Thread: What am I doing wrong?

So after a couple of shaves with my recently purchased razor off of the classifieds, I'm still left with a five 'o clock shadow once I'm done and I would appreciate any advice from you guys as to what I'm doing wrong.

1) I shave right after taking a shower
2) Before showering I soak my brush (boar hair, I know this might be part of my problem) in hot water
3) I keep my face wet with hot water while lathering (I use Williams Mug soap)
4) I build the lather in a bowl, which I keep floating in a sink full of hot water to keep warm for a second pass

Now for a few more observations:

After I make a swipe, I notice that my face is left almost completely dry in the area the blade contacted.

The hairs don't feel softer to the touch than before I took a shower, especially around my chin area, which is very tough. When going ATG on my chin, the blade pulls quite a bit.

One last thing, I believe the blade is sharp enough to shave with, I got it from the classifieds here, it is a 15/32 Engels Sculpture, vintage, and it shipped shave ready.

Any suggestions, thoughts, advice etc is welcome, Criticism won't hurt my feelings either.

How long have you been shaving with a straight? I noticed that my technique needed a kick in the pants before I could shave my chin or moustache area, so I'm sticking with the cheeks and neck until I can get the proper stretching, angle and overall shaving technique down pat. Do you take long or short strokes?

I think you need to quickly determine if it is a razor, prep, or procedure issue. If it is shave ready, you still can dull it with bad stropping. Try the HHT test on it. It's not conclusive, but it can give you a good feeling. It seems that if I can pass HHT all over the blade with any kind of hair, the shave is much better. If you pass the HHT cleanly, then assume the blade is good. It most likely is. If not, strop the thing properly on linen/leather a lot. You may need to correct for bad stropping. Make sure you obey the "tight strop/no pressure on blade" rules.

Try this. Slop some hot water on your jaw area. Lather it up really good. Make sure your lather is a bit wet / creamy. I find that I can be shaving and it is not working at all and then I just wet my face and re-apply lather and then the blade just glides through. No pressure, gently shave the jaw and see if the results are good. Watch the 30 degree angle. If you can get that area nice and close with a good lather, then maybe your technique in the tougher areas is to blame.

Stretch your skin tight!! It makes a huge difference.

This is what I have learned in my 5-6 weeks of shaving.

Derek:

I have shaved three times with this straight, and today I decided to give the jaw area a go, probably a little too early for that after only three times, luckily I didn't cut myself. I'll keep the next couple of times confined to the cheek, and I'll experiment with water/lather ratio. Thanks spoulsen, I'll ccomb throught the wiki a little more for infor on stropping

If you've got a really tough beard try conditioning it! Massage in some hair conditioner & leave it while you make the lather. After a few minutes if it's not softened them even a little then nothing will! Rinse it off, or stretching becomes almost impossible, & lather up.
It's possible that although the razor would be shave ready for the majority, your beard required a little more. If the conditioner doesn't work, consider sending it out with an explaination of what you require.

My guess is that your prep is adequate if not better. Technique is a huge factor and, at your experience level, is at play. That will improve. I'd strongly suggest you check your stropping...see if you don't see immediate results after a good strop session. Read strop comments and see if they help.
I'm at it for about 3 months now. There will be plateaus and also great accelerations in your technique and results. Keep at it.

Originally Posted by papaface29

Derek:

I have shaved three times with this straight, and today I decided to give the jaw area a go, probably a little too early for that after only three times, luckily I didn't cut myself. I'll keep the next couple of times confined to the cheek, and I'll experiment with water/lather ratio. Thanks spoulsen, I'll ccomb throught the wiki a little more for infor on stropping

When I referred to the jaw, I really am talking about the cheek area. If you are right handed try the right cheek. That's the easiest area to get the technique right.

Steve

BE PATIENT

Originally Posted by papaface29

So after a couple of shaves with my recently purchased razor off of the classifieds, I'm still left with a five 'o clock shadow once I'm done and I would appreciate any advice from you guys as to what I'm doing wrong.

1) I shave right after taking a shower
2) Before showering I soak my brush (boar hair, I know this might be part of my problem) in hot water
3) I keep my face wet with hot water while lathering (I use Williams Mug soap)
4) I build the lather in a bowl, which I keep floating in a sink full of hot water to keep warm for a second pass

Now for a few more observations:

After I make a swipe, I notice that my face is left almost completely dry in the area the blade contacted.

The hairs don't feel softer to the touch than before I took a shower, especially around my chin area, which is very tough. When going ATG on my chin, the blade pulls quite a bit.

One last thing, I believe the blade is sharp enough to shave with, I got it from the classifieds here, it is a 15/32 Engels Sculpture, vintage, and it shipped shave ready.

Any suggestions, thoughts, advice etc is welcome, Criticism won't hurt my feelings either.

First off, there is nothing wrong with a Boar brush. I use my omega boar more than all my badger brushes.

I will show you my prep and you can try it out if you want. I have a very tough beard.
I shower with my brush soaking in hot water. I also put a drop or two of hot water on my puck of soap while I shower. I should also mention that Williams soap totally dried out my skin and I haven't used it since then. I find it not so good. I like Tabac a lot more. I was my face in the shower, but I do not use conditioner, since it makes my facial hair stronger (a lot of conditioners strengthen hair).
When I am out of the shower I squeeze my brush and dump the puck water. I then cake some soak on to my brush. I soak a cloth or towel is almost boiling water. I then apply the soap to my face and face lather the soap into my face. I think lathering in a bowl is a waste of time, but that's my opinion. Once lather is on my face I apply the hot towel and press it into my skin for awhile. Make sure you don't burn yourself and squeeze some of the water out.

I then strop and lather again. Make sure your stropping it right and then it sounds like the draw is on the razor. If not, then you may be stropping wrong and that can ruin any shave ready edge in a few days. I also see you don't mention stropping at all, which is a mandatory part of straight razor shaving.

When I shave I put the blade almost flat on my face, especially on the ATG pass. make sure you're stretching the skin super tight (it won't come off don't worry).

Hopefully some of this helps you out. I seriously wonder why you didn't mention your stropping? Make sure you get one with a fabric side and a leather side. Keep us posted.

Thanks for all of your help, guys. Sorry it took so long to get a reply, I've been caught up with moving my stuff out of my dorm room lately. I will definetely keep playing with the angle of the blade, and beard prep.

I completely forgot to mention stropping, you're right Disburden. I usually take 40 laps on each side of the strop (linen,/leather). Of course my stropping technique is nil, but I'm still working on it.

One more thing, I didn't want the tone of this thread to sound despairing at all, I'm not in the least discouraged with these few setbacks. Your advice should help a ton. Thanks to all!!