Thread: Frustration

Originally Posted by commiecat

Nothing good will come from increasing pressure.

Boy ain't that the truth - not for shaving and not for stropping

Alembic - I had actually noticed this a few years ago. The lower part of my neck grows upwards, while the upper part grows downwards. My jaw line grows away from my chin. I had read this is important and have tried to adjust for it. I can tell right off that I can't shave the area like I did with the disposables. So yea, I have noticed.

commiecat - I had read the beginner's post and had tried to start with just the sideburn area (from my hair line to my neck next to the ear). 4 or 5 passes later (with multiple variations on the angle, approach, pulling my face and so on) I had learned a bit, felt the razor burn and figured it would come with time.

I will shave more lightly. Thank you.

While I am not seeking a perfect shave on a single pass, I guess I'd like to see a good shave after the final pass.

I am in the exact same boat. But I am trying to be more patient. I started with my dominate side, dominate hand and did the side burn area. So far so good. I am expanding small areas of my face and neck and each shave gets better but once I hit the wall... I go back to my old shaving method. In this cas a nice DE. If it wasn't for the DE I would either be cut to shreds or very patchy looking with a long beard on the left and a clean shaved face on the right. keep at it and enjoy the journey.

You should not be stropping at 30 degrees. That will ruin the razor's edge. When stropping you should be holding the razor FLAT against the strop.

Razor burn is a function of pressure of the blade against your face. You are pressing too hard. With a proper sharp blade, you should need no pressure.

Try less than 30 degrees.

If your razor is truly "shave ready" then you should'nt be having so much problems. Once I received a "shave ready" razor, I was learning the best angle, and how to shave the different parts of my face. That learning took a while, and I had a few nicks, but nothing like I am hearing. It leads me to think your razor is not sharp, but it's hard to tell not being there. The important thing is to stop you from tearing up your face now.

I suggest that you send out the razor to one of the guys here and have it honed and stropped to shave ready, and then try again with a known sharp blade "without stropping it" so you know it is not your stropping technique. Also your 30 degrees may not be my "30 degrees".

If I hold the razor flat to my face, it will flow smooth, but cut little hair. That is 0 degrees. If I hold it at 90 degrees, it will scrape across the skin and perhaps cut hair, but ouch! Try like 10 degrees or 15 and see what that does...... If it is pulling and grabbing stop and go no further until getting a known sharp razor!!!!!

Originally Posted by Nadie

Ok. I have the 'poor man's strop' from whipped dog. It hangs in front of my sink on the door. Prior to my shave I either shower or put a hot towel on my face. If I use the towel, I wet it with hot water and hold it there for a minute, sometimes 2.

I then strop the razor 30 to 50 times. I run it so the spine faces forward (blade back), rotate on the spine and repeat. I keep the angle between 30 and 15. It passes the shave the arm hair test, easily.

I then put more water and moisten up my sideburns, put the cream on them.

I then shave slowly. I have my shaving arm at a 30 degree angle. I use my other arm to pull my face up. I move down my face in 1/4 inches at a time. I am slow and try to be firm and light. I then proceed to the cheek area. Then I do the jaw line. All with the grain.

In between each area, I wet the area, clean my blade on the towel, and proceed. I have learned that I have more control with the center and back of the blade, but I am not seeing the ultimate results (though I see this as progress as I get more hair this way).

I then do the neck. This is the area I actually do well in. At this point, I have the 'goatee' area.

I do the upper lip. I can't get the angle. I can't get my face to flatten well. I can get some of it done, but I miss so much. Under the lip I do a little better. Between that patch and the chin I do ok as well.

With the chin, I resort to going across the grain to get more removed.

The entire time I try to keep the angle at 30 degrees (I think that's the recommended angle). I take my time. I clean up when 'done'. I stop when I know I will really burn and hurt my face.

I put the razor down when done and hang my head in defeat.

If you've been stropping at an angle, you've probably destroyed your edge. Does the razor pull on your face? Or does it glide?

I would recommend not shaving your whole face. Do ONLY one part and do not move on. For me I started with my dominant side cheek. I used my DE on the rest of my face till I felt comfortable with that one spot. Eventually, you'll get better and then feel comfortable to move onto another spot, and then another spot, till finally you're doing your whole face.

Just go slow, there isn't any rush. Even if you only shave one cheek for years, that's fine as long as you're having fun!

Let us know how your future shaves go!

As far as under your nose goes, what I did that worked was I started with the blade flat against the very bottom of my nose, then I kind of rolled my wrist and scooped the hair off, making a motion similar to turning a key. As for the rest, I don't have anything else to add what others haven't already said. Try to keep a light touch with almost no pressure with whatever you do. Also, keep your razor totally flat on the strop. Best of luck!

Lets think this through...

First off can you tell me a bit about the razor????


Second let's go back to square one

Lets try a true shave test...

You hear this a lot on the forums but what is it????

Prep your beard really well then make the best lather you can manage, wet your face and lather up... Wait ,,, wait,,,wait about 2 minutes (During this time normally you would be stropping )

Now wet the razor.

And on your strong side using your strong hand stretching the skin by pulling with the weak hand over the top of your head...Start at the Sideburn using a 20-30 degree angle (about 2 spine widths from the face) shave to the jaw line,,, No pressure toward the skin just a nice smooth stroke WTG...

The razor should not pull, tug, or skip, in fact you should be rather surprised with how easy it was... That is it, now do the other side and stop...

If it didn't work, then it might actually be the edge... and I still say might, because there are still things in there a Newb can mess up, but we eliminated a ton of them...

Really until this works well, there is no sense in trying the rest of your face, it will just hurt...


Ok now if that doesn't work let's try stropping...

Place the strop on the edge of a table so you eliminate the sagging and flipping wrong portion...
Strop the razor 100 laps steady and evenly... Do NOT lift that spine off that strop..

Now back to the shave test

pass = great now you can start working on the shaving...

fail = send an e-mail to Larry and refer him to this thread and ask him for help...Tell him exactly what you have tried thus far... Maybe he can touch it up for you...

Nadie,

It really will get better with time and practice

Those who are new to straight razor shaving have a very steep learning curve - in addition to the shave itself, we have the stropping and maintenance of the blade.

I have been straight shaving for a couple of years, and I still have times when I hit the doldrums

e.g. Last Christmas, for some unkown reason my stropping suddenly went all to crap. I bit the bullet and sorted it out - friendly advice from SRP members helped tremendously.

Lately, my honing has gone to crap too. I again am biting the bullet, and am in the process of working around the problem.

You will learn to take these set-backs in your stride, and you will bounce back.

Your learning knowledge will be very valuable for others who follow in your footsteps.

The shave from a straight, and also the art of shaving with a straight is so fine and good that is well worth weathering the 'storms for !

Good luck !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

Hi Nadie,

So far, it sounds like the gentlemen here are giving you some great advice and encouragement. Keep at it and it will come together for you. Check the Wiki for some shaving and stropping videos. SRP member Jockeys has some great videos that helped me tremedously when I started. Keep us posted on your progress.

My advice is to lay the blade absolutely flat on your face with the first WTG pass. Reduce the length of your beard. With the next WTG pass, after relathering, you can raise the angle. (Laying the blade flat is something some old time barbers manuals suggest. It makes razor burn almost impossible. And, it achieves the most important initial task: reducing the length of your beard to (close to) skin level.)

You might have dulled the blade during stropping also. If in any doubt, just shoot me an email and I will send you a loaner straight razor. (I am WhippedDog, and you have my contact information.)

Good luck!