closer shave?

Sounds like try #1 was all right! Good work! You can switch if you want to but like a DE, the less things you change, the quicker you will learn. I ended up using more or less the same razors at one stage and I think it helped. If you think that your King Cutter does a better job, keep using that one. You can come back to the Gold Dollar later.
 
Shave #7!
#6 with boker king cutter.

Did my usual prep. Went WTG, and when I had that finished, it was the smoothest WTG ever with a straight! The creds go to my stretching! It was about as smooth as my first couple of weeks with DE shaving.

XTG: Face went fine, except my chin area, which looked like an battlefield when I was done with the pass. 6-7 nicks, nothing major. I believe the problem is that my chin sticks out about if you know what I mean, so that it makes a tiny little bump between my lower lips and chin. Even when bullfrogging. So somehow I have to figure out a way to split the xtg up on that area... My face and neck was just as good as XTG with a DE.

ATG: Face went beautiful. My face feels just like the first couple of weeks DE shaving now! Some tiny spots where I wasnt able to stretch as much as I wanted. And there the DE was better. Did rip up some nicks on my chin and jawline here aswell...

All in all, if 10 is BBS todays shave was a 7. I'm pretty happy about it! No need for DE touchup, and all the little tricks I've learned along the way got remembered today. And I believe almost all of my angles have been found!

EDIT: Although the closeness is good, the comfort is NOT good. I believe I am using way too much pressure! Because my hair is o' so thick! Especially my neck... I didn't even go all in ATG, and it is worse then ATG with my DE's... Razor burn 2k. And nothing helps me battle is because of my sensitive skin! It doesn't matter what I throw on, everything burns! And has done so for the last couple of months. And no, it does not contain any alcohol. Talking about my balms by the way.
 
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Hade a nice clean shave today with my king cutter. Not as close as yesterday, but I had much less irritation this time. Thanks to me being carefull to not apply any pressure! :)
 
Shave #8

Same results as yesterday. Irritation free and close enough for me.
I think there is one thing that I have done differently for the last 2 shaves, and that is pressure. + I have used Aqua Velva. I don't like the smell, but oh god does it get rid of the red irritation! (Or it could just be my shaving is better) But I have MUCH less irritation using a straight + aqua velva then using a DE + different ASB.

Think I'll just take a DE shave tomorrow + Aqua velva and see how it turns out. And then I'll be back to Straights ofcourse! :D I just want to see if the Aqua velva has something to do with me getting less irritated skin.
 
Think I'll just take a DE shave tomorrow + Aqua velva and see how it turns out. And then I'll be back to Straights ofcourse! :D I just want to see if the Aqua velva has something to do with me getting less irritated skin.

Sounds like it is still going well. Have you tried witch hazel instead of Aqua Velva, if you don't like the smell? There are a lot of other after shaves out there too, that smell better.
 
I have tried witch hazel for the last 2 months, but it doesn't do the job!

Today, my aftershave routine was this: Wash my face with warm water, apply alumblock to nicks, witch hazel lemon astringent, clean my straight and strop it just a few rounds, icecold water, and then aqua velva.

Great face afterwards!
 
I have tried witch hazel for the last 2 months, but it doesn't do the job!

Today, my aftershave routine was this: Wash my face with warm water, apply alumblock to nicks, witch hazel lemon astringent, clean my straight and strop it just a few rounds, icecold water, and then aqua velva.

Great face afterwards!

That is almost the same as my post shave routine. I go water, alum if necessary, witch hazel, clean razor (I'm DE right now) and brush, Nivea post shave balm, warm towel it off, cold water... face feels great! :001_smile
 
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