New Weck Sextoblade User

[Flintstone65]

Hi All -- I'm a relatively experienced safety razor shaver (DE's and SE's), but I've never handled an SR or shavette. My mind has been inching me towards the ultimate "single edge" and I recently acquired and cleaned up a 1909 Pat'd Weck Sextoblade with guard. The guard feels like "training wheels", and whether that's true or not, it's giving me the piece of mind to put the very sharp looking Personna blade to my face.

So I'm looking for some advice/thoughts/guidance on my first shave. Here's what I'm thinking, feel free to correct me or just generally throw in your 2-cents:

1. I'm looking to try this with a couple of days of growth. It's typically easier on my face to skip a day anyway, but I figure several more hours of growth may improve the experience....usually easier to take more hair off than less.
   
   
2. I haven't chosen a soap yet, but I'll be looking to make a slick and wettish lather, and I'll keep it on the thinner side -- not going for big fluffy "butter cream frosting" lather. I'm thinking Tabac, MWF, or even one of my many creams (LEA, Palmolive, GFT).
   
   
3. My plan is to keep it to a WTG pass....just focus on removing the lather, no pressure, keep the angle VERY shallow, keep the skin flat with focused skin stretching.
   
   
4. First time out my plan is to do both cheeks, try the lip, neck and chin, but my expectation is that I'll switch to on of my tried and true SE razors which will finish the shave.

So what do you think? All opinions welcome, but I'm also hoping to here from experienced Sextoblade users.

Thanks,
Fred

 

[rudyt]

So I'm looking for some advice/thoughts/guidance on my first shave. Here's what I'm thinking, feel free to correct me or just generally throw in your 2-cents:

Greetings from the other Flintstone

1. Doesn't matter at all to me. I notice new difference between one day and two day stubble using my Sextoblade.

2. thin, wet and slick is what you want I get my best straight shaves when the lather is wet and semi-transparent in my face.

3. WTG cheeks only is what I always suggest. Make it a point to use your non-dominant hand. Also, get into the habit if stretching even if you don't need to. I learned without stretching and now it's hard to unlearn. Luckily my skin is tight, but it might not be forever.

My best advice is round off the corners of the blade - it really helps.

I documented my learning with the Weck (no guard) with no prior straight experience here:

First straight razor shave, but with a Sextoblade

 

[Flintstone65]

Greetings from the other Flintstone

1. Doesn't matter at all to me. I notice new difference between one day and two day stubble using my Sextoblade.

2. thin, wet and slick is what you want I get my best straight shaves when the lather is wet and semi-transparent in my face.

3. WTG cheeks only is what I always suggest. Make it a point to use your non-dominant hand. Also, get into the habit if stretching even if you don't need to. I learned without stretching and now it's hard to unlearn. Luckily my skin is tight, but it might not be forever.

My best advice is round off the corners of the blade - it really helps.

I documented my learning with the Weck (no guard) with no prior straight experience here:

First straight razor shave, but with a Sextoblade

Thank you, sir! Very helpful, and I will absolutely check out your link.

 

[rudyt]

Thank you, sir! Very helpful, and I will absolutely check out your link.

Whatever you wind to doing, try not to get discouraged. You will make progress and then for no apparent reason, have some setbacks. Regroup and power through - two steps forward and one step back is still progress.

Eventually, you'll get to the point where you much prefer the shave without the guard. These days, I only use the guard when I'm feeling lazy or just want a quick autopilot shave.

 

[Gamma]

Any way you want to do it is fine, it's shaving, not particle acceleration. Be comfortable with your plan, and you'll be ok.
Nerves and anxiety will pass.
Literally, it's easier than you think it is, worst thing that happens is a cut.
Personally, I find the guard to be a nuisance, and a distraction.
The blades are a bit more forgiving of larger angles that one would expect so don't sweat that so very much. Learn to 'feel the cut' by making very slight angle changes and you'll find 'it'.
Stay focused; every time you put the blade to your face, think about what you are doing in that particular moment.
Be deliberate, be sure; don't 'bounce' the blade on the skin, go slow but be smooth and consistent.
Anxiety can cause hesitaiton, and jerky motions - both of which can/will end in pink lather. So have the triple shot latte after, not before.

