Thread: Struggling

I'm new to working with a straight razor and been having a bit of trouble. For the past couple of weeks I've been taking it slow and only trying sections of my face at a time until I feel comfortable with it. Today I decided to try the entire face. I was able to make a clean pass WTG but when I went for a XTG pass the razor starting grabbing and I cut myself several times. My wife thinks I'm crazy to continue since I get a great shave with my Merkur DE, but I'm a bid OCD and am determined to master the skill. I'm assuming that I'm probably stropping incorrectly? I've got a beautiful razor that I purchased from a member here and I have a pre-sharpened Dovo. I've been trying them both and seem to have the same problem with both of them. I could really use some advice and my face will definitely thank you.

not so much advice as sympathy ... hehe
i had some trouble with XTG, i had more success with WTG and ATG, which i did just yesterday, which was my 3rd shave overall.
with the XTG i had most trouble on the chin, just under the lip, i nicked myself a few times, maybe it's my chin shape haha
keep trying ...

If your razor is shave-ready but is struggling to cut hairs it could be a couple of things.
1st: good skin preparation is quintessential. Use a quality cream or soap that you apply with a brush.
2nd: you need to strop your razor before every shave. Get a quality strop, keep the spine on the leather all the time, do about 50 strokes every time.
3rd: keep the razor at a 30 degree angle to the skin.

Hope this helps.

I'm using a high quality shave cream and a silvertip badger brush. I've been having a bit of trouble stroping (I have a tendency to nick the leather) so I'm going to keep practicing on my practice strop. I do find keeping the blade angle consistent to be a challenge and all of these things are probably contributing to my woes. I have a Feather AC razor that I'm going to try tomorrow. It's a bit smaller and a bit easier for me to handle. I may use that until I get the hang of the shave and then go to my real straight. Thanks for the help.

Assuming your prep is good and your razor sharp and well stropped, I would look at how you stretch your skin for the XTG pass. I pull my skin up and toward the ear while making diagonal XTG passes that go from ear toward chin, and downward in a scything motion, at the same time. I keep them short and restretch the skin for each stroke, always pulling the skin toward my ear and simultaneously moving my mouth in the opposite direction to stretch the skin from both directions. FYI, after I do the XTG passes toward my chin, I also do an XTG pass from my mouth to my ear. Gets my face really smooth, but I occasionally nick my face or ear. Not for everyone! You will get there by degrees, you just have to learn how your face needs to be stretched in each area.

When you get more practice with this, the angle issue will become a non-issue. That is, you will come to recognize the feedback you are getting as you shave and you will unconsciously know if you are using the right angle by the way the shaving is going. For now, just always be cognizant that changing the angle might improve any given stroke.

Not to worry. It will come in time. Try XG or ATG in just one area of your face at a time. Keep you spirits up.

Thanks for all the great comments. I'm going to shave WTG for awhile until I get it down pat before trying XTG. I shaved WTG this morning with my Dovo and it seemed to be a lot better than my first try.

When I first started out, I did WTG only until I had that down. I used a DE for “cleaning up”.
After a while when my technique for WTG was OK, or at least I thought so, I added XTG to the mix. I still used the DE to “clean up”.

When the WTG + XTG were ok I added the ATG and water pass (WP). Now I feel that I have to do less and less WP every week for a BBS.

Things takes time. Be patient and don’t worry. The shaves only gets better with practise.

first off, like the others have said, it takes time. it will get a little better with each shave. i like to shave just after a shower that way the beard is moist, same can be done with a hot towel, make sure to lather up good and i always wait just a minute before shaving(this is a good time to strop your razor), make sure to stretch skin. you WILL get better and enjoy more in time. do not give up and welcome to SRP