Straight Razor PIF Contest - The Journey

This thread is the result of the "I wanna try shaving with a straight razor PIF". This is my required duty as the winner to chronicle the journey of learning to master (or simply endure) the straight. Here was my winning entry on why i wanted to shave with a straight. Straight Razor Stewards - I thank you!

So one by one, the packages started arriving. I was like a kid at Christmas. The hone arrived and my excitement level jumped up another notch.

Finally, the mother lode arrived. At the top of the heap was the leather strop - a thing of beauty. I held it reverently, feeling the texture of both sides and enjoying the nice leather scent. I then moved on to the linen strop, which i appreciated just as much, but with sight mystification as to its purpose. Next was a very nice block of soap- loved the smell. A slight coconut overtone, so i can't wait to use that.

The last bundle was in a ziplock, and wrapped gently in a towel. I slowly pulled it out and unwrapped the razor. At last it unrolled into my hand, and i felt a pleasant weight to it - amazing. I am finally holding a straight razor.

I opened up the razor to see the blade, and upon doing so, I immediately touched my thumb to the blade to feel the sharpness. I then went and got a band-aid, remembering the time that i found my Dad's SE blade pack and slide a blade right out of the pack and into my finger. It only needed 4 stitches.

That's when it hit me - I'M HOLDING A FREAKING STRAIGHT RAZOR!

Holy cow this thing is scary! And i'm supposed to scrape this all over my face? What did i do? What did i get myself into?

So, i figured the best thing to do was to get some research under my belt. After all, the straight razor stewards must have some info tucked away in the forum somewhere. I'm sure that some helpful advice will restore my shaken confidence.

I started in the 'General Straight Razor Talk' and i found threads titled:

First shave results - Ouch!!
First shave - it burns!
What's the point of earlobes?
Little cuts don't scar - do they?
I must be doing something wrong
Need OPos donor
Blood brothers

Hmmmmm, i sense a fairly steep learning curve...

And the journey begins...

Apart from all the stuff in the wiki, have a read of this book. I found it helpful when I was starting.

http://www.archive.org/details/shavingmadeeasyw0020th

LOL, you have great writing skills, my gosh.

If this was an easy task everyone and his cousin Poindexter would be using a straight. Instead it is a task reserved for the manly man, the King of the Jungle, the Bull of Bulls, the toughest of the tough, no girley men here....that's what SWMBO told me.

Seriously tho, take it slow and you'll do fine.

The Journey #2 - Weaponized Shaving

My research phase has turned from reading horror stories of other newbies to the Interactive Guide to Straight Razor Shaving here on the B&B.

I've read endless articles on honing, stropping, stropping and honing, and stropping and more stropping and the importance of stropping. How to hone, how to strop, the different hones, the different stops.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that this stuff is boring by any meanzzzzzzz...
<nap>.......</nap>

My research then took an exciting turn. I watched the necessary scenes in the Godfather, Gangs of New York, The Expendables and Reservoir Dogs. I now feel much more adept at my foray into "Weaponized Shaving."

That's what this thing is - a weapon. I spent 2 hours yesterday looking for a place to store the razor out of reach and out of sight of the kids - that in itself will exhaust your resolve.

This evening i watched tutorials and videos on the various techniques for holding the straight razor. You mean i use my left hand as well?!?!? I can't even throw a ball in my left hand without looking like a Nancy-Boy. Again, my resolve is shaken as I look at my left hand and try to reason with it. Somehow, my left hand is not as forgiving as i would prefer it to be, and I feel as though it will take the chance to strike back for being the least preferred hand. I have to read more on this, as it seems that some are able to use their right hand for the entire shave - i need to learn this; I can't trust lefty.

I have also noticed the various hand holds, positions and gestures that straight shaving requires. This should also prepare me for a visit to the Masonic Hall.

Trust me. Get Mr Lefty involved now. It is easier to learn correct technique in the beginning, rather than have to un-learn bad habits later.

And Reservoir Dogs is not an instructional film.

Put blade to skin and do it already!!. Let's get ready to rumble!!!

No amount of reading will prepare you for 'first contact'. Lets hear it!

EDIT: And sir, indeed your writing style is incredibly fun. Bravo

I love you're writing style.

