Thread: First couple of shaves pulling and tugging like CRAZY

I wanted to get into straight razor shaving so I grabbed myself a nice DOVO ebony kit with a tony miller strop, honed shaved ready by classicshaving.com with some taylor of old bond street shaving cream.

First time I took a long hot shower, kept my face wet and prepped the cream. Started to shave at what I'm assuming is decent 30 degree angle (cant tell for sure though) and this "shave ready" razor kept pulling and tugging on my whiskers in a feeble attempt to cut them. It was SCARY. I have real tough, pain in the ass whiskers but I wasnt expecting it to be this difficult

Figured it wasnt shave ready or something, so I took it to a pro cutlery/barber supplies shop in LA to get professionally honed and stropped. Got home and AGAIN same issue. So I know its probably not the razor. What else would cause the shave to be so difficult (and consequently, dangerous)?

hmmm.. What was the shop you took it too for 'honing'?

But...There are a lot of factors that can go into a bad shave. Prep and technique for one.

What is your prep before shaving and try lowering the angle of your shave.

Originally Posted by funkjunky

I wanted to get into straight razor shaving so I grabbed myself a nice DOVO ebony kit with a tony miller strop, honed shaved ready by classicshaving.com with some taylor of old bond street shaving cream.

First time I took a long hot shower, kept my face wet and prepped the cream. Started to shave at what I'm assuming is decent 30 degree angle (cant tell for sure though) and this "shave ready" razor kept pulling and tugging on my whiskers in a feeble attempt to cut them. It was SCARY. I have real tough, pain in the ass whiskers but I wasnt expecting it to be this difficult

Figured it wasnt shave ready or something, so I took it to a pro cutlery/barber supplies shop in LA to get professionally honed and stropped. Got home and AGAIN same issue. So I know its probably not the razor. What else would cause the shave to be so difficult (and consequently, dangerous)?

It sounds more like technique rather than the blade and do you strop the razor before the shave? As that might be were the problem lies as it can either bring the edge to a superior sharpness or knock it of so much so that it becomes so dull.

Give us a quick list of prep before the shave and we will see what we can advise.

Possibilities:


1. The professional doesn't know how to strop.
2. If you stropped before shaving, you don't know how to strop.
3. Your technique is wrong.
4. (Doubt this one as poor lather shouldn't make a truely sharp blade shave THAT poorly) You aren't properly lathered.


What you're describing sounds to me more like a dull blade than anything else*, but it COULD be other things. I really can't say without seeing the razor up close or else seeing you shave in high res.

*I find technique doesn't result in pulling hairs in any stroke OTHER than ATG. It results in either cuts or missing hairs in WTG and XTG for me. But a Dull razor results in pulling pretty much however you shave.

shave prep: umm wet face from shower (washed in there with face stuff) and then thick lather.

place I had it honed/stropped: Ross Cutlery
(both ross and classicshaving said I didnt need to strop it since it was shave ready when they gave it to me, so I didnt bother with it). I probably dont know how to strop properly since I've never done it before but I've seen Lynn's video as well as gotten a demonstration at Ross

technique: obviously have a ways to go on this since I just started. Tough to determine which way to shave since my hairs point in all kinds of directions all over my face. Sometimes even going WTG on parts that are obvious seems bad, but some parts seem fine so I don't know.

Ross has a good reputation, and I think Classicshaving has someone that knows what they are doing too, so the razor should be sharp enough. I think your angle is way too steep. Try to get it as low as you can, like 15 degrees. You might try rubbing some conditioner in your stubble while you shower to soften it up further, too.

When I first started with my straight I had the same problem and 90% of my problem turned out to be my lather. If your lather doesn't have the consistency of light fluffy whipped cream, then it's not as good as it can be. This might help you, if lather is your issue:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/newbi...w-newbies.html

I doubt if it were the razor, unless the shop you took it to screwed it up, and right out of the shower even poor lather should be alright, my best guess would be appropriate blade angle. Don't fret it will come with practice, I just hope they didn't screw up the edge from classic shaving.

BTW: I also shave straight from the shower last thing I do is give the face one more good soaking before getting out and I do not dry the face with the towel, I leave the face and beard wet.

thanks for the tips guys! updates to help narrow the problem down:

Blade: after getting it shave ready from a reputable supplier AND honed from a reputable blade restoration company, I'm reasonable sure its not the blade sharpness (although I would prefer it to be since its the easiest thing to fix). but then again, maybe I just have bad luck and got it poorly honed at both places in a row

lather: i think I got this one down already. get the brush soaking, let excess pour out, and whip up about an almond's worth of cream until the bubbles are super fine and it looks like whipped cream. taylor of old bond street is pretty hard to screw up, but again I dont really know

preshave: maybe problems here but I think my face is pretty wet when I start

angle: certainly a likely culprit since I dont have clue one what I'm doing. I try to keep the angle small but it can be difficult on certain sections of my face.

grain: also a likely problem, since it seems like I have to use a million different angles to avoid insane resistance.


*sigh* i almost wish my beard would grow faster so I can practice this more and figure out what the problem is. or at least have someone else check all of this out to confirm what I'm doing right and wrong

For the tough areas like you describe, here's how I have to do it...

1 Shave WTG with the blade very flat, maybe 10 degrees.
2 Lather the area and repeat #1 until I've reduced the whiskers to almost skin level.
3 Take another WTG pass with the blade at a more conventional 30 degrees.

Even with a honemeister blade, with the toughest whiskers, I just can't shave to the skin with one WTG pass.

When shaving WTG with the blade held almost flat against the skin, you will be slicing thru whiskers as much as slicing them off. You will be slicing the whiskers at an angle. Because of this, even with a very sharp razor, it will pull! It will require some force. But, because of the angle, it shouldn't irritate your skin.

After getting down close to skin level with the blade at a flattish angle, the subsequent passes with blade held at a greater angle, will work much better.

Hope this helps.