First shave - Corpsman!!!

[FlyFishNut]

Welp, I received my razor back in perfect shave ready status from Paco (Thanks Man!) and oiled my face, applied a hot towel (I have one of those separate hot water faucets that gets the water super hot), lathered up (BTW first time using my Badger brush - is it supposed to smell like a dead opossum?).

Using my right hand all went fairly well although in retrospect I think my angle was too great. Things went south when I switched to my left hand. I dug the razor into my chin and also cut the left said over my lip. It looked like a Bull Shark attacked someone in the sink. It looked worse than it really was. Another area that gave me trouble was the berm of my chin. I think I need practice, practice, practice.... hopefully with less blood letting.

I have two days of growth since the first shave, so I'm about to head back in and just shave my neck and leave the rest for a few days.

Wish me luck....

FFN

[hig789]

Yeah a new badger brush will stink. Check the stickies in the brush forum and it will tell you how to wash it. Do that a few times and the funk will go away. The more you use your straight it will become easier. Just take your time and make sure you pay close attention to your angle, that will help a lot. Just don't give up.

[jred]

I've got maybe a dozen shaves under my belt, for reference.

I find it a bit harder to shave when I have a couple of days growth. I tend to do 2 1/2 with the grain passes if I've gone an extra day between shaving. The first two times I shaved, I just used the straight on my cheeks, and used a cartridge razor to fill in the blanks. This helped me learn the actual mechanics of shaving with a straight, and got me used to using my left hand. The first few times, I kept the blade nearly flat against my face. It doesn't work very well, but it seemed to lessen the chance of injury. My third shave I set aside a huge block of time & determined to do the whole thing. It took an hour & a half, and was a less than mediocre shave, but it was passable. After that, I just used a straight.

Since I stopped worrying so much about getting a perfect shave, the learning process accelerated. I guess what I'm saying is: relax your standards a bit when shaving, and you'll have much more comfortable shaves. You'll definitely have less blood.

[FlyFishNut]

Thanks Fellas:
I did shave yesterday and just did my neck and concentrated on an obtuse angle like you suggest above. Yes, it wasn't a great shave but I didn't bleed and started to settle in and improve.

I'll keep ya posted and thanks again for the hints, feedback and encouragement....

[thatsilverguy]

Keep the Faith Brother!