Should I not use the same hand on the opposite side?

[jackgoldman123]

Depends on how quickly you can get to the nearest ER if needed.

 

[karacha]

It's easier to use both hands. After a while you don't even think about it anymore.

 

[Lefonque]

I used both hands as I found it the easiest for me. Find what works best for and go with it.

 

[Euro_Lander]

Pedro has an excellent technique and will be of help to new wet shavers - view his videos and decide for yourself.

Enjoy.

 

[JPO]

Hello,

I've bought myself a cheapo Shavette, mostly out of curiosity. My first pass was excellent, it was easy to line up an angle with the blade clearly hooking onto the whiskers, taking it slow and light. Decided to do a second pass to clean up a few places and get it down to a BBS shave. I'm very dominantly left-handed and I don't trust my right for anything. So I used my left hand for my right side and where in the first pass it was easy to tell what I was doing with the hair, on my second pass I really struggled to line up and angle and ended up giving myself a nasty cut under my ear. I finished up cleaning up with a safety razor.

Given this is my first time using anything resembling a SR, I'm quite pleased with how I did and how smooth it was. But yeah, need a ton of work for my technique -- which leads me to the title. Should I learn to navigate the razor with my right hand instead of using my left for everything?

As well, is it important to see what I'm doing or is SR shaving more by feel? I had a lot of struggle to line up my sideburns, ended up scraping them, but those areas are far from sensitive, so it's all good.

Cheers.

I am a single hand shaver, but i think it might be worth investing some time in the beginning using both hands. These half de blade shavettes (if that is what you are using) can be really unforgiving. If you get a artist club shavette like the Feather SR or the SS you can get guarded blades. My first SR was was a 7/8 1/4 hollow. My Dovo shavette was not used after that. I find the straight razors easier to use. My point is that even if you do not get along with your shavette a SR might still be worth considering. With the right edge it is an completely different experience.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

When I first started straight shaving I wore a beard so I was only using it to cut a line on the cheeks and to shave the neck. It's easy to do all that one-handed so using my off hand never occurred to me. As I've been shaving most of my face these days, my passes (N/S, R/L, S/N) work pretty well one-handed so I still haven't bothered to develop my off hand technique.

However, when I wear a goatee, I do use my off hand to do my final S/N pass along the left side of my chin, as it allows me to use the toe of the razor to get a precise line. Felt weird at first but got easy fast.

Somebody mentioned painting. Working off ladders meant that I had to paint with both hands and at this point I can edge more cleanly and faster with my off hand than I can with my right.