Thread: Close, but not comfortable

Originally Posted by DaveF

It really has made a difference, and I just want to impart something to any fellow newbies I have just recently learned: It is impossible to research your way to good stropping technique.... ....The only, ONLY way to get good at stropping is to strop. Get a back-up blade, get a practice strop, and go to work. It takes time to learn what good stropping feels like, both on the strop and on your face afterwards. Learn the basics by reading, but perfect the skill by doing. I am far from there yet but I feel like I am making good progress, thanks to the excellent advice I found here.

Good observation. It's a little bit like learning to ride a bicycle, isn't it? And it's also important to understand that there is no good reason to give up after only one or two unsuccessful attempts

FINAL UPDATE:

I feel a little, ah, selfish in posting in this thread again because I feel like I have taken up enough of you good people's time; however, I wanted to post the final resolution to this issue in case any other newbies dig up this thread and are looking for answers.

So it turns out my grabby shaves were a result of a two main factors:

1. Poor stropping technique had dulled the edge that a honemeister had put on my blade
2. I did not pay close enough attention to the grain of my beard, and thus was shaving against the grain in some spots on my neck with my first pass (leading to grabbiness and irritation).

The first problem was solved in admirable fashion by, well, I don't want to embarrass him, but let's say a very experienced honemeister who refreshed the blade with an edge so sharp that I merely waved the razor out the window of my bathroom and 3/4 of my lawn cut itself.

The second problem I solved by letting my beard grow for an extra day, and then very carefully feeling the direction of my beard all over my face and neck and sketching the results on a piece of paper to act as a "grain map". Sounds incredibly silly, but it taught me a number of surprising things about my beard and it has really made a great difference in my shaves.

End result of those two things is I got my most comfortable shave yet with a straight this morning, and sacrificed none of the shocking closeness that I had been enjoying up to now. Thank you so much, everyone, for all of your help and guidance!

Glad you posted that . . . technically you owned the thread so its all yours to play with and we enjoy helping out.

Go easy now on the stropping; sharper blade, lighter stropping.

This has been a great thread. I wish every one would take the time to follow up his thread as thorourghly as you did. There's certainly no need to be apologetic about that. Quite the contrary.

I have felt confident about my stropping since a long time, and yet this thread has poked me at re-examining the finer points of my stropping habits. It has meant more for me than the epiphany, that I expected Chromium oxide to be, but that never really met its promise.

I started reading this thread, wondering what I could contribute to help you, but in the end you helped me. A lesson in dignity is always welcomed.

Thank you,

Bart.

Thanks for posting that, Bart, that meant a lot. I'm so glad the excellent advice given in this thread helped you out as well. I didn't want to keep talking about myself and my issues over and over again but it is gratifying to know that other people have benefited from the progress of this thread and I appreciate you posting to let me know that.

Originally Posted by hector

What really did it for me was that i discovered in some old straight razor tutorial book it said that the heel of the blade should be leading just ever so slightly...and that made a world of difference for me.

but ofcourse assuming that the edge is not damaged

It's funny. I do exactly the opposite.

Because the several barber manuals I have read all indicate you should lead with the toe, not the heel. the razor is honed in such a way that the back edge of the teeth will be used when you lead with the toe or move at a right angle to the blade.

In fact, I have tried leading with the heel, and experienced much worse irritation, and even cut myself with the razor hung up on a whisker.

Originally Posted by toolarts

It's funny. I do exactly the opposite.

Because the several barber manuals I have read all indicate you should lead with the toe, not the heel. the razor is honed in such a way that the back edge of the teeth will be used when you lead with the toe or move at a right angle to the blade.

In fact, I have tried leading with the heel, and experienced much worse irritation, and even cut myself with the razor hung up on a whisker.

I found a manual that suggested the same thing that hector noted. It could have been the same manual. It depends on the way you hone. The same barber's manual I read suggested leading with the toe during honing, so in theory the result should be equal and opposite

Originally Posted by DaveF

FINAL UPDATE:

I feel a little, ah, selfish in posting in this thread again because I feel like I have taken up enough of you good people's time; however, I wanted to post the final resolution to this issue in case any other newbies dig up this thread and are looking for answers.

Dude, we're here precisely because we want to waste our time talking about shaving, razors, strops, etc., etc.!

Awesoem folow-up, and congrats on the improvement! That is what I find so gratiftying about straight shaving, the input you can have on making a shave great or not. When you get it right, it is quite satisfying.