Thread: Preparing for straight razor shaving

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

To weigh in on the lather issue, I find I have better results building lather in a bowl. I keep my soap in my mug, so I wet it the soap to soften it, then dig around with my brush. Once I get enough soap on the brush, I put a little hot water in my bowl, then whip it like scrambled eggs.

To quote JoshEarl on how to shave, "You're aiming at beard reduction with each pass, not elimination." And something I've learned is to not overshave. If a spot is giving you trouble and you've tried to shave it with 7+ passes (for me it's about 5) with no luck, try again later. Touch it up with whatever you used to shave with and give your face a break

Oh, and for those nicks, invest in a styptic pencil. You can get them in the shaving section at Wal-Mart. For those occasional bleeders, there's nothing like the styptic.

Yeah, it was some of the commentary on beard reduction vs. elimination that made me remember what I'd read earlier, which was not to put pressure on the blade. I think I was scraping too hard. I would really like to try a heavier razor and see how the added weight feels - some people say that it helps. Mine is a 9/16, I think, with a relatively small and lightweight blade. If I find an inexpensive wedge or 7/8 or something, I might go for it.

Here's my technique for making lather from soaps on my face rather than in the bowl. Run hot water in the sink and put the brush in. Swirl it around, spreading the bristles, and let it sit in the water while you shower. As you shower, hold a wet washrag against your face several times for 10 seconds or so and make sure to keep your face wet during the shower and as you dry off the rest of your body. At the sink, take the wet brush out and splash hot water on your face again. I usually then rub in some Trumpers Limes skin food, but it's not necessary. The key is to make sure your face never loses the moisture it picked up in the shower. Squeeze out your brush by gently wrapping your thumb and forefinger around it, and then run hot water right down into the top of the bristles. Give it another gentle squeeze and then begin to swirl the bristles onto your soap. I do this an a bowl or just on top of the soap in its jar. Swirl and pump up and down a few times for about 30 seconds. You should begin to see lather forming on the brush and in the bowl. When just a little lather begins to form, your brush should also feel "full." You are ready to begin building lather on your face. Make sure your face is still fairly wet and then take the brush to it. I really mash the brush into my face so that it spreads out and swirl it all around my cheek, neck and around my mouth. After about 30-45 seconds of swirling strokes, you'll have a thin lather (you can still see skin) covering your whole face. When this thin lather is evenly distributed over your entire shaving area, then you can begin to make vertical "painting" strokes. For me, this really thickens the lather into a shaveable condition. Paint with downward strokes until you have a thick (not Gillette Foamy thick, but so thick your skin doesn't show at all) lather over your entire face. At this point, I'm ready to shave. After the first pass, repeat this process. You shouldn't have to reload your brush. If you do a third pass, you might have to go back to the soap. My brush usually holds enough water that I don't have to add any throughout the process, but if the lather feels too dry, I just run the tip of the brush quickly under the faucet. Good luck!

Well, I am certain you are all anxiously awaiting my next update, and of course I aim to please. This morning I shaved after a hot shower, and decided to try out my Bay Rum and Sweet Orange soap from Colleen - very nice! I managed to get a "decent" shave on most of my face, with the exception of a few troubling spots around the lips and chin... Jawline and neck were rougher. Overall I had less clean-up to do, but still very rough on the neck.

I had been struggling a bit with the soap and lather earlier... Today I tried putting the soap in a bowl rather than a mug. What a difference! Lots of lather almost instantly. I realized that the reason my brush gets flattened out is because it gets packed with dense lather... I squeezed from the base of the bristles up, and this huge gob of really nice lather came up. For those who use a mug, there's so little room in there to maneuver - how do you manage to whip up lather?

Anyway, it seems I am making slow progress but at the same time, being able to do my neck without having to touch up with my cartridge seems like it is a very long way off. So I guess I am simultaneously encouraged and discouraged, but I will keep at it. One nice thing is that I don't think I nicked myself, or if I did, it was very minor.

mental,

"For those who use a mug, there's so little room in there to maneuver - how do you manage to whip up lather?"

We use the Robot Coupe method: frenzied small circles - the old tempest in a teacup routine. It sometimes works some of the time.

Bruce

Yep, lather in a bowl requires fists of fury, and a largish bowl. I regularly spray the mirror with partially whipped lather in frenzied attempts to get everything light and fluffy.

James.

Instead of trying to learn both straight shaving and lather making I might suggest just using foam from the can for a while if you have any. At this point you should probably be doing fine though.

Be careful with the x pattern while stropping. Although it is helpful, daintily stropping to create the x pattern may be part of your problem with a skipping sensation. Smoothing the edge out on a strop is essential to a comfy shave. Going straight down the strop, confidently, may dramatically improve your initial results.

FOAM FROM A CAN??? Oh be still my heart. Such heresy!! Are we next to hear Norelco spoken??

Bruce

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Instead of trying to learn both straight shaving and lather making I might suggest just using foam from the can for a while if you have any. At this point you should probably be doing fine though.

Be careful with the x pattern while stropping. Although it is helpful, daintily stropping to create the x pattern may be part of your problem with a skipping sensation. Smoothing the edge out on a strop is essential to a comfy shave. Going straight down the strop, confidently, may dramatically improve your initial results.

The strop is not wide enough to just do straight strokes, which is why I was using an x-pattern... Are you suggesting that I bring it straight down the strop, but in multiple passes per "section" of the razor in order to get the entire edge?

I'm not sure how wide the strop is, but if it's 2" you can angle the razor so that the blade is covered by the strop and do a parallel instead of x pattern. Lynn mentions that briefly in the DVD.
I think the main thing that AFDAvis11 is saying is to go confidently (still a light pressure) in one continuous motion, and not struggling to maintain an x-pattern may be helpful in this.
I believe the edge realignment during stropping is improved when there is a motion component along the edge. This can be achieved either by x-pattern or by angling the razor and one of these two options may be easier for you. I don't think doing a section at a time is a good idea.

At least for me stropping and the resulting edge improved quite a bit after i built up some muscle memory and my strokes became more smooth and rhytmic. My strop is 3" but I do the x-pattern.

As I was shaving these evening, enjoying the scent of Colleen's soap and the feel of the lather, I realized that even though I may still be working on the actual straight razor shave, my shave itself is still 100% better than it used to be, though I'm still cleaning up with the cartridge razor. My shave is both closer than ever, and more comfortable than ever, and my skin shows the difference.

I used to have to sacrifice a lot of blood and put up with a lot of razor burn just to get all those trouble spots. Now, I simply take my time and use the wetshaving techniques that I picked up here, and the results are so much better... Who would have thought that I could have gotten closer, with MORE comfort? I had just assumed that shaving was going to be something that I hated doing for the rest of my life.

Now it's a ritual that I actually look forward to. so, for that alone, I thank all of the helpful folks here who have given me advice and encouragement along the way. Still much more to learn...

Oh yeah, and thanks to some of the tips here and elsewhere, I think I'm getting pretty good with the soap!