Thread: Second Shave

Just completed my second shave...which was a bit disappointing. After doing my first shave yesterday with a long week old growth I sort of thought that the pulling was normal.

Today with only a day old growth the experience was pretty much the same. I also had a hard time doing my neck and left side of my face. (im right handed)

Any suggestions? Angle? Razor? hand? anything!

No advice yet? Come on guys:P

If your razor was provided to you shave-ready, I'd recommend checking your stropping technique. Make sure you're pulling the strop taught, not using pressure, and doing enough 'laps'. I use about 30 on clean leather. An improperly stropped razor could cause the pulling/dragging. As for the left side, I just learned to switch hands for the left side; It's good to learn to use both hands and will make getting those tricky spots a lot easier.

The razor was labeled as shave ready here in the classifieds section.
I can't get it to past the HTT test though.
I did some lap on my leather belt, since I still don't have my strop.
Does it usually glides through really easily or is some resistance normal?

If you are referring to gliding on the strop, there should be some sort of draw. But it is not required. You might want to contact Tony Miller. He also sells beginner strops that are really good quality.

There are members who, like you, strop on a leather belt. I suspect that your negative experience is more likely from technique than the razor. If you aren't already doing so, try just doing the areas between the sideburns and jawlines, and only WTG until you are comfortable with handling the razor and get your angles correct. Of course, you will need to strop prior to each shave.

You didn't mention how many laps you are doing on the belt.

If your razor came from a professional honer, more specifically someone on the forums, then I would say it's almost for sure your technique. Although, I'm not sure about your belt. Chances are also high that you could have stropped poorly.

Many of my first shaves were rough from the razor pulling hair. I found out very quickly how important pulling your skin is. You can take a pass at your cheek with no pulling, then pull at your skin and pass again and you will quickly see/feel/hear the difference. That is true almost every spot on your face.

Keep at it practicing, and keep reading the Newbies Corner and the Wiki. You'll get it.

Oh and get a proper strop.

Thanks for the comments guys!

I actually have an illinois strop and a smaller travel strop in the mail as we speak.

Weirdly enough I would say that my roughest part is the left side of my face and neck. The chin was actually the easiest part for me.

I bought my razor (a nice Frederick Reynolds) from a member here.

Could it be my angle too? would you recommend long or short strokes too?

Im doing about 20-25 passes on the belt...

Anyone got some experience with Frederick Reynolds razors?

I do 60 laps on my hanging strop. It's unlikely your belt is 3 inches wide. So more laps will be required...