Todays shave wasn't what I would call a success. I manage to put a 2" slice on the strong hand side of my face right below the jawline. That made me switch back to my DE for the rest of the shave. I will continue with the straight next shave. Hopefully I'll come out the other end of this training period without looking like I was in a fight with a bunch of honey badgers!
Light pressure and no sideway movement of the blade on your face. There will be a few bumps in the road but don't worry, if you cut it off, just hope it grows back.
Agree, just do what you feel comfortable doing. That's why "Gillette" made DE's!! Start with the Open and you can alway finish with the DE. I use an open for everything except for around my lips. Switch there everytime to a SchlickSE. Just works better for me.
There's a definite learning curve to straight shaving, but it's worth it. It's very satisfying when you get it right. I've gotten bitten by the tip of my straights a few times. One of the great things about shaving with a straight is that you're doing something that most men can't do, these days.
Shaved again tonight with only a slight nick on my chin. I was going too fast when I hit that area. I have to work out the logistics on direction of the razor and such. Such a smooth shave! Its funny, as I'm writing this I'm thinking to myself, "you do realize Turk that you are telling folks how your shave went, something that all of us do most everyday with ease" however I feel like I accomplished some great feat by not slicing my face open or my ear off! Thanks for humouring me while I come up to speed in the land of straights. Funny how this whole shaving thing goes..... By the way do most of the folks on the forum use some type of dressing on their strop or do you just rub it with your hands?
I had a few the whipped dog poor man's strops to begin with and used neats foot oil on them or mineral oil. Now I have a Walkin' Horse horse butt strop and I do nothing but strop, without any dressing or massaging.
I only use the natural oils from my hands. Walking past the bathroom I just stop in, give it a few rubs on it and leave it alone.
Another str8 razor shave tonight and it went rather well. Hot towels and C.O. Bigelow Tweezerman Badger hair brush Finished off with Lemon Shave Balm from AoS Then chased it up with Old Spice