Watch Chimench's video a couple times and just do it. Once you get blade to skin for the first time, you'll calm down.

Good luck ! I'm on my second week of shaving and it is better - but a slow and uphill better . Watch this guy's videos :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDR_1hg-xNs&feature=fvsr

I found the more videos I watched , the more my handling of the razor became surer .

Cheers,

Scott

I told myself that today was the day. A mixture of impending dread and testosterone filled my day as I worked in the yard, getting nice and dirty for the shower and shave later in the day.

Pre-Op
I pulled together the necessary supplies for this adventure. First, a post shower face wash with some Musco Real lime soap, then a hot towel soak. I then sought out the slickest, richest lather that would make the blade dance. Of course, i chose TOBS sandalwood - my primary choice for a reliable, smooth lather. -On reflection, using the slickest lather might be counter-intuitive? After all, i don't want this blade to slide to far, i still need to keep it under control.

Pre-Strop
I then grabbed the strop, hooked it to the cabinet, and stropped away. It took a few passes to get comfortable, i watched another video to be sure I was doing it right. I think it's going to be a while before i get that rhythm i see other stoppers working the blades.

Moment of truth. Lathered up, stropped blade, here we go! Before i put blade to face, though i had a look around. behind the shower curtain, outside the door, under the sink. I had a suspicion that the SR Stewards were hiding in anticipation of this moment so that they could all jump out and surprise me - thereby making me cut myself and my initiation of bloodletting would be complete.

The sound of scraping was somewhat familiar, kind of cool. stretching the skin was not as easy as it seemed in the video (I put that to the downside of using a very slick lather). And my cheek is done - on to the neck. Necks are weird things - a wavy surface, really. Not easy to do, but i did it, and only one nick so far. i wonder how long before i have to get some pressure on that...

I was surprised at the ease of shaving my lip and chin - until i got to my chin - you know - where it curves. Yeah - that was, um, well. I'll come back to that.

Gettin' lefty in the game. Thanks to legion's advice, learning from the beginning to use my left hand made a lot of sense. Y'know, it wasn't bad at all. I was surprised at how well the lefty worked that side of the face. The neck seemed to go well - i think because i was going a lot slower and careful. back to the chin - I'm spending way to much time on the chin and not getting much results. Maybe a second pass?!?!

XTG? My hands were all wet and slick from the re-application of lather. I attempted to bring up another video to check myself on how to do an XTG pass. However, the iPad doesn't respond to wet hands - i was on my own. I then performed one of the most half-assed straight razor XTG passes ever!

I then attempted to clean up my chin and my neck - just above the apple. What my beard lacks in growth speed it makes up for in wiry toughness - sometimes it just won't be cut. So, i spent waaaay too much time attempting to get some level of smoothness in those areas - all the time knowing that each pass would bring me some level of misery later. Futility, thy name is 5th pass.

Meh. After all that, i still had only one nick. I could still feel some small stubble, but i need to work this out in order to get better. Bad technique and repetition would not get this cleared off my face today, so it was time to cut the losses (heh - a shaving joke) and go back to working on form and handholds. A splash of WH, followed by some Old Spice (didn't burn as much as I anticipated) and then some Trumper's Sandalwood Skin Food (what else after using a machete to scrape away a few layers of skin?).

Post OP - and here is the report card:

- Not the closest BBS shave ever, but acceptable
- 1 nick - yup, only one boys... cleared up after the Witch Hazel. Of course, I have always healed fast - not X-men Wolverine fast, but fast.
- Cool factor - you better believe it!
- Smooth - my 7-yr old daughter says I'm smooth after kissing me goodnight - that's the test.
- Maniless - oh yeah. It's manly. I could defend myself from a home intruder and get a nice shave with the SAME instrument. That's manly
- The places i spent an inordinate amount of time and half-assed technique are the most difficult spots, and those spots are kind of tender tonight...

Post-Strop. The strop after the shave felt much easier, as i had the grip down and it seemed to flow and flip - i feel like i'm starting to get it!

I could get used to this. My testosterone level must have jumped a few notches, as this whole event drew SWMBO to the doorway to check me out. I assume that's what she was doing and not looking for her toothbrush.

