rbscebu
Mr. Strop
As the instructions say "almost dripping off your face".
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A beginner's journey to straight razors
- Thread starter thorpef1
- Start date
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- Tags
- beginner straight razor
rbscebu
Mr. Strop
I find it best to start SR students off using a very wet lather and advise them to try a slightly drier lather as they progress until they find the lather that best suits them.
I found my shavette harder to use than a "real" straight. I think the blades might be sharper, certainly less forgiving than a stropped edge.
Nanook
"Abandon all money, ye who enter here."
You'll find shaving with a straight razor and shaving with a shavette two very different experiences. Using a shavette can be very hard to master as the SE blades have extremely sharp corners whereas SR edges are generally more rounded and more forgiving.
Shavettes are good for barbers tidying up the neck line or sideburns after a haircut as they don't require constant stropping. This, as well as the hygiene benefits of changing out the blade for each new customer. They were really never designed for full face shaves. I do use my shavettes for a full shave if I couldn't be bothered stropping a SR but it does take a lot of blood and tears to get to be good at it and even then, I still nick myself more than I ever have with a SR.
Mouette
Member
This is an interesting thread - following a new starter in the gentleman's art of shaving with a straight razor.
I think it's generally accepted that the milestone shaves with a SR are the first, tenth shave and 30th shaves. By that stage you have sort of worked out your technique, have a bit of confidence. Shaves 30 to 100 are refining your technique and gaining more confidence. After 100 shaves, the lightbulb moments are gone, it's just a slow refinement of technique, although when you look back you notice big improvements.
I have just clocked over shave number 400 on my straight journey, and there are still things to learn, and overall I have enjoyed my journey. I don't shave every day, so it's taken a couple of years to get here. Still a long way to go with my honing though. That's a whole different story.
cheers
Andrew
I think it's generally accepted that the milestone shaves with a SR are the first, tenth shave and 30th shaves. By that stage you have sort of worked out your technique, have a bit of confidence. Shaves 30 to 100 are refining your technique and gaining more confidence. After 100 shaves, the lightbulb moments are gone, it's just a slow refinement of technique, although when you look back you notice big improvements.
I have just clocked over shave number 400 on my straight journey, and there are still things to learn, and overall I have enjoyed my journey. I don't shave every day, so it's taken a couple of years to get here. Still a long way to go with my honing though. That's a whole different story.
cheers
Andrew
Nanook
"Abandon all money, ye who enter here."
I think the trick is to not get too confident, too early.
Following on from my previous post, I started off with learning how to shave with a shavette before I started on SRs.
My very first shave was great, no cuts or nicks.
My second shave was good, one slight nick but no worse than you can get with a DE razor. I was starting to think to myself, "How easy is this?"
Well.
My third shave ended up with the bathroom looking like I'd slaughtered a pig and my face looking like I'd gone ten rounds with my cat......
Mouette
Member
As to the amount of blood you spill straight razor shaving - I have had more blood spilled from playing with my cats than I have had from a razor!
SR number. 4
Date. 21/9/23
Growth. 2 days
Razor. T.R. Cadman & Sons full hollow Dutch point straight razor.
Soap. Blue Devil tropical colada bowl lathered
Shaved area. Both cheeks,
Cuts. Minor weepers, nothing too bad
Observations. Today wasn't the best shave, I struggled to find a good hold where I was comfortable, confident and had good view. I'm playing around with long vs short strokes, I find longer more comfortable for big straight sections such as the cheek.
SR number. 5
Date. 23/9/23
Growth. 2 days
Razor. T.R. Cadman & Sons full hollow Dutch point straight razor.
Soap. Barrister and Mann reserve lavender, bowl lathered
Shaved area. Both cheeks, jawline
Cuts. Minor weepers, nothing too bad
Observations. Today was a much better shave than the other day, playing around with my hold, especially on the left side of my face but still holding the razor in my right hand Ive found a good grip, it's an odd hold but it works. Moving below the jawline but still staying away from my troubled lower neck. I need to concentrate a bit more under the nose as I feel quite awkward there. Time to get back on YouTube and watch.
I'm glad I've made it this far, it is a big learning curve when I spent so long getting the DR razor thing going but good to have some options.
Date. 21/9/23
Growth. 2 days
Razor. T.R. Cadman & Sons full hollow Dutch point straight razor.
Soap. Blue Devil tropical colada bowl lathered
Shaved area. Both cheeks,
Cuts. Minor weepers, nothing too bad
Observations. Today wasn't the best shave, I struggled to find a good hold where I was comfortable, confident and had good view. I'm playing around with long vs short strokes, I find longer more comfortable for big straight sections such as the cheek.
SR number. 5
Date. 23/9/23
Growth. 2 days
Razor. T.R. Cadman & Sons full hollow Dutch point straight razor.
Soap. Barrister and Mann reserve lavender, bowl lathered
Shaved area. Both cheeks, jawline
Cuts. Minor weepers, nothing too bad
Observations. Today was a much better shave than the other day, playing around with my hold, especially on the left side of my face but still holding the razor in my right hand Ive found a good grip, it's an odd hold but it works. Moving below the jawline but still staying away from my troubled lower neck. I need to concentrate a bit more under the nose as I feel quite awkward there. Time to get back on YouTube and watch.
I'm glad I've made it this far, it is a big learning curve when I spent so long getting the DR razor thing going but good to have some options.
This! Not only does it give you a wider range of strokes/angles/motion, it actually teaches you a lot about pressure and feel on the face using your non-dominant hand. It only takes 10-20 shaves before it starts to feel more natural, and it makes for much better shaves overall.
StratMan
Member
reading your posts with a lot of interest, I will be giving SE shaving a go shortly myself
one of my concerns was using my left hand as it's pretty useless especially for something that will need so much precision both with angle and pressure
StratMan
Member
not sure what I'm gonna do here.. as hard as this will be I might start doing it early on but just the though increases my fear factor from anxious to petrified
Amost all the nicks I got early on were with my dominant hand. Over confidence is what you should worry about, especially as you get a few semi-satisfactory shaves under your belt...
Nanook
"Abandon all money, ye who enter here."
There's no need to learn to use both hands if you don't feel comfortable doing it. Yes, it gives you more angles, but it's not like there's places on your face you can't reach. You will still get a very satisfactory shave one handed.
StratMan
Member
I don't think over confidence will be a problem for me, right now grave concern is an emotion I'm going through.. when the blade is on my face it will transfer to 'shitting bricks'
StratMan
Member
might stick with this method, unless I find I need the extra angles to be worth the learning curve
I shave straight after my shower. My first 20-odd shaves, I really needed to get back in the shower afterwards because I was sweating bullets during the shave!
