Thread: Journal of discovery, learning to use a straight razor

markevans,

I think we're going to be great friends here hahah..
I say that for 2 reasons:
1) We both have sweet Thrift Store Scuttles
2) We seem to be on identical learning curves.

I just had MY fourth shave last night and it wasn't quite as good as my third. (Coincidence?)

I believe both of us need to slow it back down and really take time to learn. I know in my case I've gotten a bit too comfortable and ended up with 3 knicks, one of them being nearly the length of the blade (ouch).

Your stropping issue sounds very familiar to one I was having. The downstroke sounded great, then the upstroke sounded way off. I solved this by slowing WAY down (slow-motion here) and watched the blade as I went through the movements. Doing this I realized that I was lifting the edge slightly on the upstroke causing the spine to drag and make a way different sound. The video you posted helped me out tremendously as I was stropping exaclty how he said NOT TO.

While shaving this morning I felt over confident and went faster than normal. My chin area, while not horrible, wasn't nearly as clean as my 3rd shave, as well as my neck. Though my mustache area came out quite nice (I'm noticing 2x XTG passes in alternate directions on my stache do excellent.)

After this last shave I had a good amount of irriation afterwards. The Brute aftershave doesn't help being mostly alcohol lol. I still need to pick up a good astringent and alcohol-free AS balm.

What I am going to do for my 5th shave:
1) Take it SLOW.
2) Use smaller strokes
3) Lighten up on the pressure
4) Concentrate on learning my hairs direction of growth
... and of course, concentrate on angles.

I'm very lucky as I am left handed but am almost as comfortable using my right hand.

Keep up the great work and remember that I'm right here with ya cuttin my face up trying to learn

Yeah, I got the feeling that I was lifting the edge a bit on the upstroke, but when I started to put more pressure on, it felt like I was using more than "the weight of the blade" so I backed off.

In all likelyhood, it was the stropping. I'm wondering if a better strop would make a difference. My Illinois is still pretty stiff, and when its hanging on its own its a bit wavy. I'm going to stick with it and maybe do some more breaking in so soften it up.

I'm most likely going to get a 3" strop down the road. Right now I'm using a 2" Latigo from Vintage Blades. I only slightly cut the far sides of it when I first started to strop.

About your odd sound on the up stroke; maybe you are slightly dropping your hand and causing the razor to sit unevenly.

I don't think the strop should be wavy while hanging. Are you storing it in the bathroom? Many members here do that but I hear it's really bad due to the humidity. I store my razor and strop in the bedroom.
I have had many leather items in the past get wet and they usually start to warp, perhaps this is your issue?

I hear there is a nice product called "Neatsfoot" that you can rub in to your strop to help break it in and keep it lasting.

Originally Posted by KarmaPolice

About your odd sound on the up stroke; maybe you are slightly dropping your hand and causing the razor to sit unevenly.

I don't think the strop should be wavy while hanging. Are you storing it in the bathroom? Many members here do that but I hear it's really bad due to the humidity. I store my razor and strop in the bedroom.
I have had many leather items in the past get wet and they usually start to warp, perhaps this is your issue?

I hear there is a nice product called "Neatsfoot" that you can rub in to your strop to help break it in and keep it lasting.

I do think its the angle on the up stroke. Today before I shaved (more on that later ) I raised the strop higher so that the top was about shoulder height, and the bottom maybe a foot below. More of a 30 degree angle below horizon rather than 45. This seemed to help me out, and I was getting better contact on the up stroke because of it. I don't think its something I want to stick with though, I think the real issue is my grip. I'd rather be able to strop at any angle with good grip rather than be stuck at a high angle in order to accommodate a less than ideal grip.

I don't store my strop in the bathroom either. For one, there is no room. My bathroom is very tiny, and the only spot to store it where it wouldn't get wet is an very impractical spot. Instead I store it by my living room window, and when I strop it move it to the deadbolt on my front door. (Think very small apt).

I think I will look into strop conditioners though. I was hoping to not spend too much more money (that hasn't gotten in the way of my RAS though), but I think it may be necessary. Depending on the price though, I may just end up getting a better strop.

So I decided to up my shaving frequency to every other day, so here I am with shave #5.

