Thread: need some serious help

Carl, The Party approves you post, comrade.

thanks for the advise I will probably send my razor for honing and get a spare. I will also be leaving the shaving for a couple of days to give my skin a break. Thanks again for allt he help

Originally Posted by JFriendly123

thanks for the advise I will probably send my razor for honing and get a spare. I will also be leaving the shaving for a couple of days to give my skin a break. Thanks again for allt he help

It's always our pleasure for us to provide help, it makes us feel important...

thought I would give a quick update. Had a rest from shaving for 3 days

Well I threw everything and the kitchen sink at this issue and studied every little thing i was doing. First the razor. I gave the razor 12 laps on a 12K stone then canvas and then on the strop. I notice when stropping there is a slight curlt o the edge of the strop and the ends and so only used the flat centre portion. I gave about 50 laps on the leather and 20 on the canvas.

Then had a shower, put conditioner in my beard and left it there for the whole shower. Then nicked some baby oil of my 18 month old son (sorry). Then rubbed that into my beard (first time I have done this).Then put a hot towel on my face for two mins Then lathered up in the bowl and then onto my face with the parosso cream. I notice though I could keep dipping the brush in the water and getting slippier and slippier foam. Then shaved paying close attention to stretching skin (not got the neck at the bottom and under the chin perfect yet). What a piece of cake, I could even tell I had a beard the straight just tore it off and no knicks no bllod no red soap no irritation. What made the difference. No idea , I think everything adds up. The conditioner make a 5% difference then the oil 3% then the towel 7%. Who knows the real percentages but the definately added up on this shave. This will be my routine for a while and then i will try skipping a step and see if it makes a difference. I would like to skip the conditioner step it tastes like crap when you get in it your mouth.

I am starting to get RAD though, I have bought three razors this week and have started restoring an old kropp i got for $4 on ebay it has polished great and I am in the process of making some purple heart scales for it the acrylic ones were shot. It seams really sharp after 20 laps on the 10 k and whips are hair off but not tried a shave yet. Will let hou know. Thanks to all who offered the advise it makes all the difference as does jsut stopping and leaving it alone for a while.

Congratulations.

Yes, the problem with throwing everything plus the kitchen sink at it is that you get very educational value out of it because you still don't know what was the issue and how to solve it next time it happens.
On the other hand achieving great shave is a big morale boost and if you've done it once you know you can do it again

Preparation makes huge difference regardless of how you cut the hair afterwards. Unfortunately this is still largely underestimated by many people who chase the wrong things, the razor, the honing, the technique... If you want to check it out next time you do the same preparation and use your old cartridge razor, you may be surprised at the results.

Anyways, for the next time you go to your hone use very light strokes, and the goal is for the razor not to push the water but to undercut it. It is simple physics and surface tension is what makes possible the pushing of the water instead of breaking it. When your edge is thin and free of defects the it would 'undercut' the water.

You want to also consider that 'curl' to the strop. You want flat surface (slight slack is fine, but not cupped). Normally the edges are kept flat from the hardware, so I am not sure what curling is occurring there. I would suggest though to not ignore it and figure out what's happened and how to fix it. Pictures could help.

Originally Posted by gugi

You want to also consider that 'curl' to the strop. You want flat surface (slight slack is fine, but not cupped). Normally the edges are kept flat from the hardware, so I am not sure what curling is occurring there. I would suggest though to not ignore it and figure out what's happened and how to fix it. Pictures could help.

Pre-shave prep is a big deal, as gugi suggested.

Pursue the strop issue. You may want to start a separate strop thread with pictures of this "curl". Initially, I was using a defective strop and it took a while to figure it all out, as well.

Congrats on the great shave!

I have only one more suggestion -- don't do ATG on every shave. Many of us originally work hard the get "THE PERFECT BBS SHAVE", by doing 2, 3 or 4 passes. At some point you have to decide whether, on an everyday basis, you really need a BBS shave or if a DFS would be fine. I save the ATG for very special occasions when everything in the shave seems to be going perfectly. Of course, I never shaved ATG with any type of razor, and had decent shaves. Now I have better ones with my SR and have more fun getting there.

Continued good luck on your shaves!

Harold

Odds are pretty good that it was just the honing. Prep is important, but at the expert level there is no difference between a straight razor and any other razor. Except the straight feels smoother.

Don't get so far technical with your prep that you start to believe that a straight requires extra prep. All wet shaving requires some prep, the more efficient, the better. But, as Gugi mentions if you change three things at once, then you can't attribute the progress to any of them. I'd guess, in order: honing, taking a few days off, better prep, and finally, stropping; contributed to a better shave. Worse, it could also be a weird combo of any of them.

Best bet is to keep up the prep until you get tired of it. If the problem is honing or stropping I think you'll sense a very gradual degradation in your shave. If it's prep, then any single shave without good prep should be a problem.

I thought I would go the other way with the logic. Throw everything at it and then remove one step at a time until the shave is not as comfy. I removed the conditioner step today, it makes very little difference. Will try scrapping the baby oil tomorrow and see what difference that makes. The curl is annoying i will load up a picture under the strops section.

Originally Posted by JFriendly123

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That's really cool that it all came together for you. I do feel that beginners 'need' to pay closer attention to all these points than those who have been SR shaving for longer. I do feel that really really good prep can sort of minimise' some small issues with technique. I do feel that as one gets really good at one's technique one can actually have a more 'bare bones' GOOD SR shave. Of course, going all out will always give a really good shave.

I used to use Proraso Pre-shave cream every shave; and it really does help with the slickness or glide. Now I really do, as I have my razors and technique completely dialed in.

I like how you discovered how much water to add to the lather to increase its slickability (a Carl word). Working that out is actually quite important. too little water and you end up with glug that causes the razor to dig in. Too MUCH water and you loose cushion; and again the razor can dig in. The razor needs to slickly float on a cushion of bubbles...

BTW I'd skip the conditioner as well. Use the towel and the Proraso pre-shave. I haven't really used baby oil. Have you checked out how to make an Überlather? I reckon you'd like it...