first shave, not what I hoped for.

Just did my first straight razor shave ever. A new, Dovo razor honed by Lynn Abrams. (It easily passed the hair test) Prepped with hot towels, shave oil, and G.Trumpers shave cream on a beaver brush. It was painful with a lot of pulling sensation from my whiskers. Not a close shave at all. Couldn't get near my chin for the scraping sensation. Hmmm. Thought I had the pre-shave routine down, as I have been using the brush/Trumpers for a couple weeks. Watched the Lynn Abrams DVD twice. He made it look so simple and non-painful. I havent had a shaving experience that miserable since my wife used my sensor XL on her legs without telling me. I want to say that my beard wasn't soft enough. Maybe not enough hot towell time? I just cranked up my hot water heater to see if that helps. I also usually shave in the shower so hopefully the heat will help. Overall, pretty disapointed. Now I am drinking a Bells Kalamazoo Stout and sulking. At least I didn't cut myself...... Any advice would be appreciated

Sounds like a pretty standard first shave to me.

Getting a good shave from a straight takes much more than a sharp razor, but solid technique as well. This only develops over time and experience, so be patient. Reading up and watching videos will help, but that cannot replace experience. Within the first dozen shaves, if you focus on developoing your technique, you should be getting decent shaves. Before you know it you will be getting the closest and most comfortable shave a man can get. Part of the joy and satisfaction from straight shaving comes from knowing it is your technique that gives you such a good shave. Your face also needs time to adjust to the straight razor, so try not to do anything to aggressive, or do lots of passes for a month or so.

Oh, and welcome to SRP and congratulations on your first straight shave!

Scutler,

+1 on the previous observation and advice. Don't despair. One's first straight razor shave usually isn't the best.

It sounds like your prep is ok...You may want to check your blade angle though. Also, next time try just shaving one side of your face, concentrating on getting the angle of the razor correct, before proceeding to try and shave your entire face.

As for the neck and chin...Leave them for last. They are the most diffocult areas of the face to shave.

It takes time and patience..don't despair. Make sure your blade angle is 30 degrees or less, that might help. And keep trying the beard prep. Good luck :)

Your experience sounds remarkably similar to my first SR shave. Keep at it, focus on the blade angle, light touch, and you'll notice a huge difference with each successive shave.

Also, I would not recommend shaving with a straight in the shower. You'll likely drop the razor. Not good.

Welcome to the site.

SVC

Helpful reading.http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...icipation.html

Do not take your straight razor into the shower. You will never be able to get the scales dry and it will rust, not to mention the possiblility of dropping it or cutting yourself!!!

Hang in there and be patient. This is a learned art. It usually doesn't just happen.

Have fun,

Lynn

Thanks for the support. When talking about shave angle of 30 degrees, do you mean 30d angle between the skin and blade? So this would be shallower than what I was trying to use. I read the thread saying stick with the sideburn/cheek area until you get it and that seems like good advice. I also purshased a 4000/8000 waterstone for honing but didn't realize there is another step before stropping. Any advice there? I'm hoping not to hone for awhile.

Im positive if Lynn honed your razor its a excellent shave ready edge.
1. Make sure whiskers are good n wet, hot towel, post shower ect.
2. Try face lathering it seems to really helps to soften whiskers
3. Keep razor at thirty degree angle and use a light touch and only do a maximum of 2 passes over areas to be shaved
4. Use good post shave treatment I recomend alum followed by after shave works excellent for me

Bare in mind a straight razor shaving exfoliates your skin so there will be an ajustment period of you getting use to this type of shaving

Make sure you are stropping prior to every shave, I do 35-40 linnen, 45-50 leather.

Hope that helped
Regards, Tony B

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scutler

Thanks for the support. When talking about shave angle of 30 degrees, do you mean 30d angle between the skin and blade? So this would be shallower than what I was trying to use. I read the thread saying stick with the sideburn/cheek area until you get it and that seems like good advice. I also purshased a 4000/8000 waterstone for honing but didn't realize there is another step before stropping. Any advice there? I'm hoping not to hone for awhile.

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Yes, 30 degrees or less between skin and razor. You shouldn't need to hone for quite some time either, and I wouldn't recommend trying to learn to hone until you have the shaving part down.

Here is what you should focus on.
Pre Shave
Stropping. You want a swift stroke, but a cautious turn. If you try to stroke like greased lightning you will just cut up your strop and destroy the keen edge on your razor. Also, the edge of the razor should only be in contact with the strop while the razor is in motion. In the very beginning and end of each stroke the edge should be off the strop.

Beard Prep: Overdoing it is better than underdoing it. For one, it is easy to underdo it which will only hurt your shaving experience. Secondly, overdoing it will soften the hairs just that little bit more and help a bit with your current lack of technique.

During the shave, focus on these few things:
Keep the skin tight. Try to stretch in a direction that lifts the hairs up to a more vertical position. This makes them easier to cut and gives you a closer shave.

Keep the angle right. Constantly reassess if your angle is 30 degrees or less, as this is the easiest to mess up in the beginning. Another way to judge the angle is with spine widths. For my razor, I like to see about 2 spine widths between my skin and spine.

Keep the pressure light. With straights, more pressure = worse shave. Resist the temptation to press harder when you aren't getting a close shave, instead go back to finding a better way to stretch and keeping your angles good. Remember that a single WTG pass will only get you so far (in the beginning anyway, some experienced guys can get BBS with WTG). For that nice smooth BBS shave you will need to do XTG and ATG. However, your face needs to adjust to the razor, so its not recommended to try XTG or ATG for few weeks.

