Tacetman's Straight Shaving Journal: Bonus while deployed on a boat!

To follow up from my earlier thread: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/432221-Setting-Myself-Up-For-Success-(First-Timer)

My start-up kit finally came! I am currently deployed, so mail takes anywhere from 2-5 weeks to get to me. I had ordered 2 strops, a pasted balsa, and 2 Gold Dollars from Buca in the Hobbyist forum as well as slightly nicer Tennis (still in shipment). Yesterday was a mail day and I had been anxiously awaiting it, hoping my razors would be here. After everyone got their mail...no dice. You can imagine my delight when, as I lay my head down to go to sleep, I heard "Mail Call". I woke up this morning to find a package on my desk and in it were two great-looking razors, two nice starter strops, and my balsa!! I have been practicing a solid lathering routine and slowly building in more and more time into my morning ritual to prepare for Day 1. Tomorrow I will report the results...

Good luck!

Awesome! Looking forward to hearing how it goes. Few last minute things... wetter lather is always better lather with a straight shave. Skin prep is always important, and good skin stretching while shaving is also pretty high on the list.

I will also add to Shave_Rat's suggestions, Do Not Attempt in Rough Seas! I have no idea of the size of your vessel (I mean ship here). So you be the judge.

If people are chasing the water around the scullery trying to mop the floor up, I suggest a DE or a cartridge shave for that day.

Will be following along with your shave journal, start slow and build on your successes.
Welcome to the club and have fun.

SHAVE 1

Just completed my first attempt at straight shaving. I have to say, WAY different than I imagined and WAY harder than it looks.

Notes: Strop was much thinner material than I expected (as soon as I got it out of the package it I got online and ordered a Tony Miller ‘plain vanilla’ strop so I can have something better to practice on…should be here in a month or so). Razors (both Gold Dollars) seem nice and definitely passed the “arm hair” test although it felt like the hair was catching on the blade before it got cut. I have a Tennis on the way from a different person/honemeister so hopefully that will come soon and I can compare sharpness/shave readiness quality.

I’m not sure if I helped or hurt my blade by stropping last night. I did 15 round trips on canvas and 30 on leather, then stored it in my medicine cabinet overnight.

Prep: Hot water face washing (I shower in evenings), Proraso Green Pre/Post while I lathered my TOBS Peppermint Shave Cream. (Note: Lather wasn’t so great today. Used too much cream and had to balance it out with water, then the mug was overflowing, etc. etc. Chalk it up to nerves?) Hot towel after, then lathered my face up and went to work.

First stroke: Completely forgot to tighten the skin. Tried it again – felt fine, playing around with blade angle. It feels like the blade is sticking on the whiskers! Almost like getting Velcro stuck to itself, then pulling it off, sticking it to itself again, etc. A very “dry” feel. I’m wondering if I should start working with soap again, although I don’t have a good soap container and would have to mold it back into my mug, and I don’t like lathering straight on the puck. First World problems…

Rest of shave: Went OK. When wiping the blade off on my towel I could definitely see whiskers in the lather!! I got my cheeks and my neck, but when I was trying to coordinate blade angle and fitting it under my nose, I nicked myself. Same with the chin. I will tackle those in the future, I think.

Finish: Mach III. I know, horrible, but I just wanted to get the whole “admitting defeat and cleaning up with another razor” process over with quickly.

Post: Tuff Green followed by TAOS Sandalwood Balm. My skin DEFINITELY had a rough morning – usually alcohol based aftershaves tingle a little…this burned like the first time I tried DE shaving.

BIGGEST CONCERN: The “Velcro” feeling. Does that raise concerns about the shave readiness of my blade? Or is that just poor blade angle/lubrication on my part?Just completed my first attempt at straight shaving. I have to say, WAY different than I imagined and WAY harder than it looks.

McVeyMac said:

I will also add to Shave_Rat's suggestions, Do Not Attempt in Rough Seas! I have no idea of the size of your vessel (I mean ship here). So you be the judge.

If people are chasing the water around the scullery trying to mop the floor up, I suggest a DE or a cartridge shave for that day.

