My 1950 edition of "The Standardized Textbook of Barbering" arrived today. Best $12.50 I ever spent.

I bought it because I read the excerpt in the archive. Well, the excerpt is missing some stuff.

It is actually a very logical system. When cutting down, the stroke is forward and down. Forward means moving the razor forward, point first. If you are shaving your cheek with the razor parallel to the floor and pointing down, then you will move it down 2" and forward 1/2" in a typical stroke (I am estimating these measurements to give you a sense of the motion).

UP is the same, just foward and up. You can get sideways from this. The point is always advancing.

Why?

Because of the way you HONE the razor. The razor is honed in a short diagonal stroke starting with the heel on the stone and the point hanging over the back, and then you make a short diagonal stroke, pulling the blade toward you. then you flip it, and as you flip, you slide it up and tilt it. Now you slide it in a diagonal stroke down. You also angle the blade backward, so that the heel is further along in the honing stroke than the point.

This creates a saw tooth edge (I tried it, it really does!!). Because the razor is tilted back when you slide it forward and down (diagonal), it creates DIAGONAL lines and teeth on the razor. These lines start at the edge and move toward the back, and as they do, they get closer and closer to the point end (as opposed to the handle end).

As a result, the teeth formed on the edge of the razor are almost vertical on the back side (the side of the tooth facing the handle or scales) and have a much more gentle slope on the front side (the side of the tooth facing the point of the razor).

So, when you slide the razor edge slightly forward, you are sliding the gentle sloping teeth along the hair, slicing it off nicely. If you have honed and stropped the blade properly, sliding it backward toward the handle, will pull and hurt and will be hard to manipulate.

I spend 1/2 hour RE-HONING my razor using this careful diagonal technique, and could feel the teeth with my thumbnail.

I tried pulling the razor backward as I shaved my cheek, and the pulling and tearing were quite easy to feel (ouch!).

The I tried pushing it forward slightly as I moved the razor down, and got the first REAL HONEST TO GOD SHAVE SO FAR.

I was able to shave my tough chin beard this way, and shaved one side of my chin completely clean--WITHOUT ANY PREP--that's right, dry, no lather, no prep, nothing. And it didn't hurt.

This was all laid out simply and clearly in the barbering book.

So, with a properly honed blade, the stroke is slightly forward--if you want the teeth to cut the hair. And when you hone, the diagonal stroke moving the razor in the opposite direction from the shaving stroke.

Note: I am a newbie, and have yet to get a complete shave, but this was the first reasonable and logical explanation I have seen, and the first time I got decent, painless shaving results.

Amazon.com had multiple copies of this book available. I highly recommend it if you really want to shave with a straight razor. Be sure to get a pre 1970 edition if you can. Mine is from 1950, and it emphasizes the straight razor shave.

Paul

P.S. It also indicates the shape of the cutting edge, which should NOT be straight.