Thread: Face whittlin'

Greetings gents,
So as I'm sure it goes with most all newbies, we sit around wondering, researching, musing, and anything else we can think of to occupy our time while waiting for our beards to grow just enough to justify another try at Straight shaving. I find that when I'm impatient about something, a bit of forced patience can sometimes bring the stars back into alignment. So forcing myself not to shave for two days, I've found myself wondering if my relatively new "shave ready" razor is indeed still in good shape. Has it been two days yet? Maybe I'll strop my razor a little to occupy my time, has it been two days yet? Maybe I should touch things up just a bit tonight. Maybe I should find a way to test my edge to see if I rolled the edge or not the other day.

I have to admit I tried stropping a time or two before I had read enough about technique to keep from screwing things up, and I have a fear that I may have rolled things a bit, but I'm not quite sure. I did lift the spine somewhat listening to the neat sound it made, but only once or twice before wondering if that might not be a good idea. I can get smoothness some places on my face, but it's by no means butter shaving, and I've had to work for every little success I've had thus far. Recently the only thing that seems to work is going ATG with nervous intrepidation and a sometimes shaky hand. Is my razor really sharp enough? What if I got another razor, then I could compare it to what I have now. Should I really get another razor and spend the money just to find out that I'm still a newbie and my technique sucks? Maybe I should shave some more with what I have first. Has it been two days yet? What's that honey, you want me to cook supper tonight? Maybe now would be a good time to shave again. Has it been two days yet?

OK, so tonight I got the bright idea to try a HHT just to see where my blade stands - this after looking things over with my 30X handlense and not seeing anything remarkably out of sorts as far as I know - nothing blunt, nothing noticeably bent, just a nice shiny razor with a bevel and some striations on it. So, I tried the HHT on one of my hairs I found lying around, and my razor wouldn't cut it. I know the HHT is somewhat subjective and not really considered a quantitative measure of anything, but at least it's a starting point. Now, if I pin one end of the hair down on one side of the razor with my thumb and drag the other end across the edge, of course it cuts it immediately - pop! OK, so a second thought. My daughter who is currently home from college has the longest hair of anyone in the house, so I got one of her hairs out off her brush to try another HHT. This time, I realized something I hadn't thought of before. If the blade contacts the hanging hair at a 90 degree angle, the hair simply bounces off and doesn't get cut. However, if the razor addresses the hair at some acute angle (like whittling), POP, like a champagne cork on new years eve, off goes the hair. I tried it several times just to make sure, and BANG, lopped it off every time at all parts of the edge from heel to toe. OK, so my razor is some form of shave ready, but only at the proper angle. Perhaps that's what one thread I read today was talking about - the argument over razors being too sharp or preferably more dull (and everything in between; keen, polished, finished, aggressive, assertive, wimpy, broken, jagged, striated - the adjectives went on and on).

Maybe my razor is actually preferably dull to where it should shave smoothly with little irritation, pulling, skipping, jumping, etc. But then again, maybe I'm going at it from too steep of an angle, or maybe not enough of an angle. Maybe I'm going to slow. Maybe I'm going too fast. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure against my face. Maybe I'm not putting enough pressure against my face. Maybe I just have special hair with the tensile strength of a spider's web, kevlar, or carbon fiber - I have been eating a lot of carbon lately. Is my lather too thick or too thin? I know, I need more water. After all it is called wet shaving! Hey, I know, I can find someone with a hot tub and shave in there - now that would be wet shaving. I wonder if the Marriott would mind if I used their hot tub for a quick shave. Hey, what about shaving in a steam room? Gosh, the possibilities are endless. Has it been two days yet?

Maybe I just need to settle down, find something else to do, then pick up where I left off yesterday morning in another couple of sunsets. At least now I know my razor will pass a HHT under certain conditions. Hey, that's it! If I can just get my hair to grow just long enough out of my face, and at the perfect angle, boom - my whole face is one gigantic HHT that I know I can pass.

OK, time to take the hounds out for one more pee before turning in. Good evening Gents. Happy to hear any thoughts on this subject from old and new alike. Maybe it should be called "face whittlin" instead of shaving. Rob

Originally Posted by Robeth

Maybe I just need to settle down, find something else to do, then pick up where I left off yesterday morning in another couple of sunsets.

Ding...ding...ding...Winner!

Your thread title kills

Think beard growing thoughts and keep up the progress!

....

Well, at least you aren't overthinking it

Originally Posted by Bentlink

Your thread title kills

Agree with this 100%

Sounds like your razor is almost as ready as you are. Stretch skin, watch the angle, light pressure. Practice practice practice. No not on the dog :<0)

Originally Posted by 10Pups

Sounds like your razor is almost as ready as you are. Stretch skin, watch the angle, light pressure. Practice practice practice. No not on the dog :<0)

I have to admit the thought has crossed my mind to practice on the dog, but nah. I need him to keep coming when I call!

Originally Posted by 10Pups

Practice practice practice. No not on the dog :<0)

Not entirely. If ever I want a guaranteed "PASS" on a hanging hair test I use one off my airedale/newfie mutt. Hairs are coal black (showing against anything is the bathroom), rigid, plenty long, easy to handle and, best of all, readily available.

Update: Well, I spent my Tuesday seeking out woodworking stores in the Atlanta area who carry stones and CrOx chalk. After my shaving experience on Tuesday, I decided that I certainly must have rolled my edge stropping, which wouldn't be that uncommon for a newbie since there are so many posts about that very thing. I'm guessing it's almost a right of passage to get a new straight, immediately roll the edge, then try to learn to shave with it.

After committing myself to learning this skill, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the necessary equipment to maintain my razor myself. I bought a North 4K/8K and watched as many of Lynn Abrahm's videos about honing as I could find. I ended up using the circle method on the 4K with some follow-up strokes on the 8K. I then stropped on the CrOx, followed by a good long stropping on my leather. When I was done, the blade felt "pocket knife" sharp, as Lynn says, so I figured I would only know after a shave. It's Thursday now, so at least I have something to shave.

My favorite time in the shave cave is mid-morning when the sun is coming up and completely illuminates at least the right side of my face. Oddly enough, and as I've read in other threads, turns out my off hand is more steady and competent than my right. Like one other fellow said, I guess I haven't learned any bad habits yet with that hand. At any rate, I got a fair shave this morning, no better and no worse than any previous. I suspect I could still benefit from a professional honing, but at least I haven't had to pick up the old disposable in at least a week. I have a feeling that I need to work on my skin stretching to get as close as possible, but for now I'm satisfied - working on my technique with a wide variety of strokes trying to find what gets which places the best. For today, no razor burn and only a couple of small nicks, which is pretty good for me. For you other newbies out there, keep whittlin. Patience is definitely a virtue. Rob