Thread: Committed Blasphemy

Been a really long time since I posted...

But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing for me. After having issues with one blade, buying another, then having the first blade re-honed, I realized that my blades were dulling entirely too fast. By the time I was finishing with just my face the blade was starting to pull. Now for the blasphemy: I bought a shavette and some blades. This was originally an experiment but I realized something in the process; blades that others are getting 7 shaves from on average are only lasting 2/3 of my face before they dull and start pulling. Even a DE is dulling after 2 face shaves using a feather blade. I know I can't be messing up that bad. I'm holding the blade at 30 degrees or less and generally going WTG and pulling my skin. There is no reason a blade would dull that fast unless there is something going on, is there? It even takes 4 blades to shave my head!

It seems that a better face and beard prep is in order. Yes, that takes more time but saves a lot of skin and, over time, some money.
Also, think of blade angle not razor angle. There can be a very large difference between razors as to the angles which a razor presents the blade to your face..
Look carefully at the head of the razor from the side. What is the actual angle of the edge of the blade? Yup try a 10-15º angle of the blade to your face.
Good luck!
~Richard

Ditto to Geezer's suggestions. Beard prep is the first line of defence to a good shave, regardless of what type of razor you are using. Try adding a face rubbing of hair conditioner on your face several minutes before you lather up. I do that just before I get out of the shower. Don't rinse it off.

Are you using a Feather shavette system or just feather blades with another shavette? HUGE difference! I have a pretty touch beard, but I can easily get 5-10 shaves using my Feather SS with pro blades. I had another Parker shavette with Feather blades, and it's not even comparable.

You can find numerous threads on face prep. With your story I would do as many different approaches as possible and then eliminate the steps that do not help.
For example:

Thoroughly wet face (well, you really can't skip this one)
Cleanse face and hair using one or the other:
Shaving soap
Bar soap
Noxema
Rinse off the above
Take shower
Apply hair conditioner, preshave oil, Noxema, etc
Apply a good shaving lather. New people generally do a little better with creams but that is your choice
You may want to start making your lather in a bowl. After getting the hang of lather you can, if you want, go to face lather
Shave
Rinse
Moisturize the more you do the softer the beard (generally)

The key to all of this is water, water and more water. You want the hair to be fully saturated.

Hopefully some of the advice here will help. If not there are several Mentors in S. Florida

Oh yeah, have fun.

With a DE 3 shaves is what most folks seem to get. You can push it but for me I draw the line at 3 and that is with the feather blade. it doesn't matter which DE I use as a matter of fact if I use the R41 it seems to put more stress on the blade and I only get 2 shaves with that.

See this thread highlights the differences in whiskers and skin we all have. I've often posted that I cannot do more than 2 passes & maybe a touchup under the jawline with a straight or a DE, without getting irritation. Most guys are doing 3 passes routinely with no problem. I can get 6 or 7 shaves out of a Feather in a DE. Now I must qualify that by saying when I shave with a DE I do 1 ATG and call it good.

So if a guy is doing 3 passes per shave he is getting more with 3 shaves than I am getting with 6, but it may be that my beard is just that much softer than average, and my skin is more sensitive. To the OP, I hope someone gives you something good to go with here that can improve your results ........

I have tried to limit my beard prep as much as possible. The more beard prep I do (ie hot towel, conditioner, soaking in hot water, etc.) the softer my skin got and the easier it was to shred my skin instead of cutting hair. My smoothest shaves have been from cold water with some AoS pre-oil and my new soap, I forget the name. It's a Himalaya soap but not the one mentioned in another post. Actually I trimmed the edges of my goatee dry with a fresh blade and that was amazing... I'm starting to wonder if I should just burn through blades and just shave dry. They were pretty cheap on Amazon.

How do you shave, is it straight on like a guillotine (many hairs at once) or do you bring the blade across like a Paper cutter (less hairs at once)? Hope you understand what I'm saying...

First cut is always full on since I start on my side burns and work down, but after that I try to limit to 50-75% of the blade. I also take short strokes (.5 inch at a time).