Thread: Help! First you shave, and...

... not good.

Today i received my Whipped Dog Sight Unseen with extra strop. My normal prep, shower, rinse, 2 min wet lather soak. I did make sure to make a more moist, but not runny lather. Had shaved the day before so it was short. It was very uncomfortable. I didn't expect it to go flawless, but i did stretch as much as i could and i played with a lot of angles, from very shallow (skippy) to very steep (draggy, grippy). The very shallow seemed most comfortable, but had a tendency to skip and didn't cut much hair. The steep one was very uncomfortable, it felt like it grabbed the skin, not smooth at all. I was wondering if i maybe hadn't close the razor well, causing the edge to collide with one side of the scales. I only attempted my cheeks and even that wasn't completely finished. Finished with a 5 day old DE blade which just cruised right through everything. Even though the attempt was very unpleasant i think i knew when to stop, so no nicks and no burn.

Now, after i was finished i checked the blade on my arm, dry. Guess what? With very light movement i could remove a patch of hair. However, it failed the hanging hair test. Miserably. It did bend every hair. Even if i made a cutting motion, pushing the blade against the hair while also making a horizontal movement, pulling the blade towards me it did not cut anything.

So... What now? I was instructed not to strop it right away and i haven't. I have another razor coming but that was meant to be a razor to use when i am comfortable with the basics. I want to save that edge.
Should i try to carefully strop it on the balsa wood? Should i give it another go tomorrow? Of course, i will ask Larry himself as well.
Any help is appreciated!

*i now see i made a error in my title, should've been "first shave in"

Is this your first straight shave? Your join date would suggest not , But I'm curious. If so you can't expect too much for the first shave,, Larry's blades are really ready to shave with. Keep us informed. Tc

Hanging hair tests and arm hair tests really need to be tested with known shave ready blades in order to have any meaning. Comparing your results with a new DE blade is a starting point. I would not strop your new razor before it arrives. As for the razor you just shaved with it should be stropped on leather before your next shave.

Keep the angle below 30 degrees or it will eat the skin off of your face.
Use little to no pressure on the blade as you shave
And start with a with the grain pass.

Carefully strop it

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Is this your first straight shave? Your join date would suggest not , But I'm curious. If so you can't expect too much for the first shave,, Larry's blades are really ready to shave with. Keep us informed. Tc

Yes it was my first, i had joined some time ago, but back then never actually ordered the kit.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Hanging hair tests and arm hair tests really need to be tested with known shave ready blades in order to have any meaning. Comparing your results with a new DE blade is a starting point. I would not strop your new razor before it arrives. As for the razor you just shaved with it should be stropped on leather before your next shave.

I did not strop the razor, i was wandering if i should use the balsa or only the strop after failing the HHT. He told me to use the balsa first then strop (now not before i told him how it was). A new DE blade feels tons different in the actual shave, but i just tried one that had trouble with the HHT as well. As instructed i now don't let as much hair stick out between thumb and index. The razor now also cut the hair (3 tries). But i did strop on the balsa by now so maybe that had influence on it, maybe it was already good (probably the last).
I don't have hair on my head longer then 2mm (about 1/8 inch?) so i used leg hair, which might complicate the whole thing.

Originally Posted by criswilson10

Keep the angle below 30 degrees or it will eat the skin off of your face.
Use little to no pressure on the blade as you shave
And start with a with the grain pass.

Tried that, tried that and tried that. Didn't help a bit. The blade just didn't want to glide without force, and force was the last thing i want to try.

Best advice I think is, practice, more practice, an some more practice. Keep your DE handy so you can finish up an just enjoy the learning process. You know your straights are shave ready so its obviously a technique issue. No big deal! Stick with it an it will improve quickly.

Originally Posted by RollinCoal69

Best advice I think is, practice, more practice, an some more practice. Keep your DE handy so you can finish up an just enjoy the learning process. You know your straights are shave ready so its obviously a technique issue. No big deal! Stick with it an it will improve quickly.

I will, thanks. So far this is less fun though, i was never afraid of shallow cuts from a DE, but this can bite in a mean way.

Today's shave went better. I found that using very short strokes, fast and light worked. Not that i don't use short strokes normally, from my DE i learned not to, but those where strokes of about a inch, now i used morel like half-inch strokes. I did get a cut. But, the edge being so thin and stropped, resulting in a clean cut, the bleeding stopped quite quick. Yesterday i also felt some prick at that sight of the face (both at the edge of the cheek where the ear starts). It's easy to cut yourself with the edge i found out. Still, i simply can't imagine shaving within 10 minutes with a straight, ever.

Originally Posted by ElaMenthol

Still, i simply can't imagine shaving within 10 minutes with a straight, ever.

I think when most of us starting out a complete shave takes more than 30 minutes, for me I think it was running over 45 minutes.

We forget that this is a fine motor skill that takes both study and practice.
The study is reading and reviewing the (good) videos that you can find on the threads and in the library - to give you some suggestions.
If our Dads, Uncles, older Brothers were shaving with a straight razor we would have been watching this for years growing up, you are trying to pick up a skill using an internet correspondence course without the benefit of a coach at your side.

But you can learn it, and as you have seen yourself shave #2 was probably many times better than shave #1. Shave #100 is going to be fantastic and rewarding and take less than 10 minutes (unless you want to drag it out) Shave #25 is going to be pretty good also...

Since it is so many things to master at once, from prep to lather to daily edge care not to mention putting a blade to your throat...it takes time. You will make mistakes, cuts, nicks damage to the edge are all part of the process.

Careful stropping can do wonders to an edge. I have picked up razors that I used in the beginning, that I thought had less than perfect edges. After a careful pre-shave stropping they turned out to be truly shave ready. I was a little chagrined at how good they were (and one of them was my first Whipped Dog razor)

IMHO it is better to start out making one pass with WTG and finishing with a DE than spending a frustrating and bloody hour trying to do three passes. When I started I would "edge" the hard areas with my electric beard trimmer (lower lip edge, sideburn line) one day I forgot to pre-trim and I did it with the straight...progress.

And in a few short weeks you will look back and say to yourself "I can't believe that I thought I could never do this in such a short time"

Smooth Shaving...

Last shave was better, smoother. I even kept a bit less shallow angle on the cheeks. Still feels like it's burying itself into my chin, even with a very shallow angle. Went N-S and tried to go with the grain as much as possible.