Bad shave but....

I had a really crap shave with my straight the other day. I thought it was about as sharp as it was going to get on my strop, kinda pretty much did the HHT. Got to the shave and oooooooh blimey, awful :( Catchy and just not getting the hairs. Considering I managed something a whole load better a few days earlier I`m not sure why things were that bad. I couldn`t wait until it was over, I was frustrated at not being able to find my M3 to finish the job and all too aware that a straight razor in annoyed hands is a recipe for trouble. I managed to get the rest of the hair off my upper lip with it before putting it away and chalking this shave up as a failure. To cap it off I`m writting this with half a hair cut too! My "New" hair clippers died half way through a hair cut :( I have to wait for my mate to bring his over here before I can finish my hair cut, I look like a right pudding :( One good thing came from it though, I decided to shave with my M3 again today and not use my Straight until I`ve at least got a pasted strop for it (which is on the way) I was surprised to find that I got a MUCH better shave out of my M3 just because I`ve gotten to know my face and it`s whiskers a LOT better through learning to shave with a straight razor. I was really pleased actually ! This can only be a very good thing. :) Spare strops, on the way, paste, check! Hones? Soooon.....
Anyone else found they`re bog standard shave has improved just from learning to straight face giving you a better understanding of your face? :)

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Originally Posted by Feebo

I was frustrated at not being able to find my M3 to finish the job and all too aware that a straight razor in annoyed hands is a recipe for trouble. I managed to get the rest of the hair off my upper lip with it before putting it away and chalking this shave up as a failure.

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Mate, that was probably the best things you could have done for yourself in this situation. It's hard to say what went wrong exactly, could be any number of things. It sounds like you've had some successful straight shaves already, but technique could still be an issue. It likely could be a stropping or sharpness issue as well.

Hang in there, you'll get it down eventually. Gains and setbacks are all part of this game.

Ryan

Personally I don't believe in any bad shaves..just something to improve on!...keep at it!..I after 3.5montgs have significally improved due to my original newbie errors..but hey..that's parta life!...best wishes n happy 4th!

Pcdad

I've had this exact experience before. Try the newspaper and CroOx if you can't wait for the strop to arrive.

Keep up the fight as I've also had the opposite experience recently where suddenly everything just worked. No more explanation for that than for the bad shave. It just happened one day.

--David

Oh I`ll keep it up! When I have trouble doing anything it just spurs me on to master it, it becomes a bit of an obsession until I get it right lol I`ve got my Cromium oxide on the way along with a few strops (including a 1920`s no 16) so I`m not even using the straight until I`ve had the oportunity to get it on something a little more abrasive than just leather. I`m sure that will do it actually, I won`t be needing the set of hones I`ve bought for ages yet. I love my tools though, especially the finer ones! I`ve got a load of stones for my engraving kit but new ones were needed for this obviously so I`ve bought these...
Naniwa Super Waterstone for sharpening knives and tools - eBay (item 280521741028 end time Jul-15-10 10:35:02 PDT)

Nice :) If a few goes on the pasted strop don`t improve things (which I think they will, it`s not THAT dull) I`ll start at the finest stone and try it after each go. New tools are like christmas in my workshop lol :)

One of my new strops turned up today, two new spare razors aswell which are actually easier to hold than my first one. I plan to keep one as an initial honing practice razor, just to make sure I`m good with that and the other just as a spare so I can keep two sharp and ready. Anyway, the seller had kindly included two disposable straight razors. :) Nice. Those are definitely going to be shave ready aren`t they, so I wonder if using one of those will shown up any bad technique? If I`m finding my razor a bit catchy because I`m not quite getting it right, well this should tell me shouldn`t it? Got the first of my pastes too, I`m looking forward to being able to totally look after my razors when my honing kit gets here :)