Just bought my first straight!

[Dods]

My second razor showed up today. It was purchased from a fellow member here. It's a Wade and Butcher. I will be shaving with this tomorrow.

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[Dods]

Well, today was my 3rd shave. I used the 5/8 Wade & Butcher that arrived yesterday. I definitely like it better than the 4/8 that I used for my first two shaves. Today was mostly still WTG passes. Right at the end I did a somewhat full XTG on both cheeks. My right side I did twice. Once with my right hand going from mouth to ear. The second time I actually used my left hand, and went ear to mouth. That actually felt more natural. When that was done, my right cheek felt amazing. That is as long as I didn't run my hand ATG. This 5/8 was purchased from a member here, and was shave ready. I did not strop before shaving, not sure if I should have or not. I have noticed that I pay more attention to the amount of pressure being applied when shaving with my right hand. I am right handed, and I can tell a big difference when using my left hand to shave. I am so extra cautious that I tend to use even less pressure. It is noticeable difference. I still had a weeper, and a small slice. The slice was just barely a slice. The tip bit me on the left cheek. I have a quarter size bump right in the center of my cheek, that I caught with the tip. The bump has never been noticeable unless shaving.

I bought the modular paddle strop from SRD. I figured that the replacement pads are that expensive, and this gives me more stropping options than just leather. It comes with two hard felt pads, smooth leather, rough leather, and diamond spray.

Now I am looking forward to shave number 4 tomorrow morning.

 

[Dods]

Had shave number 4 this moring. Certain times today if felt like I was making progress, and other times not so much. I am still trying to get comfortable with holding the blade. Sometimes it just feels awkward, and other times it will feel so natural. I still haven't been able to make much progress on my neck. If I can't get it better tomorrow, I may just break down, and whack the hairs off with my merkur. The section under the chin isn't a problem, but the other areas of the neck are. I am still trying to experiment with different angles, and directions. I will strop the razor this evening, I plan on doing 100 on stop kit I got from Larry.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

 

[global_dev]

Had shave number 4 this moring. Certain times today if felt like I was making progress, and other times not so much. I am still trying to get comfortable with holding the blade. Sometimes it just feels awkward, and other times it will feel so natural. I still haven't been able to make much progress on my neck. If I can't get it better tomorrow, I may just break down, and whack the hairs off with my merkur. The section under the chin isn't a problem, but the other areas of the neck are. I am still trying to experiment with different angles, and directions. I will strop the razor this evening, I plan on doing 100 on stop kit I got from Larry.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

make sure you are doing adequate skin stretching... great job so far.

 

[Dods]

Yeah, I am still woking on skin stretching as well. I have been using the alum block which really does make a difference when trying to stretch the skin.

 

[Dods]

Today was shave number 5. I did 100 passes on the poor mans strop from Larry last night. My cheeks this morning feel great. I did WTG/XTG passes on my cheeks, and the feel SMOOOOTH! A couple of weepers just to the left of my chin area. I need to focus a bit more in that area. I think I had a break through on my neck today. I think I finally figured out how to contort my neck so that I can get what I call the center area of each side of my neck. This area kind of sinks in so I have been having issues with this area. Today though I was able to hit this area ok. I just now need more practice now. I am so pumped right now. I can't for tomorrow morning to get here.

 

[kg4ghn]

Sounds like you are coming along nicely.

Keep it up!

 

[Dods]

Thanks. I am really enjoying the experience. There is just something about using a straight that I don't get shaving with my merkur. So far I have tried a 4/8, and a 5/8. I have a 9/16 coming, but I really think I would also like to get my hands on a 6/8. Right now I have just been looking at the BST forums to see if something will pop up. I am hesitant to buy one from ebay. Are there a list of vendors that sell straights. I don't want new. I was thinking of vendor that restores vintage straights.

 

[touchdowntodd]

wow, this is great.. i want so badly to try a straight...

 

[Dods]

You should jump right in. If you buy a straight, and strop from Larry at whippeddog. It would only run roughly 80 bucks. I believe his strop is around 20 bucks. The razor would be any where from 30 bucks on up. That's where I got my first razor from. Bringing the razor to your face is as daunting of a task as one would think. Just take it slow, and everything will be fine.

wow, this is great.. i want so badly to try a straight...

