My first week with a straight.

Hi all, it's taken a while to get everything together to make the move to the straight. I picked up a Wapi directly from Lynn, honed shave ready, while I was on holiday in Canada last autumn along with his DVD. As I was driving around Nova Scotia, we happened to pass the top of the road where Sarah Bonnyman is based. We called in and even though her shop was closed, we rang the bell and she and her husband were kind enough to let us browse around and show us her wares. We spent a very interesting hour chatting with them and I ended up with my main souvenir of that trip being a large Moss scuttle and matching lather bowl in blue, which has pride of place on my bathroom window sill. Every morning it gives me a reminder of a month spent driving coast to coast. For christmas I was bought a Tony Miller Heirloom latigo 3" strop.

As I've been using a brush and cream with my Merkur HD DE razor for 6 months, the rest of my prep gear was done. I'd watched the dvd several times, read everything I could here and elsewhere and eventually there was nothing else for it last week but to start shaving.

I stropped the razor and after a shower and my usual prep laid blade to face.

My, doesn't it concentrate the mind to see that gleaming edge coming up to meet the skin.

Not an amazing shave by any means. I was able to shave reasonably on the cheeks but nowhere else. The razor juddered and skipped, dragged and bounced. I wondered if I'd ruined the edge, but I'd stropped carefully and didn't think so.

Over the next few days I've persevered and the shave has improved. I've made a few nicks and one slice and slowly I'm improving. I still can't get the chin and neck near any sort of smooth and so now I'm coming back to you for some questions and hopefully some advice.

I'm guessing it's the angle that's mostly at fault, but one of the problems is that I find areas of my face that I just can't seem to get the razor flat against. I'm having to blow my cheeks out a little to get the skin in contact, does anyone else find this.

The grain direction on my neck is such that WTG is upwards on most of this and I'm having real difficulty getting the edge to glide upwards without digging in, and going ATG downwards seems to stutter against the hair (my hair is pretty coarse)

Chin. Oh dear god, is there any way to make that work ;)

I've managed to take a small chip out of the very tip of the blade knocking it against the sink while rinsing. I don't think this is affecting the shave, but I hope to take it out when I eventually hone the razor.

After rinsing the razor, there's always a cream residue left that needs washing off with a bit of hand soap, is that normal?

I have another wapi that I want to hone myself. I have norton 4k & 8k plus a nagura stone to make a finer slurry on the 8k for finishing. Is this enough and what sort of routine do I need to do for honing, or at least as a guide to start experimenting.

Sorry for all the questions, I'm sure there's going to be many more in the months ahead.

Oh, but doesn't shaving with a straight make you smile. I still touch up the chin and neck with my DE, but not until after I've done my very best with the straight.

Cheers.

Justin.

Justin,
Welcome to straight shaving. I may have some suggestions for you. I am by no means an expert, I've only been doing this for a few years, but most of us have had some of these same growing pains.
Chin shaving is difficult. It's probably one of the hardest areas to get a BBS shave aside from the upper lip. Try some east-west strokes on the chin or at least a NE-SW or SE-NW stroke. I seem to get nicks if I try N-S or S-N strokes, varying the direction helps.
Awhile ago, I stopped rinsing the cream off the blade with water. Not only does it require extensive drying to prevent "spots" and rust, bad things can happen if your razor contacts the faucet or sink (as you have pointed out). Instead of rinsing after each pass, try one of these. The seller calls them sanitary razor cleaners, I call them gaskets. Either way, they work well for removing cream after each pass. When you're finished shaving, use a kleenex to clean the blade then strop and store.
Good Luck,
Fred

Hey Justin, welcome to the SRP. You are in good hands.

For the most part, Im a newb myself, but I can regurgitate what I've been told to answer some of your questions,

You are going to have to learn all kinds of ways to contort your face in order to get some of those hard to reach places. I puff my cheeks out a bit too. As long as no one else is watching, do what ever it takes to make it comfortable.

As far as the commonly hard area's such as your chin and neck, they are just going to take time and patience. I cant stress enough on the angle of your blade. I too have problems with my neck and I think its the angle that I automatically go to by default. Just stick with it and you'll get the hang of it.

When you have soap that requires more than gentle rinsing, it usually means you have not washed all the oil of your face prior to scraping your razor across it. Which could indicate inadequate prep and lead to some of the skipping your blade was doing. Try putting some lather on before you put on that last hot towl.

I have a razor with a ding/dent in it too. I have not gotten around to fixing it yet and it does not seem to bother my shaves at all. A lot of guys will tell you to fix it, but as long as its not affecting the shave, I dont see any reason to grind it down right away. Somebody with a lot more experience than I have should answer this one definitively though.

I would recommend not using a slurry as your finishing technique. Maybe for your first pyramid, but to actually polish the edge and truly finish, I would clean the 8k and just use water. Again, one of the honemeisters should and will address this one though.

Good luck and have fun.

Thanks for those gents. I varied my routine a little today. Instead of rinsing the blade in the sink, I used a damp folded facecloth to wipe after each stroke. Less water and drier fingers, I think this is the way forward for a while at least. That rubber dish looks neat, but for now I'll use the face cloth and see how I get on.

I got the angle much lower today and there's less dragging and irritation, so I think that's at least part of the problem. The lower angle allowed me to go upwards on my neck smoothly and down in the other patches. It's starting to make some sense at least. The chin's going to take a lot longer I reckon. I'm getting used to having a slightly rough face, but it will come in time.

Cheers,

J.

Also be sure that the skin is stretched taut when you shave.
If the skin is not stretched, it will move and the blade will jump across your face.

Yeah so about 2 weeks ago I posted a similar question about the chin/upper lip, sheer terror eh. Anyhow I did the same thing you did, best effort with the straight and then DE finish, oddly enough one day last week I didn't need the DE anymore. Go figure. The chin is still really hard, but what worked for me was using shorter narrower strokes, so not trying to take off too much at any one time. I think that this allows for more "pressure" on fewer hairs thus increasing cutting action. Also save the chin for last (I have to re-lather) as this gives the lather more time to soften those stiff hairs.
My experiences thus far.
G

Wow! I am in my first week of str8 shaving and this sounds as if I wrote it myself. :hmmm:
Will take all the info to heart.
Thanks this is a great site!:bow