My First Straight Razor Shave today!

[Pmaynard19]

Super excited. I received a Levering “The Artist” Razor today. It was already honed and considered shave ready but was in need of Stropping. After plenty of research and help from this awesome group, I was able to strop it and complete my first 1 pass with it today. It was all in all a good experience and I know I have plenty to learn. I finished up with my DE Gillette Tech but I’m really looking forward to getting better at stropping and shaving with a straight. I hope it’s an ok idea to start slow with the straight and maybe work on technique, holding etc. and then tighten things up with my DE, until I get the hang of the straight. Any opinions on this method?



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[Biltong & Boerewors]

Super excited. I received a Levering “The Artist” Razor today. It was already honed and considered shave ready but was in need of Stropping. After plenty of research and help from this awesome group, I was able to strop it and complete my first 1 pass with it today. It was all in all a good experience and I know I have plenty to learn. I finished up with my DE Gillette Tech but I’m really looking forward to getting better at stropping and shaving with a straight. I hope it’s an ok idea to start slow with the straight and maybe work on technique, holding etc. and then tighten things up with my DE, until I get the hang of the straight. Any opinions on this method?
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Perfectly acceptable to start with the easy bits (cheeks) first and finish with what you are comfortable with.

The bits that takes a lot more patience, practice and experience are around your mouth. Even after two years I still don't always get it right the first time, and sometimes it's not worth going over them again because you risk irritation.

Biggest challenge is to achieve and maintain a good edge. Lots of ways to do it and many more opinions, listen to advice and find what works for you. In my view there are two ways to deal with it, learn to hone and finish or switch to a shavette. Sending your razors away for someone else to hone is not going to be a feasible option in the long term.

 

[ajduplessis]

That the intelligent route, also DE will give you some idea of what sharp should be. Enjoy the journey...

 

[Pmaynard19]

Perfectly acceptable to start with the easy bits (cheeks) first and finish with what you are comfortable with.

The bits that takes a lot more patience, practice and experience are around your mouth. Even after two years I still don't always get it right the first time, and sometimes it's not worth going over them again because you risk irritation.

Biggest challenge is to achieve and maintain a good edge. Lots of ways to do it and many more opinions, listen to advice and find what works for you. In my view there are two ways to deal with it, learn to hone and finish or switch to a shavette. Sending your razors away for someone else to hone is not going to be a feasible option in the long term.

Thanks for the info and encouragement. I appreciate it. I am going to be researching and hopefully learning a lot on how to achieve and keep a good edge. I’m going to start off with purchasing a good, but inexpensive strop for a beginner and then some honing equipment. For me, part of the lure to a straight razor is the hands on maintenance and upkeep. I enjoy these things, I just hope I can learn to do them properly.


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[Pmaynard19]

That the intelligent route, also DE will give you some idea of what sharp should be. Enjoy the journey...

Thank you!


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[Slash McCoy]

The conventional wisdom says use the DE as much as makes you comfortable. I am the dissenting opinionator here on this view. I say ditch the training wheels altogether, especially now that you have actually held the razor in your hands and charged into the stubble with it. Just go for it. Do a single WTG pass all over. Next shave, do two WTG passes. Don't consciously try to get a close shave. Just survive it for now. Closeness will come. But that instant immersion into the manly way of shaving will get you up and rolling quickly and give you plenty of elitist pride early in the game. Two WTG passes is actually a pretty good shave. BBS? NOT needed. Nobody will notice. All you need is SAS, Socially Acceptable Shave. DFS, Darn Fine Shave, maybe. BBS not necessary. You will waste a lot of time and blood and skin cells pursuing that dragon. CCS, Close Comfortable Shave, is all the trophy shave you should ever aspire for. For that, you need either a very sharp razor, as in a Method edge, or else add a third pass, ATG.

Keep in mind that you will not always be able to shave in the desired orientation to the grain on every part of your face or neck. That's okay, jst get as close to the ideal direction as possible. Don't let it put your drawers in a twist.

 

[Tanuki]

I don’t know what the conventional wisdom might be. “Manly”, ha, ha. I beat my chest for a few minutes each day to register that.

Slash I’m sure is right that progress is fastest when you go all in, but I can’t prioritize that over other fun (and not so fun) things in my life.

Check in with the Daily Double thread if you need some validation on multi-razor shaves. Whatever else you have going on, SR shaves and razor maintenance take some time, so mix and match as required and desired. I’m loving SR (thanks to Slash among others), even if I have to ration it sometimes.

 

[Bob L.]

Welcome to our pool. The water's fine.

 

[Pmaynard19]

The conventional wisdom says use the DE as much as makes you comfortable. I am the dissenting opinionator here on this view. I say ditch the training wheels altogether, especially now that you have actually held the razor in your hands and charged into the stubble with it. Just go for it. Do a single WTG pass all over. Next shave, do two WTG passes. Don't consciously try to get a close shave. Just survive it for now. Closeness will come. But that instant immersion into the manly way of shaving will get you up and rolling quickly and give you plenty of elitist pride early in the game. Two WTG passes is actually a pretty good shave. BBS? NOT needed. Nobody will notice. All you need is SAS, Socially Acceptable Shave. DFS, Darn Fine Shave, maybe. BBS not necessary. You will waste a lot of time and blood and skin cells pursuing that dragon. CCS, Close Comfortable Shave, is all the trophy shave you should ever aspire for. For that, you need either a very sharp razor, as in a Method edge, or else add a third pass, ATG.

Keep in mind that you will not always be able to shave in the desired orientation to the grain on every part of your face or neck. That's okay, jst get as close to the ideal direction as possible. Don't let it put your drawers in a twist.

Thanks for the advice and info! I’ve been doing one entire pass shaves with the Straight Razor the past 2 Days and I’m ready to try a 2 pass with it today. I still don’t have a great deal of confidence in my strop and stropping, but I have ordered a supposed proper strop that will be here soon. Meanwhile, I’m using my homemade bench top strop very carefully, trying not to mess up the edge.


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