Trusting your indications

[kingfisher]

Sometime folks think that they need to do a full three pass shave on their first attempt using a straight razor. That is a guarantee of discouragement. Placing a naked blade against your throat or upper lip the first time can be intimidating and you are bound to be nervous.

I suggest that the first time you use a straight that you should use only your dominant hand and you should shave only the cheek on that side using a single with the grain pass. Then complete the remainder of your shave with DE razor or even a cartridge razor if that is what you have.

The next day, try to shave both cheeks WTG using your dominant hand.
The following day, try shaving your entire face WTG except the chin and mustache area that pose the greatest difficulty for many people.
Then try shaving your entire face WTG.
Once you are comfortable shaving WTG, the start trying XTG and ATG passes.

Finally, once you are comfortable shaving all passes with your dominant hand, try to learn how to use your opposite hand. I you have any degree of ambidextrous skills, using both hands can make shaving some parts of your face easier. However, some folks never learn to use their off hand. So, if you have difficulty learning, stick with your dominant hand. When shaving top to bottom, I use the hand on the same side of my face, but when shaving in other directions, I find it is easier to use the opposite hand. Do whatever seems most natural for you.

I agree with all of this except for the advice to delay using your non-dominant hand. I did and would advise using it from day 1. Just do WTG on the cheeks using left hand for the left cheek and right hand for the right cheek and then put it away. I am right-handed and was very afraid of using the left hand, but within a month or a month-and-a-half I found I actually shaved BETTER with my non-dominant hand. I'm now over 250 straight razor shaves and I still think my non-dominant hand is a slightly better shaver.
My theory is that since I had never used it before for any shaving whatsoever, I had no bad habits to undo. My left hand learned to shave with a straight razor and that was its first experience. So now it is really good at shaving with a straight razor. (My right hand, on the other hand [pun intended], learned to shave with a cartridge razor, and then with a DE, and then with an SE, and then with a straight razor, so it had some habits that didn't work perfectly and it had to "re-learn" to shave.)

Just my opinion and experience.

 

[RumpleBearskin]

Truly a classic example of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing...

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

 

[Ufgoodies]

the "No pressure, No pressure" mantra that so many chant, should be "start with no pressure" or "start low and slowly add more".

The very first time i shaved was after buying a shave ready dovo from an Ebay vender (who was also apparently a member here, though i forget who) and i didn't give myself a lot (sure i watched some, but didn't overdo it for once) of time watching videos or reading forums, so i kind of went in blind. It was amazing, smooth, BBS...and when it went dull i didn't have stones to resharpen it. a couple years later i got back into it and the first shave I tried repeating the "no pressure" i had read a lot about since and eventually came to the same conclusion that you did. Some pressure works for my face.

I think this is reflected in the advice people sometimes give to new shavers "once you build your confidence" or "once you gain experience your shave will improve." I think that if you're too hesitant then the blade catches, which is why it's important to have that confident stroke, which may have some pressure. never excess pressure, but when you're learning to shave it's difficult to understand what excess pressure is...especially since all of our hair and skin is different.

 

[Twelvefret]

I agree with all of this except for the advice to delay using your non-dominant hand. I did and would advise using it from day 1. Just do WTG on the cheeks using left hand for the left cheek and right hand for the right cheek and then put it away. I am right-handed and was very afraid of using the left hand, but within a month or a month-and-a-half I found I actually shaved BETTER with my non-dominant hand. I'm now over 250 straight razor shaves and I still think my non-dominant hand is a slightly better shaver.
My theory is that since I had never used it before for any shaving whatsoever, I had no bad habits to undo. My left hand learned to shave with a straight razor and that was its first experience. So now it is really good at shaving with a straight razor. (My right hand, on the other hand [pun intended], learned to shave with a cartridge razor, and then with a DE, and then with an SE, and then with a straight razor, so it had some habits that didn't work perfectly and it had to "re-learn" to shave.)

Just my opinion and experience.

+1

 

[Twelvefret]

the "No pressure, No pressure" mantra that so many chant, should be "start with no pressure" or "start low and slowly add more".

The very first time i shaved was after buying a shave ready dovo from an Ebay vender (who was also apparently a member here, though i forget who) and i didn't give myself a lot (sure i watched some, but didn't overdo it for once) of time watching videos or reading forums, so i kind of went in blind. It was amazing, smooth, BBS...and when it went dull i didn't have stones to resharpen it. a couple years later i got back into it and the first shave I tried repeating the "no pressure" i had read a lot about since and eventually came to the same conclusion that you did. Some pressure works for my face.

I think this is reflected in the advice people sometimes give to new shavers "once you build your confidence" or "once you gain experience your shave will improve." I think that if you're too hesitant then the blade catches, which is why it's important to have that confident stroke, which may have some pressure. never excess pressure, but when you're learning to shave it's difficult to understand what excess pressure is...especially since all of our hair and skin is different.

Well said..

 

[RayClem]

I agree with all of this except for the advice to delay using your non-dominant hand. I did and would advise using it from day 1.

Just my opinion and experience.

It all depends on your level of confidence in your non-dominant hand. I play the piano, guitar and drums, all instruments that require use of both hands. I also touch type, so I have some degree of coordination in both hands.

However, my fear of recommending that a newcomer to a straight razor shave with both hands on day one is that a mishap might occur that will discourage that individual from ever picking up a straight razor again. If they drop a razor or incur a serious cut, it is unlikely they will ever try that again. Such mishaps are more likely to occur with a non-dominant hand. A straight razor can be intimidating as it is without adding that extra fear factor. Thus, I believe it makes sense for most people to start with the hand in which they have the most confidence. Then as they gain confidence using the blade, they can try the other hand. For some, like you, that might well be on day one. For some, that day never comes. Many people have never shaved with their non-dominant hand. However, like you, I do find that shaving with both hands make the task a lot easier. Thus, I do encourage people to try using both hands, but perhaps not on day one.

 

[bluesman 7]

I think that I remember actually doing better with my non dominant hand than dominant when I started. I seem to remember other members stating the same. As if using the non dominant hand made you more careful or thoughtful.

I lean towards being more ambidextrous than most I think. Some people are very dominant hand centric. So I think that using the non dominant hand will be very person specific.

 

[smokey0325]

I started out using both hands. If I remember correctly, I did a full 3 pass shave, doing my best to mimic geofatboy's techniques. The razor wasn't actually shave ready, so it could have gone much worse than it actually did. No serious cuts were involved, but it definitely wasn't comfortable. My non dominant hand wasn't terrible by any means, but wasn't that great either. So I stepped back and started using my non dominant hand with the DE. I dont know if it actually helped or not, but when I returned to the straight, I did feel more confident with lefty than before.

 

[Ufgoodies]

It all depends on your level of confidence in your non-dominant hand.

I have zero confidence in my nondominant hand. I can get 98% of the shave done with one hand, so I just stick with that : )