"shave the lather, not the beard"

That quote is in a post by Razorfeld in a thread on sensitivity, and he said it was originally posted by another member, but it struck me as so insightful that I thought it was worth its own thread in the Beginners section of the forum.

i think one of the worst mistakes I made when starting out (and still do occasionally) is bearing down on the blade to try to get a closer shave. I can testify, it leads to nothing good. Maybe you're trying to make up for a dull blade or bad technique, bad lather, or lack of stretching, but with a properly honed razor, the truth is that almost no pressure is needed if all else is done correctly.

I concentrated on it this morning, when using an extra hollow singing blade, and with just enough pressure to wipe the lather off, the razor swept through the whiskers.

For all those recent starters with a SR, try it with a razor you know is well honed. I think you should be pleasantly surprised to find that excess pressure actually gives you worse results than just "shaving the lather".

An excellent post with some very real advice and just in time for the new guy influx we seem to get every Christmas season.

For years I have had to remind myself to keep my pressure light to non-existent. The shaves always are better when I do.

Great post, and so true. I think a lot of the problem comes with the transition from carts where you can apply all the pressure you like. It took a long time to get my head around that.

That and when atg use less steep angle. Thought had mastered angle wtg. Finding bout one spine width rather than two is better atg. Don't know what damage would have done my face without all the great advice from the kind members on this forum. Thanks

"Just wipe the lather" is one of the best pieces of advice I've gotten, and I need to remind myself regularly. A simple idea that I never outgrow.

I still battle this after a year and a half of wet shaving. It applies to DEs as well.

This was one of the best lessons @razorfeld ever gave me as well. It's very true. Better to do more passes than try additional pressure.

I know I heard this early on and it really helped. I in turn pass it on when I remember. Simple advice for big results

I have just started SR shaving and the first shave I gave myself I didn't cut myself at all. As I was trying very hard to be careful. However I got a little cocky the next time as I applied too much pressure and wamo cuts. I am a firm believer in shave the lather, not the beard now.

Yep, shave the lather!!! I am being mentored by razor field. During our initial lesson he told me to "shave the lather". When I tried it I made a nice stroke that felt and sounded good, the razor glided across my face. Once I got home I found myself concentrating on other things and not paying attention to minimizing pressure. The result was a fair amount of razor burn

There was another thread on here about pressure causing me to adjust my focus and Shave the lather. This resulted in a close comfortable shave with NO razor burn.

Great idea to give this it's own thread, it is important.

I like it so much I put up a suttle reminder for myself...

Good advice. Thanks

I've never heard this before but I need to try to follow this the next time a shave. Great advice!

Just a quick perspective from a total noob who is still working on all aspects of straight razor shaving. I think that the need for multiple passes may trick you into feeling the need for more pressure. What I mean is, you take that first pass and then give the spot you just shaved a quick feel and even though you may have cut some beard and heard the right sounds, the tactile feedback of your touch says "hey - doesn't feel like you did much of anything here!" So, of course, what do you do but try it again with more pressure. I guess it best to focus on "shaving the lather" and then proceed with the next pass without over evaluating how well the first pass did.

With my beard, it seems like if I take another pass in the same direction with more pressure and reevaluate, it seems like that worked better! So you get bad reinforcement of the bad technique. Still working on it all, but perhaps this is some food for thought for some of you. (Please pardon the way my over-analytical anal retentive mind works if this makes no sense to you!)
Jerry

Thank you for this always timely reminder to all.

Even with hundreds of shaves - just because you can add more pressure does not mean that it is a good thing...

Smooth Shaving..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jerrybass

Just a quick perspective from a total noob who is still working on all aspects of straight razor shaving. I think that the need for multiple passes may trick you into feeling the need for more pressure. What I mean is, you take that first pass and then give the spot you just shaved a quick feel and even though you may have cut some beard and heard the right sounds, the tactile feedback of your touch says "hey - doesn't feel like you did much of anything here!" So, of course, what do you do but try it again with more pressure. I guess it best to focus on "shaving the lather" and then proceed with the next pass without over evaluating how well the first pass did.

With my beard, it seems like if I take another pass in the same direction with more pressure and reevaluate, it seems like that worked better! So you get bad reinforcement of the bad technique. Still working on it all, but perhaps this is some food for thought for some of you. (Please pardon the way my over-analytical anal retentive mind works if this makes no sense to you!)
Jerry

---

I was clueless till this thread and had the wrong perspectives too. This past week with five shaves and no major razor burn, with two days in a row, normally could only handle two shaves in a week. I was trying to get too much on the first pass. ATG is still aways away but with great advice like "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." from Razorfeld and others here I'm finially getting it. :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ChopperDave

I like it so much I put up a suttle reminder for myself...

---

Shame I'm in uni accommodation and can't take the same approach - I feel I'd really benefit from it! I'll have to find another way to remind myself of this instead...