Thread: against the grain, and a couple new guy questions

still using the shavette (unfortunately). a couple things things..

1)anytime i find myself shaving against the grain, the razor doesn't move real easy against the face, it tugs and gets caught up on the hair. i do have pretty coarse hair.. i knew this much.. any ideas?

2)my chin and jaw line.. any tips.. because i'm sure i'm not the only one has had a hard time shaving those particular spots.

3)i'm using a shaving cream, not a soap or aeresol, the brand is 'art of shaving'.. but from what i've found it dries by the time i get half way across my face.. it doesn't make a real thick lather like you see in the aeresol stuff, but i dont have complaints about that. i just wants something that won't dry out quite so fast. maybe soaps a better option? or just use more water?

Originally Posted by tsa7x13

still using the shavette (unfortunately). a couple things things..

1)anytime i find myself shaving against the grain, the razor doesn't move real easy against the face, it tugs and gets caught up on the hair. i do have pretty coarse hair.. i knew this much.. any ideas?

2)my chin and jaw line.. any tips.. because i'm sure i'm not the only one has had a hard time shaving those particular spots.

3)i'm using a shaving cream, not a soap or aeresol, the brand is 'art of shaving'.. but from what i've found it dries by the time i get half way across my face.. it doesn't make a real thick lather like you see in the aeresol stuff, but i dont have complaints about that. i just wants something that won't dry out quite so fast. maybe soaps a better option? or just use more water?

1) Make sure the angle is much shallower for ATG, the blade should be almost parallel to your face. Good skin stretching also makes a much bigger difference with ATG than other passes.

2) Don't try to warp the blade around with a single pass. Use many short strokes instead of fewer longer strokes. Keep an eye on the angles and keep that skin stretched.

3) I think everyone who wet shaves should at least try traditional shaving soap and brush. Mitchell's Wool Fat is my favorite, but can be hard to get. I also like to use KissMyFace vanilla shaving soap, which makes a beautiful, thick, long lasting lather with great lubrication and fragrance. It has the benefit of being found in most natural food stores and has a very reasonable price.

I'd like to put in another comment supporting the skin stretching. I started SR shaving in early October, and like you (and most newbies), had problems with the same things. Think of skin stretching as the ATG strategy and use your razor to cut off the exposed whiskers. You can use several different angles to cut the whiskers effectively without the risk of the ATG pass. I can easily go ATG with a DE. Not so with a SR, but I can accomplish the same result with a SR with the skin stretching.

About lather, if it dries out, put the razor down and rinse it off and reapply - no matter how far you are into the pass. If you need to improve your lather, then practice when you're not shaving. Use that time to figure out all the differences between brushes and soaps/creams.

All these things take patience when you're learning (me too), and I think increasing your tolerance to slow down and do it right helps the more than anything else.

Good advice there from mark. Just to add a few things on the jaw line I found going across the grain both going away from the center line of my face and towards the center line helped get it smooth. And with your cream if it is drying out like that it is most likly due to not enough water. What you can try is the next time you build your lather once you get to were you have been add just the smallest amount of water more (I am only talking like a 5 or 6 drops of water more) that will probally get you where you want to be. If you start to shave and find that it is still drying out add a couple more drops and relather.

I do agree with mark in that I tend to like soaps more than creams and you can always pick up a vdh puck or williams mug soap puck for a couple bucks to try at alomst any box store or drug store.

1) Do you go ATG on the 1st pass ?? I know I CAN'T do that. If you're going ATG on subsequent passes and it still pulls, it's possible your face just can't tolerate it. There's a reason why some barbers suggest to NEVER go ATG. Personnally, no matter what I do, I can't go ATG right under my chin, even if I'm on a 3rd pass.

2) Experiment. Try different angles, try tightening more, less... At one point you'll find what works for you and you'll devellop the proper muscle memory. It took me a few months to get those spots.

3) Again, experiment. Try using more water, doing more swirls with your brush, lathering directly on your face, lathering in a bowl, etc, etc, etc. But it is normal that it will dry up after a certain amount of time, creams & soaps are completely different beasts that aerosol foams. When I started out, I had to re-apply lather 2-3 times because it would indeed dry up. Now I'm able to shave my entire face before the foam gets dry.

What works for other doesn't necessarily work for you. That's one thing I find awesome about straight razor shaving, no matter how much advice you get, you still end up learning tons of things by yourself.

Good luck !

1) You need a really well honed razor to get a smooth ATG shave, so you might want to develop your honing skills and hold off on ATG for now. That is what I'm doing as I'm a newb as well. Chances are if your razor was honed when you received it but you stropped it then the edge isn't what it could be.

2) You will learn different angles, length of strokes, etc. for different parts of your face with more practice. Take it slow, and the technique will come. Everyone's face is different. Everyone's beard is different. Experiment carefully and be patient.

3) Any of the AOS creams should give you amazing lather that does not dry within a reasonable amount of time. I usually can finish en entire pass without having to re-apply cream due to dryness. Try adding a little more water, that is most likely the reason your cream is drying out. AOS creams are great quality, even if they're not considered "traditional."