Thread: 1st straight razor shave = worst shave ever

Hi all - I'm Michael and new to this place.

First, let say a big thank you to Lynn and everyone here who has posted so much information. This place is an amazing resource!

I've enjoyed shaving since I first started. My father got a me a shaving "kit" for X-mas when I was ready to start shaving, and have used a brush ever since. But I've always used disposable cartridges. I've never really had a bad shave - some worse than others, but for the most part all of my shaving experience had been good, and I've always highly enjoyed shaving.

When I was in college I went on a study abroad program to Greece and Turkey, and had my first straight razor shave in Ankara when I was about 21. Ever since then I've wanted to try SRS myself, so I finally got a basic Dovo 5/8" and a 3" latigo strop. I got it from SRD because it was professionally sharpened and shave ready.

Everything arrived to day, and I had at it. It was the worst shave of my life. Granted it was my 1st SRS and I've got a learning curve, but this was ridiculous! A coupe of nicks, nothing too bad, but serious razor burn and pulling. Lots of blood. My neck is on fire!!!

This is what I can come up with;
1) inexperience
2) the razor wasn't sharp enough. OOTB I wasn't really impressed w/ it's sharpness. I'm a private chef and have Japanese knives that I sharpen myself on waterstones (Shapton GlassStones). I can get my knives plenty sharp for my needs, but I don't consider myself an expert sharpener by any means. My new razor wasn't noticeably sharper than my kitchen knives - would not pass a hanging hair test.
3) Didn't lather my new shave cream properly. I've been using a liquid soap from MyChelle called So Clean, and it's been GREAT. But I wanted something different and got some Truefitt & Hill shave cream. I build lather on my face. This technique w/ this cream didn't raise a thick lather - it was kinda flat, but thick, and dry. Try as I might I couldn't get a wet slick lather on my face. I think this exaggerated the effects of a not-sharp-enough blade.

If anyone has any thoughts or comments, I'm all ears. I'm not ready to give up, but I need to do something different to get better results. Thanks for lending me your ears! mpp

Posts like yours come up on nearly a daily basis. Human nature leads most to blame the tool. Often with a little more practice the novice shaver notices that his razors seems to keep getting sharper and sharper. HERE is a perfect example of this. If you keep practicing, you too will probably have the same experience. If you persist in your belief that the razor is not sharp enough, contact Lynn, who honed it, and discuss it with him.
Don't give up!

Thanks for the link.

I know the major cause of my bad shave is due to inexperience with SR's. I didn't want to come across as blaming the balde, but it came across that way - I was thinking about possible areas to adress. It just wasn't as sharp as I had expected it to be. If it's shave ready from Lynn, then I'll take his word for it.

Once my face heals in a coupe of days I'll try it again, this time w/ better lather. In the meantime I'll pay more attention to stropping and see what I can come up with.

Welcome Michael. I can tell you right now from my own personal experience, that your problems lie solely and wholly with your in-experience.In shaving, as well as prep.The T&H lather will be different to what you have been currently using, as all creams, soaps etc seem to be different in ease of creating a lather. Some creams are harder to work into a lather than others and so too some soaps. It all comes down to practice. Don't despair, every single one of us has been right where you are now and the majority of us have gone on to, or are going on to, getting the best shaves our faces have experienced. There are always some who don't stay the course, but it is a case of what is right for the individual. There are no failures here. If you try it, then you have not failed, but if you don't try it for long enough you may not succeed either.


Mick

yep!!! been there myself but I started with a Dovo Shavette just to see if id like it and it too was the worst shave ever but I could not blame the blade cause those Dovo blades are insane sharp. It boiled down to i had no idea what i was doing now 7 months later I get a BBS almost every time with my C&S 5/8 or any of my other 7 razors as long as the stroping and honing is up to par. I got a Dovo Best 4/8 honed by Lynn from SRD awesome shave outta the box!!

when i first started shaving i had similar experiences i have a solingen that was part of a kit and it was sharp out of the box but my problem was i didnt understand the angles i held the blade like i would a razor and i ended up pulling the hairs. once i figured out that this blade required a lower angle ive had BBS smooth shaves since. best advice try shaving it on your arm or leg try using different angles

Well I'm a beginner too; have been using a shavette just about every day for the past month or more. All I can say is my biggest beginner mistake (besides starting with a shavette instead of the real deal) was the angle. My angle was way too steep my first couple shaves and when I widened it up to 25-30 degrees, it was like a whole new ball game all of the sudden.

Also, I'm only 31 and my skin is pretty tight so I didn't think I had to stretch it like all these old guys around here ( ) talk about. Boy was I wrong. Stretching helped immensely. Keep at it.


Lawrence

My experience was similar. I am a newbie, too. I have been getting better and better shaves by finding the correct angle, but also LIGHTEN UP! I don't mean your demeanor I mean, use WAY less pressure. I started doing that, and found it was worlds better. Once you lighten up with the pressure, lighten up some more! I just couldn't grasp that concept even though the guys here kept talking about it. Try to take the lather off of your face without cutting the hair. You should be getting in the ballpark then. An alcohol based aftershave (I just discovered and love Pinaud CLubman) will definitely let you know how you did

Like the previous posters have said, you need to practice this a bit before you get the hang of it!
Focus on a couple of things first off:

Be sure to prep your face really good. Take a hot shower, and make a few dry runs practicing building a wet and thick lather.

Make sure to stretch your skin so that every single stroke is on taut skin.

Reduce pressure. Trust the tool, it will cut even if it doesn't feel like you are pushing it.
It should Barely touch skin at all.

Use correct angles. About a couple spine widths away from the skin as a starting point.

Only shave a cheek or two starting out. Get that down untill you feel your tech is improved a bit.

Good luck!

I just finished my fourth month of shaving with a straight razor. I didn't find my stride until the 100th shave.

My only suggestion: Take it really slow. Only shave your sideburn areas for a week or two until you get the feel of the razor and how lightly you can use it. Gradually progress after that.

When the razor is sharp, it should do it's job without irritation IF you do good pre-shave prep and use the lightest of touches with no more than a twenty degree angle.

Hang in there. It will get better!

My first shave resulted in a two-inch long deep cut in front of each of my ears from using a dull razor with a spike point. The spike sliced me really well. But, it did get better. Now I use straights 90% of the time and love them.