Hello.

H

Hawkeye

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15
Hello chaps
After over 20+ years of rubbish shaves and money wasted on this, that and the other I've decided to try DE shaving to see what happens.
Hoping to get lots of tips on here.

Very confused about the shaving against the grain argument. It seems that some say you should for a really close shave, while others think it's the last thing you should ever do. :?
 
Hello and welcome.

Have you bought your kit yet? if not then what do you plan on getting?

At the end of the day I'd suggest that for the 1st few shaves just concentrate on getting the angle right and not applying pressure, go with the grain and across the grain. Then when you have built up some confidence see how an against the grain pass works for you. Some people find it a sure fire route to irritation while others like me find it to be perfectly fine.

Have fun

Nic
 
Thanks for the welcome :)

I thought I'd start simple so I went to Boots for the razor. The one I have at the moment is a Wilkinson Sword Classic razor and blades. A fairly decent (at least I think so) brush which I've been using for a while now and some Palmolive Classic Shave Lather.
I've only had 3 DE shaves so far but I've lived to tell the tale and so far, so good.
My big issue is my neck. I'm quite a robust (fat) chap so I have plenty of it to shave, but I've never been able to get it really smooth unless I go against the grain and that just hurts like hell.
 
Welcome Hawkeye

I think you've answered your own question regarding shaving the neck area. If what you are doing hurts avoid it.

Irritation lasts, smooth is temporary, have a good read of the guides and posts in Shaving Help and avoid shaving ATG at least for now.
 
Alright Hawkeye.

I think it depends what you want out of a shave. If you want BBS (baby's bottom smooth) like I do, despite it only being temporary, ATG is the way to go. But I aways shave with the grain (WTG) then across the grain (XTG) first, to reduce the bristles. There's no doubting ATG is the harder of the three, and there's no doubting it causes more problems, but with practice it gets easier.
 
antdad said:
Welcome Hawkeye

I think you've answered your own question regarding shaving the neck area. If what you are doing hurts avoid it.
Click to expand...

I think you may be onto something there.

antdad said:
Irritation lasts, smooth is temporary, have a good read of the guides and posts in Shaving Help and avoid shaving ATG at least for now.
Click to expand...

For everyday shaving I'm not really worried about the full on BBS, it's just that sometimes it looks like I've got bored and stopped shaving half way through. So I guess my goal is an all over smart looking shave rather than a really close shave.


And thanks for all the welcomes. :)
 
Another Hawkeye, how confusing.

Welcome to TSR - there's plenty of good people here who'll be only too happy to help you achieve a comfortable shave. I wouldn't bother with against the grain for the time being whilst your skin is getting used to the new shaving regime.
 
Arrowhead said:
Another Hawkeye, how confusing.

Welcome to TSR - there's plenty of good people here who'll be only too happy to help you achieve a comfortable shave. I wouldn't bother with against the grain for the time being whilst your skin is getting used to the new shaving regime.
Click to expand...


Is there another Hawkeye on here then? :?
 
Hawkeye said:
Hello chaps
After over 20+ years of rubbish shaves and money wasted on this, that and the other I've decided to try DE shaving to see what happens.
Hoping to get lots of tips on here.

Very confused about the shaving against the grain argument. It seems that some say you should for a really close shave, while others think it's the last thing you should ever do. :?
Click to expand...

Welcome Hawkeye !

spandex.. :)
 
Hawkeye said:
Arrowhead said:
Another Hawkeye, how confusing.

Welcome to TSR - there's plenty of good people here who'll be only too happy to help you achieve a comfortable shave. I wouldn't bother with against the grain for the time being whilst your skin is getting used to the new shaving regime.
Click to expand...


Is there another Hawkeye on here then? :?
Click to expand...

There's a Hawkeye5 so nothing to worry about.

Despite advice from experienced members in time you should be able to achieve the desired level of smoothness without shaving across the grain.

First you must acquire some new habit's and discard a life time of old ones, one of those is to free yourself from Gillette emasculation and the desire to be only satisfied when smooth. Once your over that, you can move forward.
 
antdad said:
Hawkeye said:
Arrowhead said:
Another Hawkeye, how confusing.

Welcome to TSR - there's plenty of good people here who'll be only too happy to help you achieve a comfortable shave. I wouldn't bother with against the grain for the time being whilst your skin is getting used to the new shaving regime.
Click to expand...


Is there another Hawkeye on here then? :?
Click to expand...

There's a Hawkeye5 so nothing to worry about.

Despite advice from experienced members in time you should be able to achieve the desired level of smoothness without shaving across the grain.

First you must acquire some new habit's and discard a life time of old ones, one of those is to free yourself from Gillette emasculation and the desire to be only satisfied when smooth. Once your over that, you can move forward.
Click to expand...

'morning antdad ! That last paragraph of yours is a cracker! That situation you describe is the one I have just about reached as I type, and it's spot on! :D

spandex..
 
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