Round 1: Feather Razor vs. Me

[Cos0]

I just shaved with my first straight edge (feather razor). I have five nicks, one bad one and a little razor burn. Not bad I guess. I used a pre shave oil with a paste shaving soap brushed it on. I had problems with the soap drying out and I had to keep re-lathering. And I really have no clue how to use a Styptic Pen. I read the directions and all it did was sting and did not stop the bleeding.

What made it worse, was after I was done shaving I nicked my thumb on the blade and put the blade in the water. My thumb was bleeding badly, so I ran for a first aid kit I had with my fishing gear. My girlfriend came into the bathroom found a bloody straight razor, a bloody undershirt, and a blood trail. She was not pleased and called her parents to yell at her father.

Overall I enjoyed it. I thought I was doing good until the white soap started to turn redish. Better luck next time, I guess.

Any tips to improve the experience?

Should I use rubbing alcohol on the nicks?

 

[professorchaos]

She called her father to yell about your blood trail? What did he have to do with it?

Firstly, I'd avoid using a styptic pencil for all but the bloodiest cuts. In my experience, they make scaring worse. I'd use alum and cold water on the nicks. Works just fine almost all of them.

One of the joys of shaving with a straight is figuring out what works for you. It's the little epiphanies that keep you hooked.

 

[Wid]

Her dad must have talked him into it I use antibiotic cream if I get a large enough nick, thank goodness it's been a while.

Also, I gave away all my creams to my son, he uses a doulbe edge, and use either Cella or Mitchell's Wool Fat soap. I feel the tallow based soap gives more of a cushion for my face and helps with a smoother save.

 

[ouch]

If I recall correctly, her dad bought him the razor. I understand that next year he's getting him a new chainsaw.


What do you expect? It was your first go around with the sharpest shaving instrument there is. You have to sort of ease into this process.

 

[Seraphim]

I got a nice nick with my Feather loaded KAI the other night. The Feathers require a very shallow angle to your face (try to have the razor pretty flat against your face- which is tricky on the chin....), and use a very light touch.


It gets better.

 

[Cos0]

I started off with it pretty flat, I need to find a better way to hold the razor I think. Her Dad bought me a regular straight razor and I decided I did not want to deal with the maintenance on it. I researched it and purchased a feather. Actually when I was in Japan last summer for business, I went to the hotel barber and he gave me a shave with the fixed straight razor made by feather.

I think I did pretty well but practice makes perfect.

 

[Moai]

That's the funniest thread I've read yet. Man. Thanks for the laugh. Don't you get a good enough shave with a double edged, or are you just into nostalgia?

 

[natchez]

I just shaved with my first straight edge (feather razor). I have five nicks, one bad one and a little razor burn. Not bad I guess. I used a pre shave oil with a paste shaving soap brushed it on. I had problems with the soap drying out and I had to keep re-lathering. And I really have no clue how to use a Styptic Pen. I read the directions and all it did was sting and did not stop the bleeding.

What made it worse, was after I was done shaving I nicked my thumb on the blade and put the blade in the water. My thumb was bleeding badly, so I ran for a first aid kit I had with my fishing gear. My girlfriend came into the bathroom found a bloody straight razor, a bloody undershirt, and a blood trail. She was not pleased and called her parents to yell at her father.

Overall I enjoyed it. I thought I was doing good until the white soap started to turn redish. Better luck next time, I guess.

Any tips to improve the experience?

Should I use rubbing alcohol on the nicks?

You are definitely hooked. The tips above are great- very shallow angle, no pressure, cold water and alum for all the little nicks. Make sure to take your time and take it easy. Lathering a part of your face at a time will help keep the soap from drying out. Don't worry, it takes a few weeks to get it going well.

 

[StillShaving]

Nothing like pain and blood to accelerate the learning process.

The most important suggestion is to use as light a touch as possible. Pretend you are shaving with a bird feather that will break if you push it with too much force. I suspect your next few shaves will be much better than the first, but at some point soon you will cut your face again and worse than the first time. I think it is nearly impossible not to do so when learning with the feather as you cannot estimate/understand how to shave well enough with out getting that feedback from cutting yourself. Just need to take it easy to minimize the damage as you learn.

 

[theJJ]

a bloody straight razor, a bloody undershirt, and a blood trail.

 

[Cos0]

That's the funniest thread I've read yet. Man. Thanks for the laugh. Don't you get a good enough shave with a double edged, or are you just into nostalgia?

Honestly, my grandfather use to shave with straights. I loved watching him doing it too and he told me one day he would show me how. Sadly, he died when I was still in grade school. I have had straight shaves before here(USA), in England, and Japan.

I need more practice.

 

[Laz]

I used the feather straight last Monday and nicked myself right under the nose. A nice deep one. Alum, cold water, and styptic wouldn't stop the bleeding. I had to use a bandage and felt like a fool. I need to pickup some of the pro guard blades just to see if I can do any better (doubt I could have done much worse)

 

[SiBurning]

when learning with the feather ... you cannot estimate/understand how to shave well enough with out getting that feedback from cutting yourself.

That neatly sums up one big difference between a feather and a real straight! A straight razor gives you feedback through the metal, while the feedback in a feather gets damped by the "spring load" mechanism that holds the blade in place.

 

[kap49]

I've been using one too and so far no huge loss of blood. This razor should only be used when one's focus and attention is completely tuned to maneuvering it around without removing bloody chunks of flesh. Absolutely not to be used if there was any over indulgence in perfectly blended gin martini's the prior night.

 

[rollsrook]

I bought one of the non-folding DX's about a week ago and have 3 shaves with it under my belt. It shaves remarkably well and I can get near BBS with one pass. That being said, I did get some nicks on my neck that I've never had before, even using a traditional straight or kamisori. I've read this before on here and it seems true. Feather blades are very sharp (even the proguards) and they usually don't "dull" until the 2nd or 3rd shave. That's been my experience with the DE blades, and my 3rd shave was much better than my 1st and a little better than the 2nd. I'm going to see if they have the KAI blades on the bay and pick some up.