Thread: Why is the 1st shave after honing so disagreeable?

Update:

Puff my man, you are a genius. All you guys who suspected there was a problem with my honing were right. The problem is, as Puff says, barber hones are particularly prone to raising a burr, which I tried removing in three different incorrect ways: with my face, with Cr02, and with linen. While the linen does remove the burr, it's not hard to imagine what the edge would look like under an electron microscope after the burr has been ripped off.

So instead I tried as puff suggests, finishing my honing with 3-5 back strokes, then 5 forward strokes (being careful to follow the scratch pattern on the backstroke, i.e. start the X at the toe). I also honed wet, as Puff also suggests. First I tried it on a dull razor that needed the whole hone progression. Then I tried it on a sharp razor using only the Lithide hone to see if I could touch it up, and then remove the burr that results.

In both cases, it is as Puff says; all I need is the hone & plain leather, no Cr02 or linen necessary.

Now the questions I have to resolve experimentally are:

(1) Will a nicely backhoned edge last longer? With my previous honing method, I could feel the quality of the shave starting to deteriorate by the 3rd shave. Let's see if this edge is more durable.

(2) When the shave quality does start to deteriorate, can I bring it back with the linen & delay having to touch it up? I suppose now that Puff has told me how to touch it up without raising a burr, I suppose there's no harm in frequent touch-ups other than wear on the razor, but if you can cut the wear down, why not, eh?

Oh, another interesting thing: on the first one or two back-strokes I can actually feel the scraping non-smoothness of the burr being dragged across the hone. When the back-stroke glides as smoothly as the forward stroke, it's time to stop. This seems to take 3-5 strokes.

Addendum: to answer Simon's questions, yes I've tried those things & they definitely do help. Prep is key. Without good prep I can't get a good shave with any razor, no matter how good the edge is. My prep routine is: degrease face with soap, hot towel or shower, shave oil, lather, let lather soak in while stropping, re-lather. I highly recommend this routine. I also have a preference for big half-hollow blades over small half-hollow or small wedge blades. I haven't been able to get my hands on a big wedge to try it.