My first straight razor shave.

I always wanted to try straight razor shave but for me the cost is a determining factor and therefore i chose double edge razors instead. Been de shaving for a while now.

But i could always try the cheap alternative and thats exactly what i did today!!

My setup -
Cheap shavette.
Gillette Permasharp blade
Biotique bio palmyra cream
Alum
Old spice aftershave.

So i lathered up with the bio and as usual it produced a great rich lather.

Now for the shave, it was an average shave, no blood shed (phew!!).. The right hand was pretty natural and i didnt have problem with it. I got the right cheek and right part of the neck with a certain ease.
But it was a whole different story with left hand (drunken monkey). The cheek was okay, but the neck was very difficult.
And then the chin, i struggled here as well!
Any suggestions on how i can improve?

I thought i might not be able to step out of the house because of all the bleeding, but it definitely wasnt that bad.

Cheers!

Sounds like a pretty good first shave. The only suggestion I have is practice. Like anything else it gets easier.

I have heard it said that for the first week only shave your cheeks, and possibly your neck. With practice and time it will get better!

Shave 2.

Setup -
Same shavette
Gillette permasharp blade (on shave 2)
Palmolive cream
Omega boar 10049
Nivea sensitive

Built a good lather using palmolive! Lather was good but not as protective as the bio palmyra.

Started the shave by cutting my left index finger pretty bad while trying to reposition my hand to stretch the skin. But i did not let it deter me.

I continued and had a shave similar to yesterday. I felt more relaxed and the left hand felt a little more natural today.

What i did different from yesterday was the way i gripped the razor. Instead of two fingers on either side of the scales, i used a 1:3 grip with my index finger on one side and the other three on the other side of the scale. Felt comfortable to me!
Does anyone grip similar to this? Is it okay? Or will it cause any problem in my technique?

Thanks!

The proper grip is the one that feels best to you. You'll be surprised how quickly it gets easier if you keep at it.

socialjunk95 said:

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I personally use 2 fingers on either side of the scales but it is definitely a personal preference thing. If that grip feels more natural to you then rock on.

Bloozepicker said:

The proper grip is the one that feels best to you. You'll be surprised how quickly it gets easier if you keep at it.

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Oh great!
Although there wasnt any improvement in my shave, i felt more comfortable using this grip.
Thank you for the encouragement!

That's how I grip it, just relax your hand some--it's easy to use too much pressure if your grip is tight

Welcome to the dark side! I've been having a lot of fun with this (10th shave yesterday) and enjoy the challenge. Already had one or two all out DFS shaves as well. The pressure, angle and deliberateness of the strokes are, as you've seen, quite different than DE shaving. I've been battling the death grip as well and got a hand cramp a few shaves ago. I recall being told that's a good sign the pressure's too much as well.

Best of luck!

Chaloney said:

That's how I grip it, just relax your hand some--it's easy to use too much pressure if your grip is tight

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Thanks for the tip sir.. I'll work on it and report back!

StubbleTrouble said:

Welcome to the dark side! I've been having a lot of fun with this (10th shave yesterday) and enjoy the challenge. Already had one or two all out DFS shaves as well. The pressure, angle and deliberateness of the strokes are, as you've seen, quite different than DE shaving. I've been battling the death grip as well and got a hand cramp a few shaves ago. I recall being told that's a good sign the pressure's too much as well.

Best of luck!

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Thank you sir.
Yes learning this new skill is fun. I'm enjoying it myself!
I'll loosen the grip on my next shave and report back on this thread.

Are you using a barber razor or an actual straight razor?

Cheers.

socialjunk95 said:

Thanks for the tip sir.. I'll work on it and report back!

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I'm ten months in and still working on it.

socialjunk95 said:

Thank you sir.
Yes learning this new skill is fun. I'm enjoying it myself!
I'll loosen the grip on my next shave and report back on this thread.

Are you using a barber razor or an actual straight razor?

Cheers.

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All straight shaving to date for me. I do own an old Hoffritz shavette (barber) but haven't looked for any replacement blades, which are larger than the standard DE blade.

I still use safety razors quite often, too, and I'm aspiring to see how long it takes me to match my Mühle R41 shaves with a str8.

Sounds like a reasonable first try at the Straight razor shave. I had issues with the first few shaves and started by just doing my face with the straight and used a disposable for the neck til i felt more comfortable with how i did on my face. Then the plunge into doing the neck. I caught on immediately after the face practice. the hardest part was the hollow on the lower sides close to the bottom of the adam's apple. And always watch those ear lobes, pesky nicks still once in a while.

StubbleTrouble said:

All straight shaving to date for me. I do own an old Hoffritz shavette (barber) but haven't looked for any replacement blades, which are larger than the standard DE blade.

I still use safety razors quite often, too, and I'm aspiring to see how long it takes me to match my Mühle R41 shaves with a str8.

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Oh okay. I was thinking of using only shavettes till i get a hold of the technique and then using both double edge razors and shavettes in my rotation!
I'm desperately want to use an actual straight razor but its too high an investment for me!

I skipped shaving today.. My skin is still a little raw from yesterday's shave!
Some razor burn and irritation maybe because of gripping the razor with too much pressure as chaloney and stubbletrouble mentioned.

Shave 3.

Setup -
Same shavette
Gillette permasharp blade (on shave 3)
Proraso green
Omega boar 10810(beehive)
Old spice original.

This was probably the worst shavette shave i have had. The blade felt dull and there was a lot of tugging..
Cut myself on the chin.. And lots of irritation even now.

The permasharp green is my go to blade on all my de razors and gives me a good 5-7 shaves!
How many shaves do you men get out of each half? Should i use one half per shave?

Thanks.

socialjunk95 said:

Shave 3.

Setup -
Same shavette
Gillette permasharp blade (on shave 3)
Proraso green
Omega boar 10810(beehive)
Old spice original.

This was probably the worst shavette shave i have had. The blade felt dull and there was a lot of tugging..
Cut myself on the chin.. And lots of irritation even now.

The permasharp green is my go to blade on all my de razors and gives me a good 5-7 shaves!
How many shaves do you men get out of each half? Should i use one half per shave?

Thanks.

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YMMV, but personally, I can get about three DE shaves for an average blade. Four's pushing it.

That said, I change out blades after two shaves (both sides, of course). I would change out the blade much more often until I got a better technique if I were you.

Blade life doesn't always correlate well from DE to Straight.

I get two good shaves from a half-DE feather and one "ok" shave (effectively 5-6 shaves if I consider both sides in a DE - which is about right)
But from a Gillette 7 O'clock Green: I get one good shave in the shavette for a half-DE. But in my EJDE89: I got 5-6 (or more per the Feb challenge)

I find sharpness is far more crucial to my shave quality in the straight than it is in the DE (where, I suspect, I can compensate easier with some pressure without the cellular damage)