Thread: Help with Cuts

I don't use alum on my face very often, but always on my fingers. just wet the alum and rub my finger tips on it. It really improves the grip on my razor, and fingers tend to grip, even on slick soap.
Without it everything seems slick to me, even just a wet face...

The one bad cut I ever got was maybe two weeks into shaving with a straight. I was just too cocky and confident. I was doing the side of my mouth on the upper chin area and for some inexplicable reason I jerked the razor laterally and the jerk manipulating the razor got a doozy of a cut. I didn't need stitches but it was awfully close to needing a few. I still have the scar and that was probably at least 15 years ago.

The biggest things I learned, were blade angle, not using a dull razor, and most importantly.... Don't move your face, while the blade is on it.

in my opinion...

Cuts are are from a couple things.
Angle.
Inadvertent slicing motion.

OK more than two.
For the angle I like to lift the spine one spin thickness from my face to start.
The normal bevil of a straight is close to 15 degrees as set by geometry of
spine to width of the blade. Thus the thickness of the spine is an important
guide no mater which blade. You want it to lift from the face so the spine
does not pucker skin that the blade nicks by pushing from behind. A big angle
is hard on the razor's edge and also slides down a whisker to the skin.

A slicing motion almost guarantees a nick -->| an open blade shaves best with a near pure
push motion.

Pressure--- too much will make for a harsh shave with nicks.

Stretching -- a bit is important. From behind or in front of the blade both work.

Soak time -- about three min to soften whiskers. Without softened whiskers the razor catches then
releases when the whisker is cut. That little snap action contributes to a harsh shave and nicks..

As already mentioned, alum on the fingertips does wonders for me in being able to keep the skin pulled tight. When I transitioned to a shavette from a safety razor, almost all of my nicks/cuts were attributed to the motion and not the angle. The safety razor allowed me to develop a bad habit of adjusting direction mid stroke, this swooping motion would induce a cut almost every time with my shavette. I learned the hard way to only move the razor in a direction 90° to the cutting edge and to make sure that my wrist stays firmly "locked" during the pass.