Thread: consistently inconsistent

Okay, so after around 12 rounds with my straight razor I have had about 6 good shaves, every other one just about. When the shave is good, it's good, but when it's bad, it's terrible. I leave stubble, red and burning skin and the thoughts of just giving it up.

I know it's my technique, or lack of at times. I have all the needed items, a new straight from SRD a strop from SRD, 3 different types of soap, a decent danger brush, vitamin e oil for pre shave, and some other odds and ends. I had been using a cheap Gold Dollar mostly and just got in a new razor honed by Lynn and the shave with it was okay, but not great. I have read plenty of posts about giving it time, work pariently, and it will come. I want to give up but I can't for a couple of reasons.

1st: My wife would get to say, "I TOLD YOU SO!" And that's never good.

2nd: I have spent to much time, effort, and money on this venture to just throw in the towel.

I suppose I may just need a bit of encouragement or something.

I will just keep pushing forward and hope my face doesn't turn into a huge callus.

I didn't get a comfortable for months,,,, so I kept a vintage Gillette DE razor close to me to finish my shaves with.

Until you get the hang of it, stop trashing your face!!!

Do what you can do well with a straight and then switch to a safety razor (or god forbid, a cartridge) to do the rest. Gradually you will get better at it and will be able to do it all with a straight.

It CAN be done but it's like riding a bike. It takes a while before it is easy.

Just do WTG until you get the hang of that pass. Then add XTG and when you get the hang of that add in ATG. Use some other form of shaving to finish up until you can do a full 3 pass shave with the straight. It will probably take another 30 shaves before you get consistently good.

I did not take the same approach as the others. I shaved exclusively with my straight once I made the switch. Now I have the luxury of not needing a perfect shave for work. So I started with a simple one pass shave and did one pass for about two months. Not a lot of my shave were great in the first dozen or so. I had a few things to work out. Lather was a big one that took me about a dozen shaves to get consistent. I also needed to get my skin stretching and holding down pat. There is a lot of positioning that goes with that. Simple things that are indirect stretching like dropping your shoulder. The holding and stretching helped my shave significantly but did take me some time to get it all figured out. Mapping my whisker growth or at least being conscious of it was the basis for my stretching and my technique adjustments were all very small and subtle. I have been getting amazing shaves 98% of the time for some time, but they are still evolving.

Definitely give your face time to heal after a bad shave. I struggled with it for the first month or so. I was probably doing better than I thought but the fact that my skin was damaged there wasn't much I could to get a comfortable shave without letting it heal first.

1st: My wife would get to say, "I TOLD YOU SO!" And that's never good.

2nd: I have spent to much time, effort, and money on this venture to just throw in the towel.

I am right with you there, especially #1.

Braz

Step back and go back to the basics instead of trashing the face,watch Lynn's video , do just one section till your comfortable with it, remember the definition of insanity.

Everyone starts and wants to go all in with a three pass shave , instead of just following the simple easy on your face advise. And you need to realize it takes months of practice to get comfortable with your technique and stropping abilities to achieve a decent shave. Good luck and slow the heck down. Tc

Like RezDog, once I made the switch, that was all there was to it. No more DE.

But dont let it get to you. Dont shave every day. And allow yourself a good three or four months before you start getting consistent shaves. All of a sudden, it will click. You will get it!

These fellas have given sound advice, I got a lot of the same words of wisdom from some of these very guys when I first started and joined this forum. If you have a bad shave let it go a couple days and go again. Keep it simple as mentioned, one pass and touch up or finish with what you are comfortable with no shame in that. Skin stretching is a big one, getting that to where it helps takes a bit of time and at times I still look like a freak trying to figure out which way to pull my face to get the skin taught ;D I have been shaving with a straight for only a couple months so I feel your pain, when its good its awesome but when you have a bad shave ya feel like you might as well as used a piece of broken beer bottle. But don't let that stop you, lifes a garden, dig it when I was on here asking where I was going wrong I was told less pressure, blade angle, skin stretching and slow down. Once I focused on these things I had several really decent shaves and was very happy. I am honestly just now getting to where I get an ok lather which I would not have thought would take so long but hey at least it is coming along. Small triumphs pay off in the end. Take care keep giving it a go and as Yoda says, " there is no try, only do" or something to that effect shave on brother