I put my DE's away in the drawer. I'm committing to this for the next few months until i can get BBS with some good technique. (That is, unless i have a client appointment in the next 2 weeks, then I'm probably gonna chicken out and use something to get a sure BBS shave!)

use an alum block to help stretch. i dont rinse my blade, i use a big sponge and wipe it, but after every wipe i dampen my off hand on the sponge and then wipe the alum block.
it acts like 'stickum'

Sounds like you went really well. I normally tell people to just start with their cheeks on the first time, and gradually explore out from there with each shave. But well done for jumping in with both feet.

I don't think it is cheating to tidy up with a DE in the tricky spots when you are first starting. Better than having a patchy shave. As long as you keep practising you will soon be able to do the whole deal.

Good work.

Thanks for the help guys!

I saw the alum block and sponge technique in one of the videos - that was a thing of beauty. One i hope to replicate in the near future - say about 3-4 years.

The whole left-right thing is weird. After watching a few more videos, i can honestly say that I'm more confused as to which part of my face gets the shave from which hand - it seems as though people develop their own technique over time? Is there a standard from which to work?

legion - I am still reading over the 'Shaving Made Easy' ebook - that's a great find! I just finished the honing section.

matt, im pretty sure each person shaves differently.
the key is to find what works best for you.

and as long as you try to shave a section of your face, touching it up with your DE isnt cheating

MattB said:

Thanks for the help guys!

I saw the alum block and sponge technique in one of the videos - that was a thing of beauty. One i hope to replicate in the near future - say about 3-4 years.

The whole left-right thing is weird. After watching a few more videos, i can honestly say that I'm more confused as to which part of my face gets the shave from which hand - it seems as though people develop their own technique over time? Is there a standard from which to work?

legion - I am still reading over the 'Shaving Made Easy' ebook - that's a great find! I just finished the honing section.

Click to expand...

That book will help you with the Which hand? question.

For what it's worth I do my right side face, right hand and visa-versa. On my neck I change a bit because of angles and the hair grows in odd directions. It took me a couple of months to work my neck out 100%.

You'll get there!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!

No, I'm not watching CSI:Miami. I'm shaving with a straight razor.

My second shave was an eventful one. I was happy that my first pass went well. It felt much better on the neck, and things seemed to flow a little smoother. Then it came to my chin - ug!

Working on the chin was a bit like working with velcro - that's all that i can describe. The whiskers won't budge. The razor and my chin just aren't getting along. I tried a few more angles and some interesting handholds, but i just can't get things smooth there. of course, the more i struggle the more I'll feel later - i need to get that through my head.

I went on to do a second pass, and being on the edge of true maniless, i decided to jump off completely and go ATG. I was surprised how well the ATG went at first, even more surprised at the ease of the ATG on neck.

I limited my ATG experiment to the cheeks and neck. I avoided the upper lip and chin and went to my DE for the finish. While cleaning up with the DE, i was surprised how well the ATG pass worked. I did feel some burn, however, so i knew to expect some discomfort later.

I was feeling really good about myself until after the shave. The aftershave splash gave me a clue as to what i was going to be in for, kind of a precursor to pain.

I then to the post-strop and got a little too cocky - I ended up nicking the strop, twice. I felt like that cousin that breaks all of your toys within 15 minutes of showing up at your house. Now I have to see how to handle the nicks that I'm going to give this thing. ~crap~

On the way to work, I felt every pass of the shave - I was able to see the redness and splotchy red patches appear on my chin and some on the cheeks - like a nasty painful sunburn. For a few hours, my face, especially my upper lip and chin felt like it was on fire.

Since then, the fire has subsided and my face feels much better. My chin is still red and splotchy - Yow!

Things to do:
figure out how to shave a chin; preferably mine
strop with more care
razor holds
get an alum block - it got a little slippery today
get an icepack on my face when i get home

The chin is the tricky bit for a lot of people. Shallow blade angle and practice pulling funny faces to stretch the skin.

I've been trying to replicate this routine as closely as possibly every morning for the past few months, some of the other shave videos neglect to mention many of the important steps that really make the morning shave something to enjoy.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emKi8yC3kdg[/YOUTUBE]

Great job matt, as far as the chin goes, good luck. that was the final piece to the puzzle for me and i guess the only advice i have is keep at it. really, that is the only constructive thing i can think of. It just kinda takes care of itself one day.