 

[Christopherallen]

I love the sextoblades , I have an open and a closed comb ,, honestly I don't think iv ever used the gaurds , besides a single cheek pass then took off. ..

My technique is to angle about a spine distance between face and sextoblade , then to skim the hair off , if more angle is needed you will feel it

Iv had best luck with Proraso .. cuishony , highly protective

These are mine , the smaller open comb one is a barbershop junior

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

Greetings from the other Flintstone

1. Doesn't matter at all to me. I notice new difference between one day and two day stubble using my Sextoblade.

2. thin, wet and slick is what you want I get my best straight shaves when the lather is wet and semi-transparent in my face.

3. WTG cheeks only is what I always suggest. Make it a point to use your non-dominant hand. Also, get into the habit if stretching even if you don't need to. I learned without stretching and now it's hard to unlearn. Luckily my skin is tight, but it might not be forever.

My best advice is round off the corners of the blade - it really helps.

I documented my learning with the Weck (no guard) with no prior straight experience here:

First straight razor shave, but with a Sextoblade

Wow! This thing looks lethal!
I am 700+ shaves into straight/shavette shaving, but I would think twice before trying to shave with that.
May as well glue a half DE blade to a ice cream stick and try to shave with that

 

[Flintstone65]

I want to thank you all for your responses, especially my avatar-double, @rudyt! I had my first Weck Sextoblade with the guard yesterday, and it went surprisingly shockingly well. Here are is a (sort of) quick synopsis:

I made a very wet lather (which is pretty easy to do with MWF), loaded a Personna Hair Shaper blade into the Weck, put the guard on (because I'm a big chicken and I wasn't going to do this without the guard), and then heeding the excellent info and advice I've gleaned from this forum, I made my first pass. All I thought about was "keep the skin flat and just lightly wipe off the shaving cream with the blade, if it cuts hair than that's okay".....and guess what, it cut hair. I shaved the entire right side of my face (throat and all), and while there was still plenty of stubble left on my face, there was also plenty of stubble on the razor. I then trusted what I was told, and forced myself to switch hands (and the guard) for the left side of the face. It wasn't a "natural" feeling, and there wasn't as much hair removed, but I did the entire left side. Now I did skip my chin (which frankly I find challenging enough with my safety razors), and I was very careful on the upper lip, but I had a successful, mostly full-face WTG pass. I put the Weck down, did a short victory dance in my shave den, and scooped up my beloved GEM OC Damaskeene for the next 2 passes.

The shave was a VERY nice CCS-DFS-BBS shave with only minor irritation on my lower neck -- that was because the hair grows S to N just on and below my Adams Apple, which means if I don't change direction on the WTG pass (and I didn't with the Weck pass), I risk irritation. I also got a single nick/weeper on my Adams Apple which required the alum block. All that aside, I was VERY happy with my inaugural shavette/SR-Like-Object shave. Honestly, it was a better pass than I've had with a recent ultra-aggressive DE.

So here are a few personal take-aways from my first time out:

1. I am hooked on the Weck Sextoblade. I’m going to continue to work on my technique, and this razor will be riding shotgun with an SE or DE for a good long while, but it is FUN to shave with and I’m going to keep at it.
   
   
2. I will one day take off the training wheels (i.e., the guard), but it’ll be on for a good long time….I want to be completely comfortable before it comes off.
   
   
3. The Weck was a really fun shaver, but it also made me appreciate my GEMs and Injectors. After putting the Weck down and picking up the GEM Damaskeene, it was like shaving with a cart….only a 1,000 times better. There's nothing like leaving your comfort zone to help you really appreciate it when you get back there.

That last point also reminded me of when I moved from carts to DE's and then DE's to SE's, I was tentative and the shaves were, shall we say, "unrefined"; but now muscle memory makes shaving with pretty much any DE or SE a non-event....so I'm absolutely going to keep the Weck in the rotation to hone that skill and build muscle memory.

My thanks again to everyone....one of the things that I love about this hobby is being able to learn from those who have already made the journey.

 

[rudyt]

I had my first Weck Sextoblade with the guard yesterday, and it went surprisingly shockingly well.[/IMG]

Congrats. That's way better than my first shave, but in my defence, I didn't have a guard. Like airplane landings, any straight shave you can walk away from is a good shave ;-)