Thread: 2nd shave, WHOLE face, too litl angle bad?

Hey all, this is a bit after the fact, but hey, busy. thursday I shaved my entire face with the straight. when I say entire I mean I was determined not to go back with the mach 3. I even did the area inside my goattee (bottom lip) and the spot above my moustach right under my nose. (somebody on here had a cool litl video of how to do that).

anyways, still trying to get it all right, and I was wondering, can too shallow of an angle, under 30degrees for instance, cause the shave to be bad as well? it seems when I got the spine too close to my face it started to feel like it was pulling again.

oh, took me 30 minutes, no major cuts, little tiny bit of blood on the chin but might just have been from nicking a bump.

Red

Originally Posted by Big Red

Hey all, this is a bit after the fact, but hey, busy. thursday I shaved my entire face with the straight. when I say entire I mean I was determined not to go back with the mach 3. I even did the area inside my goattee (bottom lip) and the spot above my moustach right under my nose. (somebody on here had a cool litl video of how to do that).

anyways, still trying to get it all right, and I was wondering, can too shallow of an angle, under 30degrees for instance, cause the shave to be bad as well? it seems when I got the spine too close to my face it started to feel like it was pulling again.

oh, took me 30 minutes, no major cuts, little tiny bit of blood on the chin but might just have been from nicking a bump.

Red

I started out with too low of an angle. It didn't make me cut myself or anything, but it gave me poor shaves. The hair just wasn't coming off. Things really clicked for me going XTG, blade vertically, from mouth to ear. I could see the angle between my face and the razor really well. A few passes and I could very clearly associate the angle with the effectiveness of the shave. Once I felt and saw the angle "click" it was easy to reproduce it across the rest of my face.

I shaved again this morning, am getting better with the angle. it seems that the shallow angle it wants to pull the hair more than cut. I also tried to use more of a diagonal swipe as in the video I saw on youtube versus just straight against the edge. less irritation this time.

Red

Originally Posted by Big Red

I shaved again this morning, am getting better with the angle. it seems that the shallow angle it wants to pull the hair more than cut. I also tried to use more of a diagonal swipe as in the video I saw on youtube versus just straight against the edge. less irritation this time.

Red

Glad to hear it! It is definitely a skill learned over time. Keep working at it.

Typically, a shallow angle will cause the blade to pull, and a steep angle will remove your face (or leave razor burn). While 30 degrees is recommended as a general guideline, sometimes you need to play around a little to find what works best with any giver razor and face. Trying a new razor, try a new angle. Trying a new face...seek help.

again this morning, getting faster. trying to work on how to hold the blade and handle for each angle, gonna watch the youtube videos again. see how the pros do it.

Red

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Typically, a shallow angle will cause the blade to pull, and a steep angle will remove your face (or leave razor burn). While 30 degrees is recommended as a general guideline, sometimes you need to play around a little to find what works best with any giver razor and face. Trying a new razor, try a new angle. Trying a new face...seek help.

I agree, but it also depends on the sharpness of the razor. My skin gets easily irritated, if I use a bit of a steeper angle, so I generally stick with a very sharp razor and a shallow angle. A little scything motion reduces a razor's tendency to pull as well.
By all means, if your face and beard call for a bit of a steeper shaving angle, don't let my personal experiences keep you from doing that.

Best regards,

Bart.