I waited for school to be about over before I started. Now that you are out, you can join in. No it hasn't been too bad. No permanent scars, no stiches, etc... granted it takes much longer than DE shaving and I am not getting as close, but my DE shaves started out long and less effective. I am sure the shaves will get better and quicker as things go.
I took my wife and young son to a family reunion last week-end in Cherry Hill, NJ and did a straight razor shave both days and came out real well. Now if I can get faster at this I would be ready to replace my safety razors with a straight. Willl have to take my stainless steel for professional honing. I have been told that there is a shop in Arlington, VA that will get this done for me.
What kind of shop? Make sure that they sharpen straight razors, not just knives--if they don't know what they're doing, they can really screw up your razor.
Shave 15: Getting even closer. I managed to get a much closer shave in that troublesome corner (upper right neck, jawline, ear). However, I got so close, I accidentally nicked my earlobe with the end of the razor. Nothing bad, it as barely a weeper. But it was scary for a second. My second pass continues to improve and I spent less time trying to find the proper hand angles to get what needed done. I was even able to pull with one hand while making short strokes with the other and advance both hands in harmony for one stretch near the jawline. Overall this is the best straight shave to date. I didn't do too much touch up. We are now entering shaves that are starting to border on DE quality (quickly rushed DE shaves) but DE quality all the same. YAY!
I've had pretty good luck in that area pulling the skin up and over my jaw and shaving it above the jawline, rather than trying to fit the razor in there under the jawline. Heh. Yeah, I hear you buddy. Congrats on staying scar-free! You've got me beat there. :ashamed001
That is what I normally do. However, I was trying to get the troublesome spot that doesn't pull up over the jawline. I haven't been getting that spot well, so I was making a concentrated effort to get it. And I did! and a little more than I meant to get :ashamed001
Today's lesson: Don't push your limits on push-ups and squats and then take a shower and straight shave. Bad things can happen! Shave 16: Arms and legs are tired. But this shouldn't be a problem, right? Egads, talking about messing with your muscle memory! Error 1: bad start - got upper cheek upon touching the blade to skin, not bad but what a way to start Error 2: forgot to strop - halfway through 1st pass wondering why the blade felt rougher than usual before I realized that I hadn't stropped Error 3: stropping wrong - I finished pass 1, and then stropped on a towel to get most of water off of blade before stropping. I then started on the strop. It just felt wrong, it didn't sound right, the speed was off, everything felt wrong. Then I realized, I was flipping on the edge! d'OH!!!! Error 4-many more - I just couldn't get the angles I needed for pass 2. What was easy yesterday, I just couldn't hit today. Just when things start feeling better, I realize that there is blood on the blade. Great. I don't know how many little nicks I got today. My skin is irritated and there are a lot of little red marks, and the shave wasn't as close as I like. At least none of the nicks/cuts are bad. However, I may need a day or two to let skin heal again.
wooooo after a session like that your razor might like to have long stropping session, and the practice might be good too to help drill in good technique
I was thinking the same and already did so. I am assuming 50 passes on rough side of leather and 50 on smooth would suffice, but perhaps I need more.
Eeee. Sounds like a bad day in general. Don't worry, though, I'm sure we've all been there--my personal lesson is "Don't straight shave with a hangover." Just DON'T. Your journey is really interesting to read, mate. I wish I had kept as detailed a record as you have...
I would have to assume it would be better than trying it while still drunk. But maybe then I would have the bravado to not be over-thinking every angle, hand-grip, and direction for each pass and just rip through.
Poor Justin! I've done the same thing. There are so many steps to remember! If you're not 100% on the ball, you will for sure get bit. Maybe that's one of the benefits of shaving with a giant blade - teaches you focus!
After a day off to recover.. day 17: Ahh things were ticking back in place again. All three passes went well without any blood leaking... I experimented more during touch up. I tried stretching my skin in different ways while trying to get closer on my right cheek. I found that stretching my skin to the side appears to work better than up or down. This works even better if I am tipping my head back as far as possible. Will try stretching more from the side in the neck region during my normal passes to see how that helps. I am hoping my Genco comes in today...
Good luck with the Genco. I finally used one I had lying around on Sunday gave me a great shave. I really didn't expect much from this blade, but it was pretty phenomenal. I need to work on stretching the skin also.
I don't know if I ever put this in writing or not, but what I've been doing that feels (and sounds, and looks) weird but works great is to stick my index finger in my ear and "push" the outer 'ring' out laterally (no, seriously!) then use my middle and ring fingers of the same hand to "push" my sideburns upwards. That way I get lateral and vertical stretch at the same time. Use the right hand to stretch the right ear and the left hand to stretch the left ear. Yeah, it would take me all of five seconds to SHOW you what I meant... hopefully you get the idea. Anyways, this particular move also happens to help get the hairs in that little Bermuda Triangle you were having trouble with last time, below the ear and behind the corner of the jaw.
Between my experiments and your suggestion, I think we got the bermuda triangle solved... yay! Shave 18: Pretty much the same as before; however, I now tried to apply more sideways stretching and the earprobing method suggested. Actually, part of the reason the ear thing works great, is usually the inside of my ear doesn't have slick shaving cream in it. usually... Much better shave today overall with less touch up needed. I am quite pleased. I did get myself in the mustache area right above the corner of my lip and under my chin. Small little nicks and I didn't make any major mistake there. Out of curiosity, (also to help answer all of those how long does this take posts), I started a stopwatch today. From the moment I started my hot towel until I put on after-shave, it was 26 minutes. This included the time to make lather, initial strop, 3 passes of shaving, touch up, apply alum wash, clean up, apply witch hazel, strop the razor again, brush teeth, and then put on after-shave.
That sounds lickety-split for a three-pass shave! You are taking to the straight razor like a bird to the sky!
I wonder if knowing that I was timing myself unconsciously made me speed up. More likely the problem came from trying to do too much touch up with too little lather. I ended up with irritation, so am taking today off of straights. I will add this much to my journal today: stretching the ear like suggested really helps that bermuda triangle region when DE shaving as well!