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Haha! Don't worry - safety first!

It sounds like you had a good first shave sans the nick, but even that did not sound that bad. The sound of a full hollow ground gives a lot of feedback when it hits the whiskers. I recently got a1/4 hollow ground razor, and although it is not a silent whisker whacker, the feedback is greatly reduced. I prefer the feedback while learning, and have vowed to stick with the full hollow until the skills are better developed. It is difficult for me to discern if the velcro that you describe is normal feedback, or an indication of something else. It sounds like your razor arrived in good shape, and I suspect it is normal feedback. If you feel an uncomfortable tugging of the whisker when you get the feedback, then this is an indicator of the edge needing attention. If the razor feels smooth while giving this feedback, then all is probably good.

Well, the feeling was less audible than it was tactile. It FELT like velcro was sticking to itself. I'm used to some audible feedback from my open-comb DE...this was different. That said, after reading some FAQs, I think my lather was extremely dry for straight shaving, so I might try the blade again tomorrow with a wetter lather and see what happens...

Tacetman said:

Well, the feeling was less audible than it was tactile. It FELT like velcro was sticking to itself. I'm used to some audible feedback from my open-comb DE...this was different. That said, after reading some FAQs, I think my lather was extremely dry for straight shaving, so I might try the blade again tomorrow with a wetter lather and see what happens...

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Yep, I'd call that sensation the fault of not wet enough lather... which was why I put that in my last minute suggestions as the first thing to remember. It is one of the biggest changes from DE shaving for most when they start. Learning to use a super wet slick lather. If any part of your lather description includes "creamy", my opinion is that there is a 99% chance it could use more water for shaving with a straight, especially when first starting out.

So you know how any soap on your skin when it's on the dry side will get almost sticky/tacky, if not outright sticky/tacky feeling? Most likely that is what that was, and the blade was "sticking" to the skin.

One other note, anyone that is worth their salt at honing will send you the razor already stropped, so you only have to open the package and shave with it. So next blade you get honed by someone, shave right off that edge. That will also help you set a baseline as to if your stropping is keeping the edge, rolling the edge, etc..

Still over all, seems a very successful first shave! Congrats for sure. Grabbing the other razor to finish off/clean up isn't defeat. Having the job you have, there are requirements to your shave, and learning a straight will take a good number of shaves before you can not have to think about finishing off with a DE/MachIII/whatever.

The biggest mistake most new straight shavers make is having too large of an angle between the spine of the razor and their face. I would advise making sure that the spine of the razor is no more than 2 spine widths from your skin and ideally one spine width away. Stretch the skin to keep it tight and flat in front of the razor and puff out your cheeks, pull your mouth to the side. Whatever you need to do to keep the skin flat. Use an extremely light touch. Using a heavy hand is also a very common mistake.

Dustin already talked to you about the lather.

Since you say you ordered the razors from Buca. I have no hesitation in saying that you got the razors shave ready. Likely the biggest issue you are experiencing is the blade angle. I would focus on that to start.

All the best and keep us posted going forward.

Excellent! Congratulations!

It may be difficult in the beginning, but when you get your first breakthrough, it's glorious.

I agree that your lather may well have been too dry. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it.

Gents,

Thanks all for your advice. It's reassuring to have very experienced voices "watching over" me. I realized at the conclusion of this morning's shave that my hand was trembling a bit - I guess I underestimated the intimidation factor of having a (literally) razor-sharp blade at my throat every morning, so it helps to know that I'm on the right path and all I'm lacking is practice!

