Greetings Gents,
Having used DE razors for years, I mustered the courage (Yes, with straight razors there is some fear factor, remember?) about six weeks ago to switch from open comb DE Mühle to straight razor.
In preparation, I had soaked up as many useful You Tube videos, Forum posts and written information as I could get my hands on.
The first shave was passable, the second shave was terrible and I looked like I had (and lost) a fight with the neighbor's cat, but thankfully no blood-letting, just superficial cuts that could easily be treated with an alum block.
During the first one-week phase, I acquired the necessary muscle memory for the job. Shaves were passable, but smoothness did not come anywhere near to what I was used to from my open comb DE razor. But after three passes every morning, I left it at that and considered it a success not to have added any nicks and cuts to my face.
During the second one-week phase, I fell back on my DE razor for a fourth, final pass to get a long-lasting BBS shave. Without the DE, I got a smooth shave, but could already feel new stubble growing half-way into the day. The final DE pass allowed me to go with confidence the full 24 hours between shaves.
During the four week long third phase, I replaced the last DE pass with a fourth straight pass (WTG, XTG down, XTG up, ATG) to get that smooth, lasting shave. My chin area proved to be the most difficult and time-consuming to work on.
Yesterday, my Better Half was unable to tell me which side of my face I had shaved only with the straight and on which side I did a final pass with the DE razor.
After six weeks, I consider that a success that has me sold on straight razor shaving, even though I had moments when I wondered whether it was worth all the effort and whether I would ever come close to the smoothness and longevity of my DE shaves.
It appears now that I have.
Mind you, I hadn't planned the transition in three phases; in hindsight it just seemed to have come about this way.
The only bloodletting during the six week period occurred not on my face, but when I didn't pay the necessary attention when wiping the protective oil off the razor and cut myself into my left index finger. Lesson learnt: I try to avoid that mistake in the future as pain is a powerful educator.
Otherwise, I only contracted an early attack of SRAD that is slowly abating as I now have one razor (plus
) for every day of the week.
My personal challenge was not only to shave with competence, but to achieve a straight shave that was equal, or better to previous DE shaves. After years of DE shaving, the open comb Mühle had become second nature and gave me comfortable, smooth, long-lasting shaves, and I do admit that to match this with a straight was a tall order.
Now, I have to figure out what to do when I travel by air and only want to take carry-on baggage, but that is the subject of another post....
B.
Having used DE razors for years, I mustered the courage (Yes, with straight razors there is some fear factor, remember?) about six weeks ago to switch from open comb DE Mühle to straight razor.
In preparation, I had soaked up as many useful You Tube videos, Forum posts and written information as I could get my hands on.
The first shave was passable, the second shave was terrible and I looked like I had (and lost) a fight with the neighbor's cat, but thankfully no blood-letting, just superficial cuts that could easily be treated with an alum block.
During the first one-week phase, I acquired the necessary muscle memory for the job. Shaves were passable, but smoothness did not come anywhere near to what I was used to from my open comb DE razor. But after three passes every morning, I left it at that and considered it a success not to have added any nicks and cuts to my face.
During the second one-week phase, I fell back on my DE razor for a fourth, final pass to get a long-lasting BBS shave. Without the DE, I got a smooth shave, but could already feel new stubble growing half-way into the day. The final DE pass allowed me to go with confidence the full 24 hours between shaves.
During the four week long third phase, I replaced the last DE pass with a fourth straight pass (WTG, XTG down, XTG up, ATG) to get that smooth, lasting shave. My chin area proved to be the most difficult and time-consuming to work on.
Yesterday, my Better Half was unable to tell me which side of my face I had shaved only with the straight and on which side I did a final pass with the DE razor.
After six weeks, I consider that a success that has me sold on straight razor shaving, even though I had moments when I wondered whether it was worth all the effort and whether I would ever come close to the smoothness and longevity of my DE shaves.
It appears now that I have.
Mind you, I hadn't planned the transition in three phases; in hindsight it just seemed to have come about this way.
The only bloodletting during the six week period occurred not on my face, but when I didn't pay the necessary attention when wiping the protective oil off the razor and cut myself into my left index finger. Lesson learnt: I try to avoid that mistake in the future as pain is a powerful educator.
Otherwise, I only contracted an early attack of SRAD that is slowly abating as I now have one razor (plus
) for every day of the week.My personal challenge was not only to shave with competence, but to achieve a straight shave that was equal, or better to previous DE shaves. After years of DE shaving, the open comb Mühle had become second nature and gave me comfortable, smooth, long-lasting shaves, and I do admit that to match this with a straight was a tall order.
Now, I have to figure out what to do when I travel by air and only want to take carry-on baggage, but that is the subject of another post....
B.
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, but ultimately I did get the BBS shave that I mentioned in my opening post above on a razor that I had taken through the Naniwa SS 5K, 8K, 12K and 12K plus slurry routine.