Other than that, you can get a closer shave with smaller strokes and frequent readjusting of the stretching hand than you can with longer strokes without frequent stretch hand readjustment.

If you focus on developing good technique, you will be getting great shaves before you know it.

Scutler, when I switched from a the feather system to a DOVO straight two months ago, it wasn't easy the first time. But I did a wise thing. I took my wife into the bathroom with me. She's super clever with her hands. She pointed out that my grip on the razor was not like those of the experts. My palm was facing outwards, toward the mirror. The good shavers we observed online had their palm mostly curled around, where their eyes could see it (if that communicates). The grip is everything. Do it exactly like the great ones and you will be great. (Well, not that I'm great myself, but I'm making good progress.) Another thing, don't scrimp on the shaving cream, and make sure enough hot water is in it to make a lubricating lather. Again, just watch where your hands are.

Just stick with it man and go slow. I think I started about this time last year and it was a rough start for me too but it ain't hard no more. I'm no expert, not even close, but I can get a good shave. I don't go fast but I don't really want to.

I know exactly where you are coming from scutler. I had the same experience starting, looked like a horror movie, and if that wasnt enough i work in the military where everyone sees everyone so needless to say people noticed. I've come a ways. Focus on gentle touch and stretch the skin... i cant stress that enough. Take your time, and if it feels like your getting the hang of it, and shaving with the same speed and glide of a disposable...STOP! THat means you're going to fast, too long, and too hard. Most cases aside from shaving that wouldnt be bad. But when it comes to a sharp blade on your face and throat, its all about double thinking and paying attention. Hope this helps.

Thanks! Looking for two spine widths from the skin seems easier than trying to guess an angle. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I will undoubtably be her stud whenI figure this out.

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Originally Posted by Scutler

Thanks! Looking for two spine widths from the skin seems easier than trying to guess an angle. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I will undoubtably be her stud whenI figure this out.

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There are pics of some razor maker's instructions (Torrey,Boker & Kropp IIRC) floating around & they all use near identical wording. "Lay the razor virtually as flat as possible"
The worst thing that can happen is it doesn't shave close. You then adjust upwards a tad & find the sweet spot.

Thanks onimaru, will try that. I stropped this morning and seemed to lose a little edge. Was trying to be careful to keep blade flat, and only turning on the spine, but my razor now fails the hair test. The strop is from vintage blades, new, and they said no break-in needed. My question is, do I need to send the blade off for honing again?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scutler

Thanks onimaru, will try that. I stropped this morning and seemed to lose a little edge. Was trying to be careful to keep blade flat, and only turning on the spine, but my razor now fails the hair test. The strop is from vintage blades, new, and they said no break-in needed. My question is, do I need to send the blade off for honing again?

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No. The hanging hair test is not reliable as there are many factors that play a roll in it. As long as you are careful to strop spine leading only, your razor shouldn't need to be honed for a few months.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scutler

Thanks onimaru, will try that. I stropped this morning and seemed to lose a little edge. Was trying to be careful to keep blade flat, and only turning on the spine, but my razor now fails the hair test. The strop is from vintage blades, new, and they said no break-in needed. My question is, do I need to send the blade off for honing again?

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With stropping, 90% of newbs strop too heavily & roll the edge by lifting the spine the other 10% strop too lightly & roll the edge by lifting the spine :) Those statistics are purely fictional :D
If you can't restore the razor to its former glory by stropping it may well need a hone or maybe simply 'correct stropping' but see how it shaves first.
Stropping is one of the most difficult things to learn because of its kinaesthetic nature yet most of the instruction you get is visual & aural. In the past guys have posted videos of themselves stropping for critique. You could consider that or see if someone local could show you the ropes.

I have vivid and very painful memories of my first straight shave. I thought it would be 1,2,3 easy as pie. Boy was I wrong.

If you've done your homework and researched all the facets of shaving on this site and you think you have everything down knowledge wise it's just a matter of gaining experience and putting into practice what you know and have read. That just takes time which varies from person to person.

If things don't improve over the short term then you need to start examining just what you are doing.

Your story takes us all back to when we started. I had a red face, weepers, and my hand was nervously shaking the whole time. Doing it all over again, I would just start with small sections, using small repeating strokes and building off of that with each successive shave. Use whatever razor works for you now to finish up the job.

I sounds like you have every thing else working for you, so you will just continue moving up the learning curve and someday, voila! - a BBS shave that you will rave about on SRP!

Keep the faith and don't give up.

Pabster

Try to imagine what angle the blades on your safety razors hit your face and mimic that.

Oh yeah, thats better. So I flattened my angle, a lot, and what a difference it made. Much more comfortable and actually a closer shave than the old Gillette sensor! I was feeling confident and finished both cheeks and sideburns down to the jawline and was able to switch hands for the left side. The right neck area was attempted, but it wasn't that close so I went over it with the sensor. The chin and mustache area are still scary and I didn't try to tackle that yet. I am guessing I will need to pull or push my nose around quite a bit to get the angle for the middle of the upper lip. Overall, I am much happier with my second attempt.

I also slowed down my stropping stoke and was very careful with it. Not sure how much this helped with the comfort of the shave, but I was happy with it.

Scott

Congrats . Sounds like you did a bunch of things right :)

Great to hear your progress! The first few shaves are always a struggle, but once you start seeing progress on the learning curve, things really start developing nicely.

You will get it. Just hang in there. My TWO good shaves so far, of seven, showed me that the blade gets sharper and smoother when ur doing something rite.