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My first (non-shavette) straight razor shave

Let me begin with the fact that I have been shaving with a shavette for about a year. But earlier this month, I was shown whippeddog.com And immediately bought their sight unseen package. This was after I told myself, I would learn to use a straight if I saw something that was cheap. The feather straight was a little too much for me but then geofatboy made a video for his parker shavette, and I bought one. I was happy doing that but still wanted to learn straights. I got my chance and I will tell you guys about my first shave.

I took my shower, conditioned the beard, got out, and put on my homemade pre shave oil. I then lathered my Tweezerman brush with my leftover soap combo and some RSC to make a superlather. Lathered up and got out my brand new "shave ready" Clauss. I wasn't disappointed in the razor, I just figured shave-ready for me should have meant that I didn't have to strop it before the shave. I was wrong, I took two swipes, and did about 10 passes on the strop I was given. I went back to shaving and immediately notice a complete difference. There was no pull at all. Perfect. I normally do two passes. The first pass N-S all over. And the second pass ear to center line on the face and N-S on the neck. I can't go S-N at all, but these two passes get enough for near BBS all over. Today I just did two N-S just incase my face was not used to the straight. I got a decent shave, nothing overwhelming but nothing damaging either. I finished the shave, did my cold water rinse (I shave with cold water as it is) put on the alum, cleaned up, and put on some skin conditioner. I then finished up by stropping the razor about 20 more times, put on a lil bit of oil on the razor and put it away for tomorrow.

In all, I was really shocked about how easy my transition was. I won't go into overconifence because I still have a scar from a shavette shave gone wrong but I was really happy. I can't wait for tomorrow morning to try it again.

Thanks for you guys giving me feedback and thanks for you guys making me spend way more money than my wife wants, but as long as she keeps buying purses and the like, there won't be many complaints from the mrs. Thanks again guys (and girls, if they are here).
 
... Thanks for you guys giving me feedback and thanks for you guys making me spend way more money than my wife wants, but as long as she keeps buying purses and the like, there won't be many complaints from the mrs. Thanks again guys (and girls, if they are here).

Good job! But, you better be logging purse and similar luxury purchases by your significant other in a spreadsheet somewhere. They have a way of forgetting and diminishing and trivializing their buying activities during future conversations. Your purchases come up in conversation, you whip out that spreadsheet on her... she will be thankful and appreciative of the numbers.

My wife wasn't. But, it will be different for you! :)
 
While this is your first shave with a real straight it isn't with a non-safety razor, the kind whose angle you control entirely yourself and the edge is in direct contact with the skin. The edges on DEs and the disposable blades for open razors are usually machine-sharpened beyond the typical straight razor. They are known to make for harsher shaves and are less forgiving of lapses in technique. IOW, I think you learned on a more "dangerous" edge.
 
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