My first straight shave.

Today I received my poor-man's strop from Larry and the razor's I ordered from Seraphim. So I took the hint and went to take a shower a shave.

On a whim, I did something different; after I showered and built up a lather in a mug with my Mama Bear's Unscented I took some oliveology and rubbed it on my face. I then put the lather on normally, working it in nice and thick. Where it was easy to do, I went WTG and then ATG. Pulling my skin when I was working my cheeks, but just tilting my head way back and making faces to make the rest of my face smooth like I would normally.

Something I thought was weird -- and I'm not sure if it was the straight or the oliveology or both -- but on my cheeks, the razor felt like it was doing it all my itself and there was this suction feeling. Each time I took the blade to my cheek I meant to make short strokes, but it just suctioned on and guided my hand to the full length stroke like I would with a DE, but with a wider blade.

My neck was a trouble area, no nicks, but the the hair on the sides of my neck grow down and towards the back of my head, to really follow WTG and ATG was hard and I kinda did more of a XTG.

My chin and upper lip were also tough. Working with a much larger blade in my upper lip was difficult, I felt I couldn't get my angle right in a safe manner; I resisted the temptation to make it DFS or BBS with one of my safeties, something I can easily do most days. My chin has always been a trouble spot, the hair is a lot denser than anywhere else, it has very little area, it's just not an easy place to shave for me.

After finishing up with a cold water rinse I stropped the razor about 20 times to dry it before this photo. I need to read and practice more on that. I nicked the strop twice, and there are slight marks on the strop (not cuts or gouges) from the tip of the razor.

Conclusions:
All in all I consider the shave a success. I got a DFS and BBS on my cheeks, and a serviceable shave everywhere else without resorting to a DE. I didn't nick or cut myself, and had only the very beginning of an itch forming as I was finishing up, either very minor razor rash or from the soap combo, it was gone after the cold water rinse though. I nicked my strop up more than my face though so I need to work on that aspect.

I am still not sure if I enjoyed the shave and the experience, I was concentrating more on not marking up my face. I will be continuing at least until I feel I've mastered it, but I might end up using a straight when I want to meditate alone or have tons of time like I did today or I might regularly switch off between a DE and straight.

Other Thoughts:
The japanese style razor really suits my hand better than the European style. The handle seems to provide just enough to hold on to without ever getting in the way.

Nice! I would suggest making a thinner lather so the blade doesn't get sucked down onto your face...

Sounds like a successful result!

congratz!!!

Sounds like you did really well on your first attempt. The chin is always a difficult area when learning a new method. Nine days in, and my chin area still looks poor in comparison to a DE shave, but then I remember my first ones of those too. It's a long learning curve and one you will achieve.

Thanks everyone! I will definitely experiment with making my lather thinner and slipperier.

Optometrist said:

Sounds like you did really well on your first attempt. The chin is always a difficult area when learning a new method. Nine days in, and my chin area still looks poor in comparison to a DE shave, but then I remember my first ones of those too. It's a long learning curve and one you will achieve.

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Thanks, I was idly browsing Mantic's site (for the first time believe it or not) and I saw a video with a professional barber giving a straight shave. I was surprised he attacked the chin from the side and I had an epiphany. Of COURSE you attack from the side, it lets you stretch, you get more area that is smooth, it makes perfect sense. But because I was trying to rigidly follow WTG where ever possible and I can always do that with DEs it never occurred to me to only go XTG on my chin. I plan on trying that with my DE too.

Congratulations on the shave.

The straight shaving fun has begun. Enjoy your shaves!

Insaniac99 said:

Thanks everyone! I will definitely experiment with making my lather thinner and slipperier.

Thanks, I was idly browsing Mantic's site (for the first time believe it or not) and I saw a video with a professional barber giving a straight shave. I was surprised he attacked the chin from the side and I had an epiphany. Of COURSE you attack from the side, it lets you stretch, you get more area that is smooth, it makes perfect sense. But because I was trying to rigidly follow WTG where ever possible and I can always do that with DEs it never occurred to me to only go XTG on my chin. I plan on trying that with my DE too.

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With a DE, I always do N/S, horizontal, S/N pass, and this is what I am trying to do with my straights also.

Optometrist said:

With a DE, I always do N/S, horizontal, S/N pass, and this is what I am trying to do with my straights also.

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I thought I already replied to this... but could you explain how you stretch the chin for the N/S pass? My chin sort of juts out, just enough that I can't attack it n/s with my razor, then I suck in my bottom lip stretch it, it becomes really pebbly and has even less area to attack. When I stretch it from the side I get enough area to shave XTG rather easily.

Try putting your fingers just below the chin and pull down (watch your fingers as you shave down). You can do that in combo of sucking your lip in.

I'll try that next shave, probably in a few days. I shaved today, with only one WTG pass due to time, but I enjoyed it. I think a couple more shaves under my belt and I'll be just as hooked. I don't know what I'll do at school though, I rarely had the time to shave with a cartridge last year....

It takes time!!! I am finally starting to put it all together, Stopping, Lathering, Shaving are all coming together and I am getting some damn fine shaves! Don't give up

My first shave went much the same way. My chin is still very hard to do so I know where you are at. Good luck on your practice.

I can rush a 3 pass shave in 10 minutes from soaking the brush(boar face lathered with P160) to slapping on the WH...not the best, not at all satisfying, but still a straight shave...

Kentos said:

I can rush a 3 pass shave in 10 minutes from soaking the brush(boar face lathered with P160) to slapping on the WH...not the best, not at all satisfying, but still a straight shave...

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Wow. I can do that with my DE but with a straight I think I'm averaging about 10 mins for a single pass, 20-30 for a full proper shave.