I did it! First straight razor shave.

[LegionPrime]

Just got done with my first straight razor shave. I hadn't planned to shave my whole face (more or less) and actually got carried away and shaved off a lot more than I had intended to. The only blood I saw was that thing on my neck which has been a PITA for years. I've got a little razor burn around that crease in the neck and a touch along my left jawline (reaching across my face to shave with my right hand is a likely culprit) but other than that not a bad shave if I do say so myself. The razor felt like it was pulling and tugging a bit, but my money's on that being because I was taking down a weeks growth instead of just a days stubble. I think I like it!
I began looking like this:

I started out washing my face and face lathered some VdH Deluxe with the Boar that comes with the kit. Then I rinsed it off and bowl lathered some AoS and slathered that on with my Semogue 1800 which left me looking like this:

This is where I got kinda carried away and ended up doing almost my whole face and left myself with this:

The damage was minimal and the shave was fantastic, not to mention satisfying. This Jonathon Crookes I got from Otto76 truly was shave ready and delivered a fantastic shave.

Thank you again Otto, and thank all you B&Br's who make this such a fantastic community to be a part of.

 

[gash]

Congratulations! That's a lot of ground covered with a first shave. Most impressive. Don't worry too much about tugging and pulling at this point. Just work on your technique.

 

[Chreees]

Awesome man! Looks like your first time went just as well if not better than mine. I too am thankful for this community. Now let's keep practicing and get good! Lol.

 

[Mike H]

Great job!

 

[oakeshott]

Fantastic results for a first shave, but you missed a little real estate around the lips and chin.

 

[rockviper]

Well done, sir!
MUCH better than my first go 'round.

 

[otto76]

Well done, sir!
MUCH better than my first go 'round.

Better than mine too, for sure! I thought it was cool the first time I used one but didn't start really enjoying it for at least a couple of weeks.
Glad you enjoyed it, I really did like that razor and Jon (Raithskar) put a very fine edge on it.

Now I am curious about the clock...was it a 20 minute shave or an hour and 20 minutes?

 

[Zephyr]

Congrats! Sounds like you did better than most of us on the first shave

 

[LegionPrime]

Thank you again Otto, I am in love with this razor and the clock doesn't lie. I spent a good bit of time on prep both because it was my first time with a straight and I had a full weeks growth to take off, once I had my lather on it took me less than 15 min. I am sure that had I done my upper lip and chin that may have added a bit of time but I got kinda carried away as is because I shaved the front of my throat which I had been growing out for the past week. So it's cost me a week of not shaving (I'd just got past the itchy stage too ) but I am loving the shaves!
Honestly I am surprised I did this well. As soon as I started shaving I felt it hesitating once it hit the growth and thought I was gonna cut sections by going under the follicle a couple times. But the blade just slid over my face and I was rinsing big bloodless clumps of hair off the blade. I am NOT waiting another week to shave with this again *LOL*
I also oiled up my poor mans strop from Whipped Dog and have tried my hand at stropping a couple times today. So tonight I'll get to see how bad I am at stropping. *LOL*

 

[otto76]

I wouldn't have given you a hard time over an hour and twenty! I believe my first was in the 45 minute range and I didn't have a weeks worth of whiskers to shave.

 

[pmaster]

Keep it up! The cool thing is that it only gets better!

 

[Aschecte]

Congrats !!! Looks great !!

 

[rockviper]

Hang on a minute! That's the razor from Otto's BST thread last week! Holy jumpins, did that ever arrive fast!!

 

[AjaxLepinski]

Congrats on the first straight shave!!!
Watch out for overconfidence. Last week, overconfidence gave me a 1" nick. Nothing really serious, my cats actually gave me worse slices... and chicks dig scars!

 

[otto76]

Hang on a minute! That's the razor from Otto's BST thread last week! Holy jumpins, did that ever arrive fast!!

I was shocked myself, he got that about two days faster than I thought he would. USPS must have had a lead footed driver for that route!

 

[LegionPrime]

Yeah, tracking said it wouldn't be here till Monday. I'm not complaining though
I tried a quick shave again Sunday after trying my had at stropping a bit. I got a close shave but it seemed a lot rougher and I got a bit more razorburn. I was reading a bunch today and I think I've been using too steep an angle. Tonight I basically laid the flat against my face, lifted the spine a bit and that went a lot smoother. I think I need to take a break to let the razorburn cool down a bit though, I also need to work on my stropping.

 

[thatsilverguy]

Very cool. First step on a very rewarding path. I have straight-shaved for a couple of years now and I can tell you I still get as excited about it as you are Have fun!

 

[noahpictures]

Great start! On average it takes about a 100 shaves to become proficient or near proficient so patience and having fun are key.

 

[Firewalker]

Bravo! Great job on the first SR shave!

"Any shave you can walk away from is a good shave."

 

[LegionPrime]

So tonight was my fourth shave. Keeping the blade angle low really makes a difference. I used a moisturizer sample I got and let it sit on my face for about 10 min before starting my prep and while I still hate the feel of that junk on my face I did get a great shave. I ran TOBS tonight which I always love the lather of, I just thin it out a bit more with the SR. Taking the break yesterday really helped my face, tonight the only burn I feel is on the MD line on my throat. I felt a light uniform sting down my face with my aftershave, not much but I'm still learning. I've been stropping a bit more, taking more nicks out of my strop too.
Question about stropping, a lot of people have a fabric strop and I've read that they strop it a bit on that before hitting the leather to warm up the blade? Is this anything I should bother with or is it a preference thing?
Also the shave still feels a little rough, should I strop it a bit on the compounded balsa from Whipped Dog and then go back to the leather? I think I want a loupe so I can start seeing the cutting edge. Both so I can see things for myself and get a better idea of what I'm seeing in relation to my shave. Will 20x be enough or should I try to get my hands on a 40x?
I'm trying to grow out an exaggerated fu manchu so I think I'm gonna go back to DE for a bit. I just have more control with a DE than I currently have with the straight. After a week or so when I have a bit more growth (that I shaved off sat night ) I'll be whipping out the straight again.