 

[touchdowntodd]

i really think it would be great.. my only issue is money for now.. im new to the DE game and i dont have money to try a straight for now (yes i know they are different things lol, the sentence is confusing).. hopefully one day

 

[Dods]

Well, another day. Another shave. Today my razor decided I wasn't paying it enough attention. Yep you guessed it! It decided to bite my on the right side just under the jaw line. Well, I apologized for not paying it enough attention, and it apologized for biting me. Other then that my cheeks continue to feel nice, and smooth after a WTG followed by a XTG pass. Although my WTG isn't as smooth as I would like it to feel. I know this can be better. My neck areas still continues to fight me. It refuses to give up it's secrets to getting that smooth shave with my straight. What mu neck area fails to understand though, is that my stubborness for exceeds its stubborness! I will unlock it's secrets one day, hopefully in the very near future.

The modular paddle strop that I ordered from SRD should be here today, and maybe just maybe my stone that I got from TheSuperiorShave will also show up. I love getting packages in the mail!

 

[Dods]

Well, I believe today was shave number 7. I am glad to report no nicks, or cuts today. The blade is starting to get a bit more comfortable to hold. The angle still seems to be hit or miss. I really to need to concentrate more on not using pressure. The 5/8 that I am using feels like it doesn't way anything. My neck is starting to get easier to hit. Overall I feel I am making decent progress. I did try a few ATG passes today. Just on that straight section of the neck below the chin. I definitely need to be more comfortable holding the razor before I really get into the ATG passes though. The shave was just so so today. I definitely have stubble in places. I used the modular paddle strop last night. The blade felt different today. It didn't seem to have as much trouble getting through the beard on my cheek. I did 30 passes on the hard felt, and then 30 on the smooth leather. I think I will try more passes on the smooth leather tonight, and keep the passes on the hard felt the way they are.

 

[Luc]

Sounds good!

 

[Dods]

Is it bad to wish I could shave 3 or 4 times a day?

 

[Dods]

Today was shave number 8. I know yesterday I said it would be a while before I shaved ATG. Funny how things change from one day to the next. Today I shaved both cheecks ATG. I would say it was a successful for attempt. No cuts, nicks, weepers.... My face was a bit sensitive afterwards, but is fine now. I think I made more progress on my neck as well. I don't think I have been stretching it enough. Today I really stretched it, and was rewarded with a flat surface to engage my razor against.

I have been using MWF since I started straight shaving. I bought it specifcally for shaving with my straight. This has made a big difference as well. My first shaves with the straight I can tell I had crap lather. Now though the MWF is now LatherR'US. I can run my fingers ATG on my right cheek, and it is so smooth, at least in several areas.

 

[Dods]

Yesterday, I had a pretty good shave. My neck area keeps getting better, and my cheeks are really coming out great. I didn't shave today so my face had a rest day. I did a touch up on my coti. I used lather, and did about 10 x strokes. I then stropped it 60 on hard felt, and 100 on smooth leather. We will see how my shave in the morning turns out.

 

[natchez]

Yesterday, I had a pretty good shave. My neck area keeps getting better, and my cheeks are really coming out great. I didn't shave today so my face had a rest day. I did a touch up on my coti. I used lather, and did about 10 x strokes. I then stropped it 60 on hard felt, and 100 on smooth leather. We will see how my shave in the morning turns out.

For touch up on cotis, Bart recommends about 30 strokes per week. I was using 12, but on his site, and in a thread here, he suggested 30. You might want to try the 30 strokes once a week to keep your blades in proper form. Since reading this advice I moved up to 30 and it seems to working fine.

It sounds like you are making really great progress. My first ATG try I ended up with a couple of nicks where cheek meets chin- good for you to be nick free!

 

[Dods]

Well, I was taking it nice and slow on the ATG passes. I will try the 30 passes next Sunday. Thanks for the info on the number of passes to use.

 

[Dods]

Well forgetting the fact that I nicked my ear, on a ATG pass. Today's shave was AWESOME!. Not 100% BBS, but so close. The ATG passes today were great. I even got the ATG passes on my neck. The blade itself felt great. I don't know if it was due to hitting the coti, or the fact that I had more than 24 hours of beard growth. My WTG passes are getting better, and they are getting faster as well. Since finally figuring out the level of skin stretching that I need to do, everything is falling into place.