For three months, I've been about as quiet as I've ever been with regard to technique discussions, because on 1 January, I became a newbie all over again. The decision to try straights is not one I took lightly. The phrase "I cut myself shaving" meant something entirely different in 1865 than it does now! From observation, straight razor shaving comprised three new skill sets--stropping and maintenance, SR shaving, and honing. For the sake of simplicity and to hold costs down, I have elected to hire professionals (TSD guys) to handle the honing chores for the first year, so my intro was simply stropping and shaving.
The first week was surreal. On day one I actually had a decent shave, but it quickly went downhill for a couple of weeks after that. The grip, blade angles, motions, and sensations were all foreign and tedious. More than once in the first three to four weeks, I relied upon the
Charlie Danger Edition™ Gillette 195 to finish what I couldn't do with a straight razor. There was a lot of scraping, weepers, nicks, and to top it all off, I trashed the edge on my Aust during a particularly frustrating session. Luckily, TSD member @
gssixgun runs a
fine razor service, and had it fixed and back in no time.
Around day 30ish, it started to feel like shaving. I was really unsure of pressure at that point, and though the shaves weren't cutting me anymore, but irritation was a bit of a concern. Deciding that wetter was better, I started to mix yogurt lather and go to the @
Norcalnewb Baseball Shaving Pattern (NBSP), and the improvements came rapidly. By the end of February, I had it pretty well down. Two spine widths, consistent stroke pattern, wet Route 66 lather, gentle touch and stropping were all working out. The introduction of a Sheffield blade and a CJB provided a diversion, as well as a test of my technique, and both worked out really well! From day 70 on, I could get DFS automatically and near BBS on a good day, and also had acquired enough technique to chase a bit.
The decision to wait 18 months and do every other razor type first was a boon to learning SR. Having SAD and BAD licked long ago allowed me to focus on the steel and not on all the software. All things considered, I was more scared than I should have been, and learning SR isn't all that bad if one commits to simply doing it. I've been told it takes a hundred shaves to get really good, and after 91, I'd say I agree with that assessment. Lather quality is a key factor in a good Straight razor shave. The soaps I used were TSD and Route 66. I chose for simplicity and uniformity to use only Route 66 the first month, and I like to say once again, @
Salty Belle --killer soap base! It never failed and I never tired of the Lumberjack scent, and once I figured out how to use a straight, I had a few of my best shaves ever with your product! Kudos, and thanks for your support of our community! Another product I used was "45" Series black strop from @
Drygulch Leatherworks. Adam's strop took care of biz. If you need a starter strop, I fully endorse and reccomend his work! He's also a TSD vendor just like Kathleen at R66. Send him a PM, he can get you set up with what you need. The Ralf Aust (courtesy @
Keithmax ) was a perfect starter razor, and are readily available online. Thanks for the opportunity to use such a pretty and well done tool!
And yeah, I am hooked. Will be taking a break and doing DE in April, but straight razors will always find their way into my shaves regularly! I'll be working on the April thread shortly! Hope to see all or most of you and some new faces over there!
Thanks for reading, and thanks for being a part of our little community!
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