Here is the tl;dr version.
*Better Shave than last time, could be to a variety of reasons.
*Focused on strop technique to try and get a better edge than last time
*Beard prep: lathered in shower with badger brush and re-lathered just before the shave.
*Really focused on skin tight and touch light during shave to great success.
*Nicked off a pimple on my chin. First nick since my first shave.
*Shaved the back of my neck with little mirror assistance.
*Aftershave still stings like a mofo.

Reader's Digest version:
Again I went for the Dovo After my last shave, I wanted to focus on my stropping technique to try and get it to shave better than last time. Since it was the one I used last, I had to use it again to see if better stropping would make a difference. I feel kind of bad leaving my John Williams aside so I think I'll have to make it a point to use him next time.

All and all, this was a better shave. Here are the things I did different; I really focused on stropping technique, and getting proper contact between the edge and the strop. I did 100 hand strokes on the strop to give it a bit of oil and warm it up. I also held the strop higher which helped a lot on my up stroke. I find that while stropping, after 10-12 strokes, my fingers have slid on the tang a little and my grip is not where it should be. I notice this when I reach the top of my up stroke and when I do my roll, my wrist is getting involved. At this point I stop and adjust and start over again. In addition, sometimes when I do my roll, the blade slaps down on the leather too, which I'm sure is not proper. In any case, I did 30 on the linen and 60 on the leather, taking my time and focusing on the basics. I'm thinking about starting up my butter knife practice again to help get my muscle memory stronger. I figure once in the morning and once in the evening will really help my stropping coordination.

Ok, so beard prep. Turns out my gf left the nice conditioner at her mom's place, so I tried something a bit different. I used the badger brush and my regular soap to do a facial lathering in the shower. My reasoning was that one of the main effects of the badger brush is to clean around the base of the hairs getting both dirt and debris off, and also to strip the oils off the hair so they absorb more water. I figured if I do it in shower, then all that stuff washes away with that first lather instead of having it be a part lather I use to shave. Before the shower I filled my Tabasco cup with boiling water to let it sit and warm up while I shower.

Ok, shower done time to shave . I've still got some MWF soap in my bowl, so I go ahead and use that. It really does make a nice creamy lather that lasts a long long time, and it simply feels soft on my face. I can easily see why its a favorite among shavers. I get a great lather going and really work it into my face for a couple of minutes. So so smooth.

Shave time! Seems like my stropping made a difference. While I really focused on keeping that touch light and the skin tight, I feel the razor was still sharper than last time. Things went quite smoothly, and I worked on getting skin tighter in different way. I figure, there must be a way to get the skin tighter with each stroke, so I started adjusting my stretching hand with every stroke. I also shortened my stroke, so instead of making large sweeps down my sideburns and cheeks, I did the top half, readjusted my stretching hand, and then did the bottom half. I also got better stretching on my jawline and around my ears, which before I was only stretching with head positions. I also got better at keeping the touch as light as possible.

The upper lip went smoother than ever, and so did the lower lip. The chinny chin chin still was a pain in the butt, but I got improved strokes around the flatter portions which left me with just the pointed area to struggle with. I also sliced off a pimple, giving my first nick since I started. I don't think I re-lathered as much as before, probably because I was better at shaving the flatter portions. I still did 3 or 4 lathers for the chin though.

The neck went well too. The shorter strokes and better skin tightness really pay off. I still love nice long strokes that take off bushels of hair, but it seems shorter and tighter gives me a better shave.

My left hand is improving with every shave. The left side felt more comfortable than ever and I even incorporated a few angle adjustments around my jawline that I hadn't tried before.

The biggest thing I did today, however, was shave the back of my neck. I haven't shaved it since I stopped using the mach 3 and it was getting really fuzzy. I inquired in another thread, and decided to give it a go. It turns out that shaving by feel wasn't that hard at all. The area is so flat and easy to stretch out that shaving it blind went a lot easier than I thought. I did find I had to rinse of my razor with every stroke though, because I pulled off such long hairs and loads of lather with every swipe.

Interestingly, I found that rinsing the clean side of the blade seemed to pull the shaving gunk off better than trying to rinse the built up side of the blade. Give this a shot and you'll be surprised. With the water flowing spine to edge, it pulls all the stuff off the back side much faster than trying to rinse the gunk straight off the back side.

