F...Shaving

Had my first shave with my Merkur 180 this morning, kinda have mixed thoughts on it. I got a nice clean shave for the most part, I followed the advice of letting the razor do the work and using no pressure. There's no tugging at all, these blades are super sharp! Amazingly enough for my first time I had zero nicks or cuts.

Obviously there's a bit of a learning curve, I had to keep working on getting the right angle. My chin and upper lip was a bit of a problem area with getting the right angle on the blade. Also, working around my sideburns was a challenge.

I admit when I was done I went back around with my fusion to clean things up. Again, there's a learning curve and you have to be patient and take your time. I can't say I'm sold yet, but I'm going to keep working at it. I can see where it's a different experience, and something that is a skill that requires practice and patience.

It took me around 3 weeks to get to the point where I had a shave I was proud of and had no nicks. Stick with it.

Just remember...NO PRESSURE. Finding your angle will be a great experience. Probably one morning, you'll just have this shave where you yell "YES" (thinking of a scene from Elf) and you'll be hooked.

Glad to hear it went well for a first shave. Sounds like a typical first shave but with no nicks.

How many passes did you do? I've found that doing one pass, then doing a second in the opposite direction will really do the job.

I did one pass, but then switched to the fusion to get things cleaned up. Just gotta keep working on the angle, that's the tough part.

I'm an experienced shaver and 1 pass doesn't do the job, so cleaning up with the Fusion isn't necessary if you do a second pass with the real razor. ;)

Reason is...all hair doesn't grow in the same direction. You have to do WTG (with the grain) and ATG (against) to get all of them.

I'm just a rook, I'll get there. I'm fighting my guts out dammit!

Does anybody else go against the grain the whole time? I've been doing it ATG for like 3 years now and I can usually get everything done in one round, although I usually have to go back and do a couple minor touchups.

I usually go WTG then ATG but I've switched it up. Need both though, but your face is different.

Everyone has to find what works best for them.

There's a thing called face-mapping that can help you figure out which direction to go on different parts of your face by looking at the direction that the hairs grow. The neck is a problem area for most guys so it's most useful there...took me longer to get a good shave on my neck than the rest of my face.

Mantic59's Shaving Journal: Interactive Face Map (http://mantic59.blogspot.com/2010/07/interactive-face-map.html)



This guy is the king of shaving knowledge and he makes some great tutorial videos:

mantic59's Channel - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/shavetutor)

My facial hair grows in multiple directions and requires at least two passes (ATG and WTG) to get a smooth shave.

Another tip from me...if you find yourself slicing your Adam's Apple when you shave, do this: swallow and hold it as you shave over the apple area. It will keep it "in" and you should be able to go over it without blood loss.

With that said, I nicked mine this morning, wasn't paying attention I guess.

This site will demand that you grow a beard.

The Beardly (http://www.thebeardly.com/)