First tentative try with a straight

I recently bought a Wester Bros. Anchor Brand "Manganese Steel" straight razor, shave ready, from xChris in the classifieds here. Since I'm unemployed and don't have a lot of money to spare for extravagant shaving utensils I thought this would be a good and inexpensive way of acquiring a straight razor, but I didn't know whether I would actually have the guts to use it for its intended purpose, or whether it would just be an addition to my case of curiosities.

To give you a bit of background on my shaving experience, I started shaving with cartridge razors and "goo in a can" in my teens, and up until autumn last year I had been shaving with a Mach 3 and nothing but water for years. Then a friend who has been lurking on the shaving forums got me interested in traditional wetshaving with a DE razor. I first used a cheap Chinese razor, and later a Gillette Super Speed and a Merkur HD.

Today, I decided to try shaving with the straight razor. Just the cheeks, mind you, since I'm still a bit wary about putting a knife to my throat. I lathered up with European Palmolive shaving cream, using my Edwin Jagger Best Badger brush, and then opened the straight razor and gripped it like Dr. Moss described in his fine guide, which I re-read yesterday in preparation for this shave. Then I put the edge to my cheek, stretching the skin with my other hand, and using the slightest tough possible let it slide along my skin.

It was an interesting experience for sure. My nervousness disappeared after the first stroke and was replaced with curiosity. I could hear the blade make little "tink" noises with each hair it came into contact with, and I felt a slight tugging on the hairs. I have no idea if I used the optimal angle or not, but I kept shaving with the razor, being very light on the touch, and trying to manouver it so that the spike point wouldn't catch me, and since I also sport a goatee and moustache I was trying to manouver the blade so it wouldn't remove too much of my beard. I'm sure some of my positions would have made true master shavers cringe, but hey! I'm a newbie! :)

After shaving my cheeks I put the straight razor away and finished the first pass with the Merkur HD. I then felt my shave, and the cheeks were still stubbly, so I guess my technique sucked. Still, it was very interesting to try it, and I did cut the beard, going by the stubble trapped in the lather on the blade. I don't know when I will try this again, though, since I don't have a strop, and don't know whether I will buy one anytime soon either. So for now, the straight razor will have to rest in its box.

/Nicholas

Nicholas, no wonder your shave was underwhelming. You should strop at most 30min before the shave, ideally right after you lather up. The difference in the results is amazing.

I guess I'll have to let the straight razor rest until I get me a strop, sometime in the future, then.

If you have a smooth soft leather belt, it will also do the trick. That's what I used for a few weeks before getting my hands on one of Tony's pieces.

Don't put the razor away. It really is worth persevering. The most rewarding things in this life don't come easily. I have been shaving with my cutthroat razor for almost 2 years now. I invested in a cheap Rockwell (spit! cough!) strop from ebay which did me fine for the first year. It served me well and did the job but get some strop paste with the strop if you buy one.
I also didn't have a job at the time I started and had very little money, but mach3 blades aren't cheap so I justified the expense.

Go on ..... get a strop:eek:

I don't have any smooth leather belts, and the largest piece of thick leather I have otherwise is only about a foot long. Is that long enough for a strop? Otherwise, is balsa wood possible to use as a strop, perhaps glued to a piece of wood for support?

I can't afford a real strop at the moment. I have already spent way too much on shaving supplies, and I have other things I need to put my money on.

If you lay it flat on the edge of a desk, it should do, just keep the pressure light, make it slow and do about 50 strokes instead of 30 you'd do on a normal strop.

That's true, Just keep the strokes light, and you should do fine, Don't put that razor away just yet. Keep at it you'll get it. Let us know how you do.

There's that old Chinese saying about a journey of 1000 miles begining with a single step. Well you've taken that first step so keep on going!

Straight shaving is a skill and it has to be mastered and it does not come quickly. Some learn faster than others and more easily than others but everyone learns if they want to. Remember at one time it was the only way to shave. So keep at it and little by little your confidence will increase with your skill.

Which side of the leather do you use for stropping, the skin side or the meat side? I've read about using the meat side for pasted paddle strops for stropping knives, but if you want to use one unpasted to strop straight razors, do you still use the meat side?

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.

Quote:

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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.

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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

Quote:

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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.

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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 :D
tomorrow it's back to my straight razor :D

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. :tu

I'm not surprised at all that you nicked your self with the murker. Straights are actually much more forgiving then a DE. I almost always nicked my self with my Mach 3 before I was enlightened, or went crazy. One of the two.

Anyway, I rarely nick my self with my straight now. I did the other day after a fresh honing, but it was minor and stopped bleeding the instant I broke the styptic out.

I'm glad your making progress and finding results. Sounds like you just need to work on your ATG technique a little on the neck. That is a very tricky area to get a hold of with the second pass. You are getting there though. Keep on truckin!

Matt

Congrat on the shave. It feels so good when you can shave yourself well with a str8. Enjoy.

One way I get around the size of the blade in tighter areas is to divide the area in half. This way I can shave one area from the middle of the blade to the heel (keeping the point off & out from my jawbone), then cut the other half from the point to the middle of the blade (this allows me to feel how the point is cutting for greater control).

Hmm. Good advice, but my main problem may be that I haven't mastered the art of changing hands yet. Hehe. I do most of the shaving with my right hand, stretching the skin with my left. Learning to use my left hand for shaving will be the next big step, I think. :)

I received my 6/8 "German Hoppe" razor from ShavingShop today. It came well packaged, and it was wrapped in paper bearing Giesen & Forsthoff logos and "Timor" all over it, and the plastic coffin box also had the word "Timor" on it. The razor itself looks great, apart from a few minor issues. There is minor pitting on the blade (pretty far from the edge), possibly from moisture getting to the blade in storage, and there is a bit of sharp burr on the plastic scales which needs to be trimmed off at some stage. Other than that, I think it's a very good looking razor and it feels pretty good in the hand too.

I tried the edge of the blade on a wet thumbnail when I got it out of the box and had unwrapped it, and it slid straight off, so it wasn't very sharp. I hadn't opted for the honing service, so I knew it would be "factory sharp", so no surprise there. I gave it a handful of strokes on the "pasted" paddle strop I made a while back, and then a couple of handfuls of strokes on the unpasted paddle strop. That was just enough to get the edge to "bite" the nail and not slide off. So I decided to try shaving with it.

I prepped the beard, worked up a nice lather from the C&E Sandalwood soap, and lathered my face, got the razor and opened it... I just managed two strokes with it before I decided it was a bad idea and went to fetch the Wester Bros. razor instead. The new razor was just pulling my beard like crazy. I need to work more on stropping it, I think, and hope that will be enough to get it shave ready.