Thread: Second shave still painful

Originally Posted by mjlthuston

I'm in Missoula.

That's not terribly far considering the rough go you've had of it so far. It's about 3.5 hr drive I think and through some absolutely beautiful country! If I were you, I'd pm gssixgun and try to get together with him.

+1 On that.. Finding someone to do some mentoring/teaching in person would be the best thing you could do.

Originally Posted by JBPilot

That's not terribly far considering the rough go you've had of it so far. It's about 3.5 hr drive I think and through some absolutely beautiful country! If I were you, I'd pm gssixgun and try to get together with him.

Originally Posted by rodb

+1 On that.. Finding someone to do some mentoring/teaching in person would be the best thing you could do.

Hours well spent.

How many beginner "How to (SR) Shave" videos have you watched? Have you watched Lynn's?

How much pre-shave did you do? or What? I have a pal who just gave it a try and he complained about pulling, THEN i find out he shaves before the shower. And of course i said, no no no!

Pulling is bad edge or incorrect angle or insufficient prep.

Not cutting yourself is good, points for that.

just posted a request in the DVD thread. I'm trying to find out the correct email.

I've watched several videos on shaving off of YouTube. I have not watched Lynn's yet.

My guess is to LIGHTEN UP on the pressure of your shaving.

That is... you should NOT be PRESSING into your skin with the razor in order for it to shave.
It took me a LONG time to realise this and my shaves have improved 100 fold!

Feel like you are just wiping the shaving cream off your face.
With the correct angle and as little pressure as to just keep the razor on your face as possible.

Of course you need a shave ready razor for this and if you did some damage by stropping you could have damaged the edge. (stropping should be done lightly also)

Just my ideas.

ps... If you could set up to meet with gssixgun you would be a LUCKY MAN!
This would be an EXCELLENT day for a LOT of people!

Try and find the time to go see gssixgun. Working with a Mentor will knock a great deal off of the learning curve.

try straight razor designs on the internet. I believe they have his dvd.

I recently was posting the same problems. This is what I have found in my trial and error.
I have been using a Dovo silver steel. A few different soaps in rotation, hot shower, black badger Ed Jäger brush.

Prep is the shower , sometimes a little hair conditioner on the face, work up later for a count of 100 dipping the brush in hot water 2-3 times while building lather.
After swirling and painting lather on the face I finally figured my Stroping sucked.
Now I lay it flat on the counter and run 20 strokes on linen and 60 on the Russian hide leather.

I use one hand (rh ) and start downwards on the rh sideburn but I hold it backwards with the tang of the razor pointed to the center of the face. Then after doing that first initial pass I switch the razor around normal and finish the rest of the face.

I only do wg and ag and both passes the spine is virtually flat on my face and use short buffing strokes with the chin and stache area using more of the heel of the blade and both hands since I have a tough beard and the heel end is a bit more rigid.

So, what my advice would be is put the strop on a flat surface and use short buffing strokes and don't try to knock it out with one swipe.
Hang in there.

Oh, also streeeeeeeetch the skin taught with the off hand. Loose skin allows for tugging.