And not a single drop of blood was spilt

So, it's done, after a week of consideration and tentative steps I have completed a two pass shave with a straight!

I had played with the blade a little practicing various grips and taken it to my face a couple of times to "get a feel" for it. However this time I have taken it across all areas of my face both with and cross grain, following my usual pattern. Even used my left hand albeit I didn't do a complete left side shave with that hand.

Face growth pattern doesn't allow a straight north south pass like many of the videos use. Cheek to almost jaw is north south, then jawline and upper neck from the chin outwards and then the bottom half of the neck grows south-north. So I was chopping and changing grips quite a lot.

I'll be honest, it's not a good shave by any stretch, and if I needed to be clean shaven tomorrow I'd have to shave again with a DE before I go out. But I've done it, I've taken an open blade to all areas of my face and not opened any of it up!

Looking forward to another shave soon. Razor below, was a gift from a friend, a vintage blade marked J M Smith, York, worked with Edwin Jagger Sandalwood soap and a badger brush.

Romeolima said:

So, it's done, after a week of consideration and tentative steps I have completed a two pass shave with a straight!

I had played with the blade a little practicing various grips and taken it to my face a couple of times to "get a feel" for it. However this time I have taken it across all areas of my face both with and cross grain, following my usual pattern. Even used my left hand albeit I didn't do a complete left side shave with that hand.

Face growth pattern doesn't allow a straight north south pass like many of the videos use. Cheek to almost jaw is north south, then jawline and upper neck from the chin outwards and then the bottom half of the neck grows south-north. So I was chopping and changing grips quite a lot.

I'll be honest, it's not a good shave by any stretch, and if I needed to be clean shaven tomorrow I'd have to shave again with a DE before I go out. But I've done it, I've taken an open blade to all areas of my face and not opened any of it up!

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A few thoughts. I have the almost identical pattern and a goatee (my underjaw area grows chin to ear). it can be a bit of a challenge. I have gotten to the point where I can get a DFS/BBS on my cheeks and a CCS on my neck using a 2 pass without offending the shave Gods. I can go to DFS on my neck but I have to skip a few days or there will be blood.

Pass 1: I go N>S on the cheeks and even the sideburns. I go S>N on my lower neck then chin to throat and then push out the sides to catch the underjaw area with a chin to ear pass. Also N>S on the upper neck. (virtually all WTG)

Pass2: Ear to chin for the cheeks (XTG). Sort of a diagonal to the grain jaw hinge to goatee pass with the neck pushed out again. I come in a pretty tight angle since it's nearly ATG. I'll do a full S>N pass on my whole neck and chin strap area. This usually leaves a little fine stubble on my lower neck. Not noticeable, but I can feel it. If I stop here everything is happy. I can get after the fine stubble, but it will irritate my neck enough that I don't want to do it more than 2x a week. I also make a single nose to ear pass under my sideburns which seems to be ATG.

It's not perfect. Even after almost a year of straight razor shaving nearly every day, I'll occasionally find a new tweak to my routine.

One thing: Don't get overconfident. The razor won't forget it's sharp even if you do.

The other One thing: Unless you're vegan, look for tallow/tallowate in your soap. What was an ok soap for DE shaving may not be good enough for your new endeavour. The actual component is stearic acid (fatty acid) and tallow has a very concentration of it. Other fats are added and then a mix of potassium and sodium hydroxide to make soap. (simplified version)

Thanks for the advice, I'll certainly look into the soap issue. Been tempted to try Mitchells Woolfat for a while as its a local product to me, would be a good choice?

It sounds like a success story there. What you really need to do: continue to repeat the success!

Mitchell's is a good soap, but can be tough to dial in the correct amount of water. Test your lather between between thumb and index finger by squeezing and see how easy it is to move your fingers. Slick is good.

Fantastic! Now you know it can be done. Soon you will see just how well it can be done. Note, not all progress is forward. Sometimes a step or two backwards happens But many of us have found that these backwards steps propel our forward progress even faster.

Anyway, enjoy!

Thanks again for the tips, I'll keep you posted on how it goes, unfortunately I'm having to restrict it to when I'm not shaving in a bit of a rush, which is most mornings!

Romeolima said:

Thanks again for the tips, I'll keep you posted on how it goes, unfortunately I'm having to restrict it to when I'm not shaving in a bit of a rush, which is most mornings!

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Safer that way when learning.

Me? I jumped right in forcing myself to use it daily before work - else I figure I'd never learn. Come blood or poor shaves.

An extra minute or two working the lather can make the difference. Spend the time to slap paint with the tips. This really develops the lather providing cushion and slickness. My problem is I flail lather all over the place. But it is easy to clean up and is worth the effort.

Waiting for my MWF soap to arrive to try that suggestion however have been persisting with the straight. Put it into my morning routine this morning, as suggested to make myself do it. At the moment I'm using a two pass shave, 1st pass with the straight and the 2nd pass with my R41 so that I leave with a presentable shave.

Taking the advice of the wiki i'm not touching up with the R41 I'm just doing a complete 1st pass with the straight. 2nd pass with the R41. When I have time and not need for a DFS I'll do two passes with the straight.

Getting more comfortable with my left hand.

The hair on the bottom of my neck grows upward, ie. south-north and I seem to find it easier to shave my left side with my right hand, and the right side with my left hand - using a normal grip but upside down if that makes sense.

Just to update, got the Fat and it's wonderful. Been meaning to try it for ages however this was the push I needed, worked up some wonderful lather with it and it certainly seems to have made a difference with the straight.

Just completed another two pass shave with the straigt, 1st pass seems to go alright, although better on the right side than the left. On the XTG pass I just seems to be all over the place not sure the best way to hold the razor to get the angles that I want. I guess it's just a case of continuing to practice and work out what fits.

One problem area I am having is the chin, I have a very dense growth over my chin and I just cant seem to get a clean pass over it, I'm stretching up and down so I'm not trying to shave the chin line in position but even so still a poor result. Any suggestions?