Thread: First tentative try with a straight

Always use the smooth side.

Well, I made a strop by glueing the leather to a piece of balsa, and stropped the razor to the best of my ability, going slow and trying to keep both the point and the heel of the blade as well as the edge and the spine all touching the leather while I was moving it along, spine first. Did about 30 passes and then tried shaving with the razor again.

It felt the same as my first shave with it, although this time I also shaved my neck with it. After the first pass, I felt my stubble, decided I wasn't doing a very good job with the straight and finished my shave with the Merkur HD instead.

I think I am using the wrong angle, possibly too acute, because I'm being too wary.

Bad angle would be the next point of contention. Also don't forget that a DE will leave you cleaner after one pass, but they're about even after 2.

Originally Posted by minstrel

... stropped the razor to the best of my ability, going slow and trying to keep both the point and the heel of the blade as well as the edge and the spine all touching the leather while I was moving it along, spine first.

We like to recommend using an X motion wher you startt by making sure the heel is in contact and draw down little to include the tip by the end of ths stroke. Even if your homemade strop is wide enough to encompas your whole edge at once the chances of the edge and the strop not having some minor curves, peaks and valleys is remote, so using the X stropping motion helps mitigate these factors. Bad stropping can ruin your edge so be gentle. This may already have happened.

Try lowering the engle of the razor to yur face and use a cutting angle where the tip leads the shaving stroke slightly in front of the heel.

X

I will continue to use the straight and see if my technique and the shave improves. My philosophy at the moment is to go slow, since it's new to me. Next time I may do two passes with it and see what that does.

With the stropping, I do try to do the X pattern, even though the leather is wide enough for the entire blade, since that's what I've seen in videos and read about.

Thanks for the advice, guys! A big part of my insecurity about the shave is that I don't know what it "should" feel like with a straight razor. Hopefully this will improve with time.

Don't be too skiddish with that razor either.
That could very well be part of the problem!


Mark

I tried shaving with the straight again yesterday. I stropped it, tried the sharpness with a stray hair I found in the bathroom, using the Hanging Hair Test. The razor made a "tink" sound when the hair came in contact with the edge, and the hair was split in twain. Tried this on different parts of the edge with the same result.

Lathered up and shaved two passes, one N-S and one S-N (mostly, had to manouver a bit around my goatee). Rinsed off the lather and ran my hand over my face. It felt as though I hadn't shaved at all.

Did three passes with the Merkur HD instead, and got a BBS shave.

Since the straight razor is obviously sharp, I think my technique has to suck. I'll keep trying, though.

Ok, just an update, since this thread seems to have come to deal more and more with my straight razor shaving progress.

I shaved with the straight razor again today, after stropping it about 30 times on my home-made paddle strop. Tried the edge on my wet thumbnail, and it's uniformly sharp, doesn't slide off the nail and has uniform "drag".

Did my usual pre-shave prep, whipped up some creamy lather from my C&E Sandalwood shave soap, and worked the lather into my stubble. Then I brought the razor to my face and started shaving, using a slightly larger angle than before since I thought the blade angle might be the culprit in my earlier less than satisfactory results. Did a N-S pass (except I went E-W on the cheek near my goatee), rinsed off my face and felt the stubble. Not too bad! Definitely better than my earlier attempts.

Relathered my face and did a S-N pass, again trying to keep the slightly larger angle. Rinsed off my face and felt the stubble. Very nice and smooth cheeks, and neck was smooth N-S and S-N, but still very stubbly in other directions. I decided that it was a successful attempt, and finished shaving my neck with my Merkur. Best to go slow with the learning.

It seems to me that going horizontally E-W or W-E on the neck is pretty much impossible with the straight, whereas it's feasible with the Merkur. I'll try going diagonally there in different directions sometime later on, when I feel more confident with the straight razor.

/Nicholas

Originally Posted by minstrel

I will continue to use the straight and see if my technique and the shave improves. My philosophy at the moment is to go slow, since it's new to me. Next time I may do two passes with it and see what that does.

With the stropping, I do try to do the X pattern, even though the leather is wide enough for the entire blade, since that's what I've seen in videos and read about.

Thanks for the advice, guys! A big part of my insecurity about the shave is that I don't know what it "should" feel like with a straight razor. Hopefully this will improve with time.

being a new user myself I know that feeling of nervousness when shaving with the straight razor.

for the first time this week, this morning I shaved with a cartridge razor; by 3 o'clock I had bristles and now at this time of day I need another shave.

cartridge razors realy cannot compare with straights - persevere it's worth it
tomorrow it's back to my straight razor

Just shaved with the straight razor again today. Same prep and lather as last time, and shaved N-S, S-N and then did a pass across the grain in an oblique upward stroke. The cheeks were BBS after the last stroke, but there was still a rough feeling on the neck. I'm sure some of you would cringe at the technique, since I hardly ever used my left hand to hold the razor, and had to hold the razor in pretty weird ways to get the blade to reach all areas of my neck and cheeks. But hey, it worked!

Since I was still a bit rough on the neck area, I finished off my neck with an oblique downward stroke with my Merkur... and managed to nick myself over the adam's apple, would you believe! Three passes with a big knife and no nicks, but the "safety razor" nicked me! Life isn't entirely without humor, eh?

After the finishing stroke with the Merkur, my neck was BBS too. The main reason for not using the straight for the last stroke was that I couldn't figure out a way to get the razor to do that stroke without the point catching my skin and slicing me. Maybe it would be easier with the round point I've ordered, when it gets here? I will definitely have to try that.

All in all, I'm making progress with the straight razor shaving.