So I tried something stupid this morning...
I attempted to shave without a razor, which is to say, by holding the blade between my fingers. I considered that straight-shaving really isn't much different, since in either case you have to manually control the blade angle.
I lathered up with some Speick stick and used extra glycerine just to be safe and held the blade edgewise between my thumb and middle finger, using the index finger as a guide on the spine of the razor. (Needless to say, this can really only be done with a traditional SE blade.)
It took me a few tries to get the right angle but I was able to do a WTG pass over my entire face that was surprisingly close and only a little weeper on my throat. I remembered all of my lessons when I was learning to straight-shave about stroke length and stretching the skin. Of course, for my second pass, I just used a normal Injector (blade AND handle).
I can now say that my left hand is the single most aggressive SE on earth...ah, who am I kidding? It's still no MMOC.
So, now for the stupid part, because what comes next will make the above seem like neuro-science.
Halfway through my pass, my fingers started to get tired being locked in one position, so I needed to put the blade down and flex my fingers. Instead of putting the blade on the sink-top or just holding the blade in my OTHER, FREE HAND, I placed the blade between my teeth, shook my hand out, and promptly nicked my tongue.
...
ANYWAY...If you guys are experienced with straight-shaving, you should give it a try, even just as an exercise in learning about blade angle and pressure...we can even start a new B&B cult: bare-hand shavers...or BS'ers, for short.
I attempted to shave without a razor, which is to say, by holding the blade between my fingers. I considered that straight-shaving really isn't much different, since in either case you have to manually control the blade angle.
I lathered up with some Speick stick and used extra glycerine just to be safe and held the blade edgewise between my thumb and middle finger, using the index finger as a guide on the spine of the razor. (Needless to say, this can really only be done with a traditional SE blade.)
It took me a few tries to get the right angle but I was able to do a WTG pass over my entire face that was surprisingly close and only a little weeper on my throat. I remembered all of my lessons when I was learning to straight-shave about stroke length and stretching the skin. Of course, for my second pass, I just used a normal Injector (blade AND handle).
I can now say that my left hand is the single most aggressive SE on earth...ah, who am I kidding? It's still no MMOC.
So, now for the stupid part, because what comes next will make the above seem like neuro-science.
Halfway through my pass, my fingers started to get tired being locked in one position, so I needed to put the blade down and flex my fingers. Instead of putting the blade on the sink-top or just holding the blade in my OTHER, FREE HAND, I placed the blade between my teeth, shook my hand out, and promptly nicked my tongue.
...
ANYWAY...If you guys are experienced with straight-shaving, you should give it a try, even just as an exercise in learning about blade angle and pressure...we can even start a new B&B cult: bare-hand shavers...or BS'ers, for short.