So shave complete, one pass WTG, neck included. I used the remaining lather to give my face a good wash and rinsed with cold water. Splashed on the bay rum (OUCH!) and then cleaned the razor and gave it a quick post shave strop to get any gunk off the edge. I really want to get the conditioner back though. I know conditioner opens the cuticles of the hair up, making easier cuts.

In conclusion, I've still got lots of progress to make with everything. I focusing on better stropping grips, and finding better ways to tighten my skin, my touch is getting lighter, and combined with the tight skin and a well stropped razor, I'm getting good shaves still.

I know my plan has been to shave every other day, but I had a nice shin dig to go to tonight and wanted a decent shave to go to so I decided to give my cheeks and neck a quick swipe with the razor. Besides the lip and chin taking the most time, I developed a patch of zits and white heads on my chin last night. Not sure what this is about, but I'm pretty sure its related to shaving.

I decided last time to use my John Williams, which has been nice and stropped for quite some time from my practicing.

Beard Prep: In shower, lather with badger brush and regular soap.
After shower lather with Mitchell's Wool Fat for a few minutes. I really like the smoothness of this soap.

The shave: I am using shorter and shorter strokes. I find this allows me to readjust the stretching grip on my face more frequently, resulting in better shave. I lessened the angle a bit too. I think I've been attacking at more of a 30-45 degree angle, so I lowered it down a bit. Kept my touch light.

I did a few XTG passes on my cheeks, and found that using a pulling motion with the opposite hand gave me better control than using the same hand as the cheek.

Left hand side is still not as good as the right, but definitely building more coordination and comfort. Like I said above, I found using my left hand to do XTG on my right cheek better than using the right, and vice versa. I really cannot imagine not being able to use both hands to shave with, it would be so incredibly limiting.

Totally skipped the lips and chin. Those always take the longest, and I didn't have a lot of time, nor was I about to rush.

All and all a decent shave (on the parts I did anyway). I'm finding better ways to get my skin pulled tighter and working on angles.

Congrats Mark!
You are officially ahead of me by 1 shave :-) I just had my 5th shave a few hours ago. It went great! I went grocery shopping last night and picked up some Nivea For Men Q10 Aftershave Balm. It works great for after the shave AND DURRING! I mixed a dimesize dab of it with my Taylor's Lavender shave-soap and it had a great effect. The smell was outstanding combined with the TOBS Lavender scent.

If you are breaking out with pimples on your chin, try using alcohol on just your chin area immediatelly after the shave; if your skin can take the abuse.

The aftershave I use is 55% alcohol, so I'm already getting that. I think I'm pressing too hard on the chin. I notice that I use more pressure on the more difficult areas. Need to work on keeping that light touch no matter what.

I really like reading your post and it so reminds me of my first endeavors at using a straight. The left hand will become very easy to use and eventually becomes second nature.

If I might suggest. Using the toe of the razor gives you more control with the pressure of the razor so that when you are doing your upper lip it is easier to do with the toe.

For after shave stuff, try "Nivea Extreme Comfort post shave Balm" it is fairly cheap at about $6. Even today I use it when I get a really close shave and it does help with skin repair if it is needed. I carry one in my glove box of my work truck because it really works very well.


Keep at it,
Richard

Had my 7th shave tonight, probably took me about an hour.

tl;dr version:
Razor: John Williams Damascus Sheffield. 3rd shave with it.
Stropping: 50 on the linen, 100 on the leather.
Beard prep: Using MWF. Lather in shower, conditioner, lather post shower, relather a few times during shave.
Shave: Better stretching, experimenting with opposite hand, left chin alone as still has some shave rash.
Issues: Lather is drying out, razor seems to dull down by end of shave.

Reader's digest version:
All right. GF (girlfriend) is off at work, last shave was 2 days ago, so time to go at it again. I decide to stick with my John Williams, give it a solid stropping and see what I can do with it. It doesn't quite have the edge the dovo does, as the razor is about 100 years old and the dovo is brand new and honed by Lynn. It still has a decent edge (I've been looking closely under a lens) so I want to see what I can do with it. I know my stropping technique needs work (which newb's technique doesn't?) so I really focus on my grip and keeping the right pressure. I gave my strop 100 hand strokes to warp it up first, and then go to town. I think I may be pulling the strop a bit hard, as that hand gets tired after a bit. Mostly I'm focusing on my grip and proper pressure as I strop. I find that as I start a stroke, I'm not quite done with the rolling of the razor, and since I bring the edge down softly it doesn't actually make contact with the strop until I'm half way threw the stroke. I feel I'm getting the pressure right so instead of trying to get it contacting faster, I just do extra strops to make sure its done proper.

