First Time with a Straight

Well, I finally attempted a partial shave with a straight. Many thanks to fellow B&B member totorlekiller for selling me the Wusthof-Trident 6/8 razor and the great advice.

I did a stropping on an Illinois 827 strop and completed one WTG pass on both cheeks and neck. I followed Lynn Abrams advice and finished the shave with a Gillette SA.

No nicks, cuts, nor blood!

I think for the time being I will stick with this pattern until I get more comfortable with all of this, especially shaving with my weak hand.

Anyway, thought I would crow a little bit. A very interesting and focusing process!

Fantastic, no turning back now!

Welcome to the dark side (aka the "fun" side) of shaving!

WTG is the way to go when starting out for sure. Be sure to start a journal to track your progress, as well as receive lots of uber-helpful tips and such from thegood folks over here. Plus, that way, we'll get to discover when you learn what a tragus is

Nice start! Pretty fantastic blade to start your journey with. I like your style!

Antique Hoosier said:

Nice start! Pretty fantastic blade to start your journey with. I like your style!

Click to expand...

Thanks!

As an aside, how many passes do you gents do?

Congratulations! I think that the most important part of your first shave with a straight is being alive to tell us how it went.

I do two passes plus touch-up.

right on and congrats. the best way to get good at it is to do it. meaningful repitition builds the muscle memory.

I do a two pass, WTG/XTG, XTG/ATG, then touch up over/under my jawline. you'll figure out what you need. I've never done an ATG on my upper lip, never will.

3 passes, plus some clean up

number of pass is 2 in the easy spots, like the cheeks.
Throat is typically 2 plus diagonal clean up in some areas.
Chin: hard to count. many little passes to get around all the angles.

And congratulation on getting starting. I hope that Trident work out well for you. It is a nice razor. I like the feel of the metal in that 1/2 hollow grind.

Congrats. IMO there are few things more pleasurable in life than mastering the art of shaving with a big piece of steel. It is a true skill.