Shave 2:

Prep: Wash face, ProRaso Pre/Post WHITE this time (I have a sampler of both and like to alternate, though I prefer White) which I let sit while I made lather, applied a hot towel…then Proraso a second time as I remembered I hadn’t stropped my razor yet…oops!…hot towel again...and we're off. In an effort to improve the lather, I practiced making superlather last night with Prospect Harbor Sailor Boy soap and TOBS Natural (coincidentally I had recently moved AWAY from prospect harbor soap as the lather was too wet for DE shaving...perfect for this use, though). Whipped up some of that and made sure to keep it MUCH wetter than I’m used to. Slight frustration since, due to the coolness of my room and the time between making the lather and applying it, it cools down to where it almost feels cold on my face. Going to have to figure out how to tackle that one (or if I even can) – might try pre-heating the mug tomorrow with some hot water before building lather…anyway…

Shave: Significantly better than yesterday. Again, focused mainly on cheeks and neck: flat surfaces that it’s easy to stretch the skin on. Didn’t even attempt the upper lip as the cut from yesterday is still visible. Dabbled with the chin a bit. Positives: already noticeably better with blade angle, starting to find a nice sweet spot when I concentrate. Pressure is coming along but definitely needs work. Lather is DEFINITELY better – no more ‘velcro’ feeling at all, which is a relief. Clearly concerns about shave readiness of the blades were unfounded. Again, lather wiped off on my shave towel clearly showed whiskers, so I AM shaving. Negatives: I noticed by the time I was done with the flat surfaces (~15 minutes), I could feel the adrenaline in my body and my hand wasn’t as stable. Believe this is an overreaction to cutting myself unexpectedly twice yesterday. Felt kind of like when you were in elementary school and had to give a speech and afterwards you’d be sitting down and feel your whole body keyed up. I’m sure that will go away with time, practice and confidence.

Finish: Finished up and went over the whole face XTG with my Barber Pole DE. Tuff Green followed by TAOS Sandalwood. 15 round trips on canvas to clean the blade off and off to work I went.

Notes: Again, thanks all for your involvement and advice - please keep it coming! I am happy to have stumbled on this community over a year ago and it's a pleasant escape from an otherwise stressful day to shave in the morning and read your thoughtful responses in the afternoon.

Congratulations, now you are shaving just like George Washington did, as someone mentioned elsewhere. As I said somewhere else, straight razor shaving really wakes me up in the morning. At shave 34 for me, I am still feeling that adrenaline as I too have multiple cuts under my belt. I think it is healthy, and the biggest problem is to work past it and shave the face with confident strokes. I am there WTG, but ATG is a totally different story.

Ah, yes... trembling hands and shaky knees. I recall it well. That blade meeting skin is very intimidating for a few shaves. That brought me back down memory lane to my first straight shave... lol Just for amusement, I pulled up my post about my first straight shave. Here's a bit on my initial reaction:

Shave_Rat said:

Just finished it a couple minutes ago... first impressions...

1. You guys are highly dexterous
2. You guys are highly coordinated
3. You guys are flippin insane... ok, not really (yes, really).

Click to expand...

I clearly recall thinking "No wonder facial hair was way more common when this was the only option for shaving". lol

As for lather temp, I did a makeshift scuttle for a while, where I had my lather bowl sitting in hot water in the sink during the shave to keep it warmed, and ten used that sink of water to wash out the bowl and brush.

Something to help with angle on the flatter spots, lock your wrist and just pull with your whole arm, so the angle doesn't change during the stroke on those. Becomes a bit easier to keep that sweet spot angle with less thought.

Sounds like great progress already, glad the wetter lather fixed the blade sticking issue.

Shave_Rat - my thoughts exactly!! Haha. That advice on pulling with the whole arm was BRILLIANT. Thanks. Without further ado:

Shave 3:

Prep: Same as Shaves 1 and 2. Remembered to strop this time while I still had Proraso on, yeah! Starting to get into the habit pattern of prepping for a straight shave instead of the DE routine. 30 round trips on the leather. Again, made SuperLather with the Prospect Harbor soap, but decided to try a sample of EJ cream I got from a recent ClassicShaving order. Originally made the lather too dry but watered it down carefully and turned out OK. Also, most significantly, I let my (plastic) shaving mug sit in the sink full of hot water and the lather was warm today! Yeah!!

