I did it. Straight on the way.

[gmgaj]

First shave today. Not so great. I have a very tough spot on my chin that doesn't like to be shaved. It grabs safety razors and tries to make them dig in, and the straight was no exception. WTG was fine. Everything went as I expected. XTG was OK until I hit "the spot". I couldn't get a stroke without it digging in, and ended up with a small cut. I guess I need to do 2 WTG passes in that area. I finished up the rest of the pass, and it was a "less than average" shave. I'll give it a couple of days and try it again. I didn't expect BBS, but I am definitely underwhelmed with it at this point.

I'll admit I'm not really feeling the mojo of it yet. It just seems like a really slow way to *someday* get as good of a shave as my DEs. I'll make another attempt, but I'm not sure this is going to be my thing. I'm not giving up yet, but so far my experience more borders on apathy.

 

[Lmarkow]

.... I am definitely underwhelmed with it at this point.

I'll admit I'm not really feeling the mojo of it yet. It just seems like a really slow way to *someday* get as good of a shave as my DEs. I'll make another attempt, but I'm not sure this is going to be my thing. I'm not giving up yet, but so far my experience more borders on apathy.

Sorry this wasn't what you expected. I used my DE shave as a benchmark at first and was very disappointed. Even when I had been using the straight for a couple of weeks, if I went back to the DE for a shave, it would blow the doors off of what I was doing with the straights. But I kept hearing about experienced straight shavers enjoying BBS results, while I was flailing (and flaying) about. I guess I took this as a bit of a challenge (I work from home and could blame the flaying on a fictional cat).

There is no reason you can't continue to use the DE for "the spot" while you work out the rest of your shave. The mojo came to me in small increments. As one part of my face got dialed in, I'd concentrate on figuring out another (change razors and loose the part that just got dialed . . . ).

Good luck.

 

[buca3152]

Nobody is born with skills to straight shave or any other method for that matter. It takes work and eventually you will get it. My first shavette, de and straights resulted in weepers, irritation cuts etc. It takes time. Some days early on the cart looked pretty enticing to go back to. Its your choice and a lot of guys give up on it only to try again and realize they should have continued years ago. Good luck and obviously its your choice. Im glad you didn't spend $300 on a setup though.

 

[gmgaj]

The razor is great, and I'll get to strop before my next attempt. I'll try again, and I hope that perhaps 2x WTG will be the ticket, at least at first. But I have to let the cut heal before I try again.

 

[seattleshaver]

I think you have to be into it. If you're not...you're not You can learn to use a DE in two or three shaves. That's not how it works with a straight. You can learn to be careful and not cut yourself often after a week or so of using straight but you will then need to finish with a DE.

That's fun as well (to me). I can get the sides of my face as close as with a DE but I'm still working on the upper lip and the neck. The upper lip is very sensitive and the neck is hard because you're using a long blade on something close to a cylinder.

If you don't find the challenge of mastering this skill worth it then wet shaving with a DE also beat the heck out of cartridge shaving.