Stropping done, I gather my equipment. Boil some water and put it in my scuttle and let my brush soak while I hop in the shower. I shampoo my hair, and rub some in by beard as well. Rinse that out, grab my badger brush, whip up some MWF lather and work it in my face for a few minutes. I then rinse it off and rub the conditioner in by hand really good and let that sit while I proceed to wash the rest of my body. Last thing I do in the shower is rinse the conditioner off well, I hop out, dry off, get some pants on and start to work up the lather again.

I'm unsure if I'm really working the lather up properly. I tend to get a good bunch of lather in my bowl quickly and start working it into my face, where the lather really thickens up. Problem is, the lather seems to be drying on my face within a few minutes. By the time I'm done with my right cheek, the left side (while still lathered) seems to not be as moist. So next time I'm going to try and make a wetter lather and see how that holds up. I ended up relathering more frequently, not because the lather was gone, but it simply didn't feel wet. I added some water to the lather and worked it around with the brush, but it still seemed to dry out quickly. I also noticed that as time went on, more of the shaving scum was sticking to my razor and that it wasnt' easy to rinse off. I got it off with light stropping on the towel, but I think that is a sign that my lather really wasn't wet enough. I may try the Kissmyface soap next time and see if that holds the water better.

So anyway, to the shave. I think my angle really has been closer to 45 degrees than 30 degrees, so I really lower it down. Keeping a super light touch and making short strokes with the super stropped John Williams gave me a nice clean shave. As before, the short strokes allowed me to more frequently adjust the hand I used to stretch my skin and this equated to a better shave. Another thing I did different was use the opposite hand for my lower cheek. This didn't necessarily give me better control over the razor (wasn't really worse either), but what it did allow me was better stretch of the skin.

I've been adopting the attitude that of each aspect of the shave, I can make it better. Before I was thinking, "my skin is tight enough this way," but now I'm trying to figure out ways to get it tighter. I thought I had a light touch before, but now I'm really trying to have that razor barely touch my skin. I figure I can get complacent and think that I'm doing good enough, or I can take the attitude that there is always room for improvement. Of the two, the former will get me no-where, the latter will make me better.

I did my whole face except the chin, which still had some remnants of the shaving rash (read here). I started to work around the bottom lip a little, as I did shave the top lip and thought it would be a shame to have a stubbly bottom lip for kissing the lady.

I also noticed that the razor seemed to be dulling by the end. It was getting a bit catchy at times. In that other thread I was advised to keep the shave comfortable, that its when it is uncomfortable that your are doing damage to your skin. So I just took my time and just made tiny strokes getting just a few hairs at a time. There is a desire to want that ultra sharp edge that will simply slice threw all hair in one whack, but the reality is I don't have the skill to keep that kind of edge for the whole shave, so by the time I get to my lips I need to just take it easy. This realization put me at ease and I was able to finish up comfortably, even though I had to take more time. By this time I was also adding lots of water to my lather, and having to relather a lot.

So anyway, I finish up around my lip and rinse off with nice cold water. I gave my razor a good drying with tissue paper, then gave it a quick 25 on the linen, 25 on the leather to make sure the edge was free of moisture and/or shaving remnants. I splashed on the bay rum (OUCH!) and sat down to write my update.

I did think of an analogy though that I feel is apt. In the past, I have spent a lot of time painting buildings. There is a saying in the painting business that 95% of a job is prep, and the last 5% is the actual painting. It seems the same applies to shaving. While good technique during the shave is of course important, it is more important that you have prepped well before hand; A razor properly honed and stropped, good lather with a good soap and brush, softened beard hair from a nice shower or hot towel. The shave itself is what we all look forward to, but we cannot ignore or rush through the foundation of a good shave to get to it.

So, till next time!
Lather well my friends