Thread: shaving direction

Gentlemen,

I heard that I need to shave in a slanted direction because the edge is honed that way or something. Is this true or can I shave in any direction?

Originally Posted by OldFashioned

Gentlemen,

I heard that I need to shave in a slanted direction because the edge is honed that way or something. Is this true or can I shave in any direction?

I am essentially a newbie myself so FWIW I shave in the direction that feels coordinated. I cannot yet go in some directions without feeling awkward and uncoordinated. That is improving as I get more shaves under my belt (not literally) As far as angle of attack I sometimes use an angle of attack that is on a diagonal to the whiskers.

The blade angle for shaving doesn't have too much to do with the bevel angle. There's a definite correlation, but for your average user, the angles are all the same. The blade should be slanted at about 30 degrees simply because at the level of sharpness that we are dealing with, if the angle is too low, you're more likely to be pulling the hairs instead of cutting them and if it's too high, you'll be scraping your skin.

Originally Posted by OldFashioned

Gentlemen,

I heard that I need to shave in a slanted direction because the edge is honed that way or something. Is this true or can I shave in any direction?

Not quite sure what you mean by 'slanted'. As already mentioned you need to keep the blade at the proper angle in relation to your face, like most things it gets easier with time.
Direction-wise I make one pass with the grain of the beard (WTG) and another across the grain (XTG). Some people may also make a third pass against the grain (ATG) to get the closest possible shave - I don't because it gives me razor rash.
Another thing is moving the razor with a scything motion, which to me seems to improve the cutting action of the blade. That's kind of a tricky thing - it took me a month or so to get the hang of it. Hope this helps...

I might have confused a couple. I didnt mean angle as in how far from the skin it should be. But I meant direction is in when you hold the razor, should you shave in a diagonal pass so to speak. Ive seen many videos and people just go straight up if shaving ATG and not at a diagonal, etc. Someone on youtube mentioned that. He said its because of the way the edge is made.

Scything motion. Im kind of unsure what that means but I think we're getting close to the answer.

Originally Posted by clrobert60

Not quite sure what you mean by 'slanted'. As already mentioned you need to keep the blade at the proper angle in relation to your face, like most things it gets easier with time.
Direction-wise I make one pass with the grain of the beard (WTG) and another across the grain (XTG). Some people may also make a third pass against the grain (ATG) to get the closest possible shave - I don't because it gives me razor rash.
Another thing is moving the razor with a scything motion, which to me seems to improve the cutting action of the blade. That's kind of a tricky thing - it took me a month or so to get the hang of it. Hope this helps...

OK

Learning to use the "scything motion" will improve your shave, because it makes it easier for the blade to cut the hair, not because of the way its sharpened but just becasue thats the way knives work best. You can get a perfectly good shave with a straitght stroke, It just requires a slightly sharper blade. At this point I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially if you are just getting used to using a straight. You need to be getting a good shave and feel comfortable using the blade, and then we can work on improving your technique to get the best possible shave.


For what its worth, I use a scything stroke on my first WTG pass to reduce the longest hair but when I do my second or if needed third pass I worry more about hitting the rough spots than the exact motion of stroke. I think once you have the beard reduced to fine stubble you really don't need the scyth as much because you are just chipping of the few remaining hairs at skin level, not mowing thorugh a forest of trees.

I think another - and perhaps safer for newbies - way to go about it is to angle the blade so the toe is leading on a straight stroke. So for example, if the direction of the stroke is straight down toward the floor, you've tilted the blade a little - 30 degrees (?) and the toe is leading. This way, the blade is not hitting the whiskers "head on", but at a slight angle. The best analogy i've seen (is analogy the right word? I'm a bit sleep deprived at the moment) is to think about it the way a guillotine blade is shaped. It’s angled to hit one part of the neck first and slice through. If you are familiar with DEs, the Merkur Slant model is designed to mimic this action. Does this make sense? Someone help me out here.

The more "advanced" method, often described in the barber manuals, is to draw the razor in a 30 degree direction - say from the upper cheek under the eye down toward the back point (angle) of the jaw with the edge perpendicular to the floor. This works great, but I didn't start trying it until I had a good year and a half under my belt.

Jordan

I'll have to agree that scything has helped me tremendously. I was ready to give up on straights a few months ago, and then somebody here mentioned the scything motions. Pictures were even provided, and my shaves have greatly improved, as has the level of comfort. Once the scything technique was introduced at a comfortable level, I feel that I am now fairly proficient with a straight razor.

So, in short...scythe as if your shave depended upon it!

Im glad I asked about this. Thanks.

Originally Posted by iron maiden

I'll have to agree that scything has helped me tremendously. I was ready to give up on straights a few months ago, and then somebody here mentioned the scything motions. Pictures were even provided, and my shaves have greatly improved, as has the level of comfort. Once the scything technique was introduced at a comfortable level, I feel that I am now fairly proficient with a straight razor.

So, in short...scythe as if your shave depended upon it!