Thread: First two shaves, not so good.

Hey Jedi.

I am also having similar issues to you. I bought my str8 from Don and Lynn shave ready as well. Although they are the tops, as a rookie I could not help but wonder if the blade was truly shave ready. I had the same tugging and rough draw against my face. My first shave even resulted in a pretty horrible gash on my right cheek. You can read about my ordeal here and there are some great tips in this thread:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...e-shaving.html

But after sucking it up and reviewing the tips from posters here, I find that my technique is improving and the blade is PLENTY sharp.

My biggest improvements were the result of:

1- Adjusting my grip so any resistance or tugging causes the blade to FLEX in your fingers rather than dig in. (Thanks Jimmy!)

2- Shorter strokes. Not the lovely swipe from cheekbone to jawline, but shorter brisker strokes.

3- Good Prep work (I was doing this already).

4- Shave in increments. I can do Cheeks and Neck pretty well now. Still having issues with upper lip and chin, but am experimenting and finishing with a DE.

Following these few tidbits got me from almost cutting my face of to a pretty decent shave.

I purchased The Filly off ruprazor.com, it has that Chromium Oxide paste on the back, so I'll run my razor over that when it gets here next week, THEN strop it and follow the bit by bit method, honing my skills as it were.

I guess it's back to my DE until my strop gets here, but that is ok...I love my trusty '49 Super Speed! Got some great Vanilla and Bay Rum Pinaud aftershaves in the mail from SR Designs today and should be getting the two shave soaps I ordered as well...Vanilla Bourbon and a West Indies Bay. So I'll be enjoying my fine array of lather and aftershave products until that strop gets here. I'll keep you guys posted! Just the cheeks for now, the rest with the DE.

Hey there, i just posted a similar thing to you not but 4 days ago, a lot of tugging on my sides and was wondering if i had rolled the edge when i shaved.
I have a dovo special and a filly strop , as well , and thanks to the guys here they helped alot.
Heres pretty much what they said that helped me.

1) it sounds like your prep is good, and your razor is good, so im thinking its your angles, the more times you shave the more comfy you get with the razor, and you will start to get the angles where it doesnt tug, and i truly believe it will tug no matter what you do when you first start to shave with a straight, because its something unfamilar to your face and you need to get used to it.

2) You might be shaving too slow, and if you make confident short strokes it might help, not super fast but dont be going super slow either or you will tend to tug on the beard imho

3) It could be your stropping, and if it is i would suggest the same thing. take it slow, no pressure( and i mean no pressure at first just enough to feel the razor on the strop and the way the filly is it has a nice almost silky draw you will notice when you get it right, and do a lot of them make 75 nice and slow
When i did this it all started to work and even though im only 3 shaves in as well i can see the wheel starting to turn, no pulling or tugging

hope this helps!!!

jedi...,

I'm not exactly sure what a rolled edge is either. If you strop your razor such that the blade is flat on the strop, with both the spine and edge in contact with the strop all the while - until you raise the edge off the strop to change direction - you should be having no negative issues with your stropping. It's possible to blunt the edge if you raise the spine off the strop (leather and/or canvas) and run the razor on the strop at an angle similar to what you might use shaving.

While shaving, check to see that the angle of the blade to your face is more acute than obtuse - you want the angle of the blade to be what is given by the spine being raised about one spine's thickness up from our face - or less.

Use good prep techniques: lots of really warm water and soap to soften the whiskers; use some good lathering agent; take it easy on the easy parts to start; give yourself a break if you need it and work into the more difficult parts - chin, upper lip, etc as you become more relaxed and practiced with the sharpest thing you'll ever use.

Personally, I strop on both fabic and leather before shaving. The number of strokes varies with my mood - maybe 40 on each material. Sometimes I strop on linen, then flesh side leather, and then grain side leather. Sometimes only linen then grain (smooth, hair side) leather. Stropping seems to be a necessary and important step in both preparing and keeping an edge on the razor, so you need to practice stropping and do it well. FYI, fwiw, I have a couple of Friodurs at the top of my rotation that have only been stropped, as I indicated, and not touched up on a hone for at least a couple of months.

So, patience, prep, lather, strop, shave gently, and things will come together.

You may also want to try decreasing you angle a little - e.g. spine a little closer to your skin - to see if that make and difference as well. If so, rock on. If not, go back to 30 deg.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Jedi, are you completely new to any sort of wet shaving? As there could be issues with other things, like your prep, lather etc. I ask because this sounds just like my first attempts, but I've got the prep and lather thing nailed. I've been DE shaving for 7 months and have got very proficient with lather, technique etc, and can get excellent results. So some skills are in place.

But I could not get my straight blade to cut anything but cheek stubble (with effort and care) WTG, no matter what angle I tried. So I sent it off for a hone, even though it came honed by the seller when I bought it, so if I did really have a sharp blade to begin with, this is not going to be the experience I expected.

I read plenty about peoples first straight shaves being awkward and slow and patchy, what with so many things to try and learn at once. But not even being able to complete a shave due to tugging and skipping is not my idea of a fun learning experience.

Hi jedibapst, sorry to hear about your troubles!

Your prep sounds good, and your focus on razor technique sounds good. Obviously you had it honed by a profession, so that's all good too. So the strop and the stropping is what comes into question, in my mind.

It could still be too high an angle, not enough lather, etc, but others have covered that.

How much pressure do you use stropping? It should be pretty much none - just the weight of the blade.

Also, where did you get the strop? How was it stored?

I know first hand using an unsuitable strop can wreck your blade, even if your stropping technique is good. That is exactly what I did to my razor the first time I stropped it. When I sent it to be honed, thinking I had rolled the edge, I was sent micro-images of my blade. I hadn't rolled the edge. Instead, it was covered in tiny scratches, like being run over a very rough hone. Something in the leather I was using was eating my edge.

I switched to a proper strop, and haven't had issues since.

If the surface of the strop has been damaged, or embedded with something (which you wouldn't be able to feel - we're talking microscopic here) it will chew up your blade. And if the strop is bowing, then there is uneven pressure on your blade even if you're stropping correctly.

Often times when you buy an antique strop, it needs to be treated in some way and the surfaced buffed before it is usable again.

I would set aside the strop, and try stropping on newspaper. Tape down an ink-heavy sheet of newspaper on a very flat surface (glass is ideal) and try doing 50 strokes. No pressure at all, just the weight of the blade.

See if this does anything to improve your edge. If it does, then it's not your stropping - it's the strop.

And even if it doesn't, there's no way to tell for certain. It could be your stropping, or the edge might be too damaged to be saved without honing.

Buying the Filly was a good call. If you just want to wait until it arrives, try 100 strokes on the leather first. Is that doesn't improve it, try the CroOx side.

If nothing else, send it to be honed. Lynn, or whoever you send it to, will be able to tell exactly why the blade isn't performing as it should.