Just had my 1st shave, felt great on the 1st stroke, then everything went downhill. Hair pulling/ not cutting, what did I do wrong. Tried up to 3 full passes & had to finish up with my DE.
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Just had my 1st shave, felt great on the 1st stroke, then everything went downhill. Hair pulling/ not cutting, what did I do wrong. Tried up to 3 full passes & had to finish up with my DE.
There are just so many things that singly or in combination can cause a bad shave for a beginner. Was the razor sharp enough to shave with, did you strop it before shaving and possibly damage the edge, was your lather up to the task, was your angle on the blade correct and did you use next to no pressure on the blade? So many possibilities and with little info to go on very hard to say.
Here is the suggested way to begin shaving with a straight razor First straight razor shave - Straight Razor Place Library . Notice it does not suggest you attempt a full 3 pass shave right out of the gate.
Bob
Hard to determine but if your first stroke was truly good did you change your angles on subsequent strokes?
Read the thread Horrible Shave from a couple days ago. 3 pages of replies that would be applicable.
Don't get discouraged, keep practicing, it will get better soon and you will be looking forward to your next shave as soon as you finish shaving.
Don't get discouraged! Practice makes perfect. What I wish I had truly realized when I started straight edge shaving is straight edge shaving is a skill that has to be learned. Before When I had my cartridge blade and I could shave in three minutes. Now I shave with a straight and it takes twenty minutes. Look at the post suggestioned and ask lots of questions! You have at your hands so much knowledge here at this site. Keep practicing and ask questions. You can't learn without practice and asking questions. using a straight edge is something you can't just learn in a week or two or even three. That's my two cents!
Greg
I think part of what may have gone wrong is three full passes for your first shave. It is generally recommended that you start with a part pass for a couple of shave and as you get more familiar with the handling of the blade then expand your shave slowly to a full shave. My first few were not much better than a mach3 shave but rapidly improved. I am not very good at following instructions so I did a full shave to start with, but a single with the grain pass, I was dedicate to learning and have shaved exclusively with a straight. About a week into it and I was improving fast and added a second pass and then a third. As my shave improved I dropped back to a two pass shave and was getting way better results than when I started with three.
Lather the same as I use with my DE. Angle- layed it flat against my face then lifted the spine about 1 inch. Didn't strop it as it hasn't arrived yet, Titan razor arrived shave ready (rehoned & sharpened by Anthony Espisito) so I figured it was good to go for at least 1 shave ?
The biggest thing I can see is your use of a 1 inch gap between you face and the spine. I would try 1 to 2 spine widths gap next time out. Don't know about shave ready as I haven't used any razors honed by Anthony so I would also assume it was shave ready. As for your lather I have to assume it is OK too not having seen it. Change your gap and give it another go without stropping and see if that makes a difference. Also remember next to no pressure on the blade just like letting the weight of the DE do the job for you. Good Luck.Quote:
Originally Posted by Samo1
Bob
I am very new to straights and have only used one a couple of times so far and when I use one, I only do my cheeks, some chin, jawline and neck areas where I feel comfortable to get with the straight as I try to get used to it. I also dont expect a DFS shave at this time knowing it will take some time and practice to get comfortable with using it for the whole shave. I always finish with my DE razor and baby steps on cheeks, chin, jawline and part of the neck area!
Yeah, if you actually had the spine an inch from your skin, you were way off. You weren't shaving--you were scraping. Experiment with different angles but in general the spine needs to be much closer to your skin in order for the blade to cut properly.
Far too much gap!Quote:
Originally Posted by Samo1
Im wincing thinking about that much gap. I usually use 1 spine width between the skin and inside edge of the spine. You also lower the angle on the second pass and again to almost touching the skin on the 3rd pass
It's been said earlier in the post, but I want to add a +1 on the single pass only shave your first time! The angle advise is great also, I made the same mistake:)
Don't give up, it gets easier!
Everything folks have said is true, but that 1 inch, as BobH said, is too large an angle. One-two spine widths (maybe 1/4" at the most, if I had to guess, having never measured) is the rule....and agree on the one pass thing! No more for a while than one comfortable pass!
Ok follow up time- several shaves in & angle is finally figure out. Now it's still pulling like a bear, I've stropped it before & after (20-30 passes each time), still feeling a pull on the whiskers? Right side of face is much easier to do than the left (right handed) & under chin really feels like it's pulling/scapping. Do I need to have it rehoned or is it just not a perfected technique yet?
I've only been at this for a couple months so I'm pretty new too. Once I really had the blade angle figured out, there's almost no resistance especially with the grain. If there's a lot of pulling using the correct shaving angle I think the blade probably isn't sharp enough. I was debating this question myself a few weeks ago. How do I know if it's the blade or my technique? Then one day it felt nice and smooth coming down my cheek and I realized it had been my technique that needed improvement.
Hope this helps and good luck!
You may want to consider purchasing a different straight razor if you feel like you would enjoy straight shaving. There are almost always some excellent razors in our classifieds that are shave ready. You will find most any razor in our classifieds much easier to learn to shave with than a Titan.
Samo1,
How confident are you with your stropping? It took you a while to figure out your shaving angle so you may have been shaving wrong with a good edge but now it is possible that you are shaving right with a bad edge.
Have you always kept the blade flat on the strop without ever lifting the spine?
Hang in there! Plenty of good advice on this forum. Don't get discouraged!
You may have thought you were doing it correctly, but you probably damaged your edge while stropping. Don't worry...we all have done it! You might want to consider getting your razor re-honed by a pro, or just pick up a shave ready one from the exchange or a place like straight razor designs. (When you get the new one send the old one out for honing)
As you get more into this hobby you will end up with multiple razors anyways so you might as well get started on the collection:)
I'm with LZ6 on this one. Those titan razors puts you in gold dollar territory in other words another spotty Chinese razor that may be problematic. Take your time you will get there. If shaving with one or two spine widths off your face is causing pulling and tugging and you don't think you messed up the razor on the strop, Its fair to say that the razor maybe the culprit. Give it another shot try to strop the razor again pull the strop taught lay the razor flat on strop dont take the spine off ever. Do a good amount of laps slowly carefully maybe 60 or 70 don't bear down either just a nice comfortable light pressure enough to make solid contact. Then try and shave again make sure you prep your face well after a shower whatever, good lather on a wet face. Im just trying to ensure there are no other factors that are messing up your shave. Try and shave with your razor again be mindful of your angle light touch, stretch the skin shave and see if it is still tugging if it is most likely the razor is dull or damaged. Now what to do about that is up to you but I would recommend you getting a razor of known quality that is shave ready and proceed from there. Good luck don't give up.