Thread: like shaving with a lawn mower blade

As the title says, i have not had thebest experience with a straight razor thus far. I am a beginner and want to learn, but each time i try to shave it feels like i am trying to shave witha dull kitchen knife. I thouht that it may be the razor so i had it rehoned by lynn or don. I soak my face to soften the stubble, strop the razor with 50 strokes on the nylon webbing and 50 on the leather side and use the shaving soap purched here. I dont quite understand and i am getting a bit discouraged because it is extremely rough and if using a straight razor really shaves like this, i would rather my mach 3!. (Even a dull mach 3 doesnt pull and rip my stubble like the straight razor does). Any help would be great or a barber so i can feel what a good shave feels like since im sure i havent felt one of those yet (i hope)

Curious do you get the same effect with a DE? Maybe your not prepping your lather and face properly? If you dont get that effect then I can only think of is your attack angle is to steep and your scrape instead of cut the hairs. an more experienced mentor can help you further.

i'm still new as well and i'm still learning. some things that have helped me are to remember to keep the pressure light. you need just enough to wipe off the lather. also watch your blade angle, remember 1-2 spine widths. be sure to watch the direction of your beard growth too.start with a with the grain pass and they also suggest starting with just the side burn area till you get the hang of it. watch plenty of the excellent videos on this sight. Don't give up, there is a learning curve!

Hi Zac

Either your beard is stainless steel or somethings not right. If the razor was honed and sent back to you already stropped and ready to shave did you try it without stropping yourself first? My stropping technique needed a lot of help, it was making it worse not better.

Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Library

The angle of the blade can make a huge difference too.

No doubt you've read these already

Shaving passes - Straight Razor Place Library
First straight razor shave - Straight Razor Place Library

Some more experienced fellas might be able to trouble shoot better for you!

I hear good things about Lynn's honing service, your experience seems contradictory to that ot many other testimonials. I'm far from the best honer but the my edges shave very smoothly and glide through my hair. Are you sure you're stropping correctly? Check some video tutorials from Lynn since poor stropping with give a cruddy shave and may blunt the razor.

Is that razor an extra hollow? My extra hollow razor does give a noisy shave that reminds me of a knife over dry toast but this is likely a reflection of my lack or honing skill.

When you got the razor back from being rehoned did you strop it before using it the first time or did you shave with it without stropping? The reason I am asking is that you can destroy an edge by poor stropping in one session.

Bob

could be all in the angles of approach possibly to steep more than 30º from your face or you could have rounded the edge when stropping
I know I did this also with my first blade went from super sharp to tugging to pulling pretty quickly no mater what angles I used,
but once I corrected my ways on the strop & refrshed the edge it all is great
a truely shave ready edge should not tug at all even slightly
so don't give up yet it is a big learning currve we all go through it starts of steep then levels out abit but it never really drops away as there is always more to learn & perfect
maybe try looking for another mentor near you may be able to help you out

I believe the answer lies here.

Originally Posted by Zac926

I thouht that it may be the razor so i had it rehoned by lynn or don. I soak my face to soften the stubble, strop the razor with 50 strokes on the nylon webbing and 50 on the leather side...

When you get the razor back, do not strop it for the first shave.

Zac, I suspect your technique needs to be tweeked.
Sometimes if I have a couple days growth and apply too little pressure it seems like the edge catches the whiskers above the skin line and causes a pull. Just a tiny bit more pressure puts the edge where it needs to be and the egde rides on the skin and easily cuts the whiskers.
Please understand that I do not advocate using very much pressure, but for me, especially with the first pass, I need to use very slightly more pressure than I do the second time around.
Then there are the whiskers that want to lay flat on my neck that I can only get really close with an against the grain attack with the very lightest touch on the second pass.
The point I am trying to make is that technique is very very important in order to get that "perfect" shave.
When learning to hone and strop, proper technique is just as important as it is in the actual shave.
Don't give up too soon.
Keep trying and you will discover how slight changes can make a big difference in your sucess.

It will indeed be the combination of stropping technique and shaving technique.
I won't go into detail, there are veryuseful links provided in answers above.
The one advise I can give you, is take it slow, take one step at a time and if needed keep stationary.
It took me 6 weeks just to learn how to shave my right and left cheek with right and left hand.
My razor has been gone some time because I hit the tap with it, so I'm put back a few steps too.
For the time being, try to clean the area under your sideburns without pulling, if that works, it's time for the next step.