Thread: Question

I recently just ordered a new Dovo kit from Vintage Blades and the razor was honed and oiled ahead of time from Lynn. I tried my first shave last night with about a day's worth of stubble (I have a thick beard and very soft face) and made it about a third of my face. I hacked up my face with along with some razor burn (my fault, I made many passes in the same spot and did not get the soap even close to what I should have had for lather).

Getting to the point, I am curious about one thing. When I was learning how to hold the razor and get the 30 degree angle passes down, the closer I got to what I believe was the correct angle, the more it pulled the hair and didn't cut it. Now for the rookie question: Is this strictly due to the fact that I need to prep my face better that this happened? When shaving correctly with a stropped blade and face prep, should you ever feel a tugging sensation on the hairs? I am assuming no.

I absolutely love this new "hobby/obsession" that I have found and I am the type that does things correctly and will keep doing something until I am an expert. I am in this for life now and I need to learn how to do this the correct way. Thanks in advance for the help.

Welcome to SRP. It is hard to say why your first shave went the way it did. Shaving with a straight is a combination of things that all play a part. Preparation is very important as is blade angle and the direction you're attacking the whiskers. There was a tendency for me to push the edge into the skin to shear the whiskers and that led to irritation.

Skin stretching is key. It doesn't have to be drum tight but taut is important. I take it from your post you've been reading the tutorials in the SRP Wiki here ? If not read the beginner's guide and for sure Lynn's post on the first straight razor shave. To avoid nicks read my sig below and follow the advice. Works for me when I follow it.

30 degree angle? Where does it say that? Well, I did a google search and came up with a couple sites (menessentials and wikipedia). You usually don't want anything that steep. As you said, you noticed the pulling and tugging when you raised the angle. I'd recommend trying as shallow of an angle as you can get away with, though you do have to go in kind of steep in some areas.

Thanks Jimmy! I guess I just feel like the blade is so sharp and the hair should be soft enough that when I shave, I shouldn't get the hairs pulling out. It was like plucking hairs out with a tweezers and the SR made that pinging sound. I am assuming that when done correctly, the blade should just cut through the hair with little resistance?

For a beginner, should the blade be used as almost scraping the hair off of your face (kind of almost perpendicular to your face and then move your hand down and turn your wrist/kind of like a squeegee at the gas station on your window) or should you hold it closer to parallel to your face and use it like you are chopping something with a knife? I have seen diagrams, but it is different when I shaved. I guess it was more like 45 degrees away from my face that felt good, but again it pulled the hairs. I think my prep needs work. The blade is much sharper than I thought it would be and it almost will dig in just resting it on the skin at an angle with no pressure. I may be using the incorrect hand as well. I am using my right hand on the left side of my face (across). Could this be incorrect as well?

Originally Posted by dovomn

For a beginner, should the blade be used as almost scraping the hair off of your face (kind of almost perpendicular to your face and then move your hand down and turn your wrist/kind of like a squeegee at the gas station on your window) or should you hold it closer to parallel to your face and use it like you are chopping something with a knife? I have seen diagrams, but it is different when I shaved. I guess it was more like 45 degrees away from my face that felt good, but again it pulled the hairs. I think my prep needs work. The blade is much sharper than I thought it would be and it almost will dig in just resting it on the skin at an angle with no pressure. I may be using the incorrect hand as well. I am using my right hand on the left side of my face (across). Could this be incorrect as well?

You want to use as shallow an angle as gets the job done. A shallow angle will cause less razor burn as the force you apply will go more towards cutting the whiskers and less against the skin. By "force" I mean as little force as will simultaneously move the blade and keep it in contact with the skin. See also this: Shaving passes - Straight Razor Place Wiki. Heed the whole thing, but start by looking at the pictures at the bottom.

Resting the blade on the skin is a good way to get cut. It is actually much safer to keep the blade moving, but if it "snags" on the whiskers, don't try to "push through". Instead lift the blade away from your skin and think about all the techniques discussed at the above link.

The XTG and especially the ATG passes require the most care.

Don't forget to not only use a 30º shaving angle (spine from the skin), but a cutting angle (toe leading the heel) of about 30º will also help you cut with less pulling. In my experience even 10 or 15º helps a lot.

Nothing will help inferior beard rep though so take the extra time there and make sure your whiskers are as soft and supple as possible.

X

It should not feel like "scraping" at all. I made this rookie mistake my first go 'round when I used a crummy razor. Considering the razor was honed by Lynn (Did you strop it? Correctly?) I think you're right about improving your prep; and you're certainly right about not feeling a tug on the razor.

You might also take a look at your lather. If it's too dry it can make the razor tough to glide along your face. I find my razor feels like it's tugging if my lather is dry, even though all of the parts are right. (Happened today actually - I rinsed off the dry stuff and re-lathered. No biggie.)

My first question to you would be have you read Lynn's post in the beginners section regarding your first shave? I only mention this because I finally got around to reading it around "shave" attempt 4 or 5, those first few shaves were more like let's see how much razor burn my face can endure. Lots of benefical info to learn in his post and my results improved dramatically. Besides the importance of beard prep and blade angle, some where in a post is this tidbit of information that I'll paraphrase, each pass is about "hair reduction." In my experience, rarely with the WTG pass did I achieve a BBS result, but with the combination of the other passes I get a close and comfortable shave. I hope this helps.

Originally Posted by dovomn

Thanks Jimmy! I guess I just feel like the blade is so sharp and the hair should be soft enough that when I shave, I shouldn't get the hairs pulling out. It was like plucking hairs out with a tweezers and the SR made that pinging sound. I am assuming that when done correctly, the blade should just cut through the hair with little resistance?

IME yes it should but OTOH I have been doing it awhile. Recalling when I started there was a lot going on to remember to do all at once. I know that proper stretching is very important in avoiding pulling even with a truly shave ready razor. The skin doesn't have to be drum tight but snugged up taut.

Manipulating the blade around the face takes time to get used to while stretching, holding proper blade angle, attacking the whiskers from the 'right' direction. Just a heck of a lot going on. So it takes time to get one or another thing learned to the point where it all starts to come together. One reason for Lynn's advice to take it slow and don't feel like a dummy if you finish part of your shave with a DE or whatever in the beginning.