Shave: For some reason I didn’t overthink things or make myself nervous today. Steady hand – especially thanks to Shave_Rat's advice to focus on moving my WHOLE arm, not just at the wrist. Felt like I got a pretty good shave on cheeks and neck. I even ventured into uncharted territory and got the chin! Kind of hard to tell the overall quality of the shave since I don’t wipe my whole face off, inspect, and then re-lather before cleaning up with another razor, but based on audible/tactile feedback from the DE, most of the areas I hit with the straight were pretty clean. Not BBS by far, or even close to it but…there were definitely whiskers removed safely!

Post: Captain’s Sand followed by a sampler of EJ balm (I lost the card that came with it so not sure what exactly it is other than EJ). Pleasantly thick balm and my skin feels good! 10 round trips on canvas.

Notes: Another one knocked out without cuts! Or fatalities! I feel like my habit pattern for prep/stropping is starting to come together although I think I will start the morning by doing 5-10 round trips on canvas before moving to leather to warm up the blade instead of just going straight leather and then cleaning with canvas. Of note, tomorrow I have to get up at an offensively early hour, so I am probably going to rely on the DE as I won’t have the mental capacity (or the time) to do much else.

Tacetman said:

Notes: Another one knocked out without cuts! Or fatalities! I feel like my habit pattern for prep/stropping is starting to come together although I think I will start the morning by doing 5-10 round trips on canvas before moving to leather to warm up the blade instead of just going straight leather and then cleaning with canvas. Of note, tomorrow I have to get up at an offensively early hour, so I am probably going to rely on the DE as I won’t have the mental capacity (or the time) to do much else.

Click to expand...

I took the same approach in the beginning, but then I became so obsessed and looking forward to the next shave that I have been getting up early just to get the shave in, no matter the time. And I have done this without the alarm. I would wake up, look at the clock, and conclude that if I get up, I can get at least one pass in. Crazy huh?

Congratulations on your successful third.

Congrats on the continued success! Your skills and your shaves will continue to improve as you persist.

Sam's suggestion on locking the arm was brilliant! That is exactly the technique you need to learn.

Tacetman:
You are off to an outstanding start, when I started too much pressure in just about all aspects of shaving was my nemesis. Too much blade pressure led to razor burn and nicks, then too much pressure while stropping led to edge degradation instead of improvement. As you gain refinement in your skills your shaves will get better and more relaxed, the experience will become even more enjoyable.
Stropping is an often overlooked and extremely important skill to acquire, remember use light even strokes and never lift the spine off of the strop, go slowly and carefully, speed will come in time. This skill is how we maintain a keen edge and a keen and smooth edge will make for very good shaves.

FrankC

Shave 4 – A Bit Irritating

Prep: ProRaso Pre/Post Green, Superlather with Prospect Harbor and TOBS Natural with the Vie Long Horsehair. Remembered the flow for things again and heating up the mug before lathering has been helping with lather temperature quite a bit. 10 round trips on canvas, 30 round trips on leather.

Shave: Definitely progressing. I was able to tackle the cheeks, neck, chin (more or less) and lip (sort of) without nicking myself…but there was a good bit of discomfort and some razor burn/irritation afterwards that concerned me. I find that lathering my whole face from the get-go, but then re-lathering the area I’m about to work on helps keep the lather wet and lubricating. Finished up with the DE. I would rate the straight shave as APPROACHING SAS but still not there.

Post: Tuff Green with the last of my EJ balm sample afterwards.

Notes: I actually did this on the 23[SUP]rd[/SUP] but didn’t have time to write it up until now. I was growing frustrated with the amount of irritation it was causing me. I have to shave 7 days a week on deployment, so small irritation can develop into something much worse very quickly if it’s not treated and corrected. We had a port call over the holiday so I was looking forward to some time off of shaving (so my skin could heal) and also to finally watch the straight shave videos on youtube (no youtube access on ship internet Note: If anyone is able to download good straight shaving videos and could send them to me via email, please let me know, it would help tremendously). I realized there wasn’t too much harm to be had in doing 7 laps on my CrOX Balsa as having shaved 4 times with my first razor was likely to have induced SOME edge dulling (either with blade angle or poor stropping technique). 7 laps on the CrOX Balsa, then wiped off with a tissue followed by 20 laps on canvas.