what angle am i suppose to hold the razor against my face? should i hold it flat against my skin as if i were stropping or should there some degree of separation?
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what angle am i suppose to hold the razor against my face? should i hold it flat against my skin as if i were stropping or should there some degree of separation?
The general rule is less than 30 degrees. The Wiki has some nice graphics on razor angle under "Advanced shaving techniques for the straight razor".
The angle changes depending on a few factors, among these: pat of the face, if you are going with. against or across the grain, the type and size of razor, etc. People recommend that newbies should start with a 30 degree angle in the with the grain pass. Of course that has to be adjusted by individual facial features and razor used. I think that you would find these 2 articles useful in deciding what to do the next time:
Basic Shaving Passes - Straight Razor Place Wiki
Advanced shaving techniques for the straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki
Al raz.
As said before me, 30 degrees is the right angle to aim for. Some people need to tweak that a bit to get what's right for them. An angle is quite hard to aim for though, so if you try to allow 2 spines width between spine & skin that should be about there too.
Here is a good post if you are a beginning straight razor shaver. :gl:
30 degrees is a good starting point. But as already stated, there are other factors which will influence your angle. Where you are on your face. WTG, XG and ATG. What it really boils down to is how good your shave is. Too shallow and you will be not getting much tugging, but you will also not be shaving tight to the skin. Too steep of an angle and you will pulling and tearing the whiskers out, not cutting them cleanly. There probably is not much else besides just plain experience that you must gain before you can really say" Yeah, that's right". When you get it right, you will know.
If you really push me I'd say start with a bit shallower angle. Yeah, the shave won't be BBS. But you will also not get the painful tugging either. Just play with your angles and find out what works best for you.