The beginning of my straight razor adventure

my straight finally turned up from Larry. Very excited to begin shaving with it, I may not use it all the time and I may even give up after a couple of attempts, but it's something I can hand down to my son (or son-in-law).
It's nothing special but it is my first:
Link for pic.
 
renagade said:
my straight finally turned up from Larry. Very excited to begin shaving with it, I may not use it all the time and I may even give up after a couple of attempts, but it's something I can hand down to my son (or son-in-law).
It's nothing special but it is my first:
Link for pic.
Click to expand...

Just take your time. It's actually quite easy once you ge the hang of it.

I have been straight shaving since Feb, and I can now do a two pass, iritation and blood free shave in about 15 minutes when I used a bigger (6/8 or larger) blade. It's just practice!
 
kjparker said:
Just take your time. It's actually quite easy once you ge the hang of it.

I have been straight shaving since Feb, and I can now do a two pass, iritation and blood free shave in about 15 minutes when I used a bigger (6/8 or larger) blade. It's just practice!
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The upkeep of a straight seems to be quite high. This doesn't bother me, though the old take-blade-out-place-new-blade-in system has been working well for a while.
I am unsure where I will hang my strop. The wife will want it well hidden. Excited for my first go tomorrow.
 
renagade said:
The upkeep of a straight seems to be quite high. This doesn't bother me, though the old take-blade-out-place-new-blade-in system has been working well for a while.
I am unsure where I will hang my strop. The wife will want it well hidden. Excited for my first go tomorrow.
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Make sure you get a nice ID type photo done beforehand - as ya know if things do go pearshaped they'll have something to refer back to so they roughly know where to put your ear/nose/lips back on. :blink:

Damn.....you're going to have that crazy nervous 'Is this a good idea....????' feeling going again before your shave, haha you won't have had one so good since your first DE shave. I do hope you've got enough styptic pencils/plasma etc ready to go. :cheesy:

Ah just jokin' man you'll be fine...and if not you're married now so not to worry, everyone lets themselves slide a lil physically after that......hmmm well to be fair I guess most of them do still have their original lips. Ah modern reconstructive surgery is doing amazing things. :huh:
 
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renagade said:
The upkeep of a straight seems to be quite high. This doesn't bother me, though the old take-blade-out-place-new-blade-in system has been working well for a while.
I am unsure where I will hang my strop. The wife will want it well hidden. Excited for my first go tomorrow.
Click to expand...

It's actually not as much work as people think.

Stropping before and after each use, is the biggest upkeep you'll need to do regularly.

When the Razor from Larry starts to pull, a few strokes on the Crox paddle a wipe, then back onto the leather will keep you going for quite a while.

You can always send your straights out to be honed, there are plenty of guys out there who can do it for you, but it really is nice to be able to be self sufficient. It feels good to be able to take that straight you just picked up from a market / ebay etc, clean it up, hone it, and use it all by yourself. Quite satisfying....

The first few shaves wont be as good as your DE. Count on that. But just take it slow, and you will be fine.

If you have a coarse beard, maybe do a first pass with the DE to get rid of most of the stubble, and do a secong wtg pass on the cheeks etc, or as much of your face as you feel brave enough to!

Important thing is to not give up, and keep at it!
 
It took me a while. But after you get there DE's feel nasty lol. Actually even the stubble a day after feels smoother to me.

Hones take a bit of time to learn. But I use it as my zen zone out time.
 
Well I had my first Straight shave last night.
Here are my thoughts:
  • I love stropping - super easy and I could strop all day!
  • My first couple of shaves went alright, though I just wasn't comfortable with the conventional grip. Something about it felt so unnatural to me. I changed to holding the scale in my palm and index finder on the spine thumb at the heel. This felt much more comfortable and I felt like I had much more control. Similar to grip 8 & 9. The angle was easy to achieve and I never really had any issues with removing the stubble.
  • I got about 4 nicks, 2 pretty bad ones just below where my beard starts on my neck on each side. I think these were more hesitation marks than actually caused by improper technique.
  • I took it slow and actually shaved my entire beard (was about 1.5 weeks of growth, on me that's not much!), I found the easiest part was from my Adams Apple to my chin and side burns. Under my nose I had a little trouble making a WTG pass just below my nose and had to make a very slow ATG pass.
  • My 2nd & 3rd passes were with my DE and they felt very smooth it was similar to the feeling you get when your braces are removed!

Overall I really enjoyed the shave, I felt very manly! I would probably only shave with a straight when I have the time, until I can get similar results to my current DE setup.
 
Glad to see it all went well, Renagade.

If you were in Bris I'd employ you to strop for me (can I say that?:embarrest:) 'cause my arm gets tired after the fourth or fifth razor in a row (I do 60 wool felt and 80 leather after they come off the hones).

When you decide to go XTG and ATG with the cut-throat, remember to lower your angle each time - it will be easier.

The ATG should have the spine almost flat against your face, with almost no pressure.

ATG on the top lip (The Fools Pass) is easier if you hold the razor in both hands and move your head up and down - sounds silly, but it works for me.
 
I've heard the expression Dead Mans Pass but cannot find what area it refers to. Is it the neck line?
 
I went from electric shaving to having a beard to electric to straights. not looking back.



Nick the Knife said:
I've a lot of respect for folks who use these but its a bridge too far for me. Between the setup costs, hassle with maintaining the razor and the huge potential for giving yourself the mother of all 'weepers'. But like I said I've the world of respect for folks who go down this path. The jump from carts to DE's is very small compared to DE's to straights.
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