Worst shave I ever had

I am in desparate need of help. I, obviously, am new to the straight razor set, having just purchased a Dovo Micarta after an extensive inquiry. It was made shave ready by Lynn. I have the right soap, brush and strop. I lather several times a shave. I have shaved three times and each time gets worse than the last. I have extreme irritation on the face and most importantly, I am getting a horrible shave. I cut my chin so much I finally resorted to a regular safety razor to finish up. I have read the books, looked at the videos and aside from having too much information, I do not know what I am doing wrong. If this is the best I can hope for, I have a razor for sale. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Bill Smith

Well seems that you are frustrated and that makes experimenting and learning pretty tough so relax... If you could describe your shaving routine ie pressure used, your stropping technique, and pre shave that might help us better guide you. Just a quick note: In the 3 straight shaves i have had I have noticed that my strop was kinda concave on the edges and i was starting to see that the center of the blade was not touching as much as the edges which on the surface would seem that my blade sucks, but may mean that i'm actually not stropping that part of the blade causing a crappy shave.

MY first guess would be technique, without seeing what you are doing its hard for me to say. At the moment all I can advise is practice. Make sure you are stropping correctly, make sure the beard is prepped correctly,steaming towels ,wash cloth or fresh from the shower. The next big thing I would consider is blade angle.

5 things really have to come together for a great straight shave

1. Sharp razor...Sounds like you have taken care of that
2. A well stropped razor... This is one of the worst problems for new shavers
3. Good bread prep ...Sounds like yer doing OK in that department
4. Correct razor angle and very light pressure.. Another huge problem area for new shavers
5. EXPERIENCE!!! Yeah that just comes along with the other 4

I would wager angle / pressure and stropping
but slow down and take it easy working from the flats of the cheeks out as you expand yer comfort zones....
Good luck and welcome aboard

I've been doing this for a few months, in my experience with irritation and bad shaves, the culprit was always stropping and/or lathering. Lathering is the hardest one for me to get right...

So tell us how you do those. Particularly, tell us about the behavior of your lather. If you lather several times a shave, it sounds to me like your lather is sudsy instead of lathery. It's disappearing too quickly. That means that you've a) got the wrong soap/water ratio or b) you aren't working your brush long enough or most likely c) both.

The first few shaves with a str8 are supposed to suck, so don't get discouraged.

All of the above - I'm also worried you might have rolled the edge that you had at the start - if you have a pasted paddle try to really sharpen it up.

But also, don't try to learn all at once. Straight shave for two or three days and then do DE the rest of the week, and then go back for two or three days of straight shaves. That way you won't get frustrated, will give your face some time to heal, and will allow you to let go any bad habits you are picking up and start fresh the next round of straight shaving.

Yeah, I learned step by step as well, you could do that. I got a shavette, and used that and a can. Then I figured out brush & soap (still working on that...). Then I got a straight, and learned stropping. Now, I found out the damn things don't come shave-ready, and it's too dull for shaving anymore. I'm sending it off for honing tomorrow or Saturday.

One big thing for me was starting out just shaving the easy parts on the sides of my face. Once I was getting good results and my confidence went up, I started shaving the rest. Hang in there!

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

I would wager angle / pressure and stropping
but slow down and take it slow working from the flats of the cheeks out as you expand yer comfort zones....
Good luck and welcome aboard

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I'll go along with that ! Start with your blade almost flat on your face . Don't press the blade into your face , let the blade "ride" on your skin . You may want to try shaving some arm or leg hair , to help you get the feel for shaving with a straight . And you might like to read Old_School's shaving journal , in the shaving section of the forum , some of it was wiped out when the server crashed , but there is still plenty of good stuff to read .

It sounds like you need to step back a little bit. I would recommend that you limit yourself to shaving the sides of your face with your Dovo (sideburn to jaw line) until you have the feel for a straight doing its work. Try different angles ranging from almost flat to slightly over 30 degrees and you will see the difference that the angle of attack makes to the perceived sharpness of the razor and the quality of the shave. I would leave the goatee area alone for a while (shave it with whatever you normally use) as that part of the face is tough to get right at first. Good luck, and let us know how you are doing.

When I switched over to str8s,I shaved all the easy areas with the str8 and shaved the harder areas with a DE.Little by little as I got my angle down I would shave a little more around my problem areas till it became easy and put my DE away.Dont be in such a hurry to slit your throat.Take your time.You'll come around.:)

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Originally Posted by BeeEss

I do not know what I am doing wrong.

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Probably a hundred things that you'll only be able to iron out with practice. Reread all your books and material every few shaves and keep practicing.

I don't think there's any other way

First, the skin on your face needs to become accustomed to the new kind of blade. The sharpness and complete openness of the straight blade can be hard on your disposable-conditioned skin at first. Try going a couple days in between shaves until you're seeing less irritation.

Second, take it SLOW and vary the angle of the blade on your face a bit. Sometimes, it's not always 30˚. And if you have to push down on the blade to get it to cut, your blade is not sharp enough anymore.

Third, I'm not sure what your stropping technique looks like right now, but I would suggest taking it very slow. Concentrate on keeping that blade flat, follow the X pattern, and make sure that the strop is flat as well as taut.

Just some ideas,

As a new straight shaver myself I second....or third....what was said above about taking it easy. I still haven't completely switched. Each time I shave I feel more comfortable and I shave a little more with the straight and less with the DE. This has allowed me to better learn proper angles before I get to the more delicate areas of my face.

Also, I don't know that you said if you did or not but you may want to only go with the grain until you become more used to the straight razor.

Worst comes to worst give your face some time to heal before jumping back in, you may be just irritating the areas over and over again. The day you finish you shave routine with a BB smooth face and little to no irritation it will all be worth it.