Cant shave ATG or XTG??

Hey guys i just bought my first straight razor a 5/8 Genco Henry's X Full Hollow.

well when i received it i did the arm hair test and one off my head and it wasn't cutting through them, however im still inexperienced, so i though well il give it a try and see.

considering it was my first shave i was expecting to cut myself. I did the preparation and gave myself a while to practice. I stropped it on a leather belt and shaved, only nicked myself 3 times nothing too bad mainly on my ears lol gotta work on that.

Well its been 5 days, i have been shaving everyday to practice not something i do all the time just my neck and side of my face because i normally wear a chin strap beard/ goatee.

I have been doing fairly well not expecting too much to start and haven't been nicking myself too much. I have been dong three passes WTG but it still feels stubbly, when i try to shave ATG i can't like i have to apply a lot of pressure to be able to and that worries me.

I think my razor is not sharp enough because when i shave WTG i still get resistance and feel a little drag. Also not sure if this is a reason or not but i have pretty coarse hair.

I currently have a 1000 minosharp, 6000 king, and a 16000 shapton glass waterstones, i have been holding off honing because im still new but i think i need to do it.

should i just go with the 6k and 16k then strop? or take it down to the 1k as well?

Ill stop you right there.

First off where did you get your razor?

Secondly apply no pressure while you shave, I assume your doing long strokes? Try several short strokes.

And thirdly don't touch your hones. I didn't think that people like me were so common. I totally ruined my first razor on the hones. I had no idea and have no idea or what I'm doing on them. Sure I can sharpen a kitchen knife, but a razor is a different beast. The long of the short is, my first razor needs the bevel reset.

I'm new too, but it's more than likely the way you are shaving than the blade. Especially if you got it from someone or place that know what they are doing.

It sounds like sharpness. You should not have to apply more than the barest pressure. Your best bet is to either send it out to get honed by one of the honemeisters here, or in the alternative, pick up another razor from Larry Andro at whipped dog or one of the ones from the classifieds. That way you have a comparison.

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Originally Posted by JohnJ

It sounds like sharpness. You should not have to apply more than the barest pressure. Your best bet is to either send it out to get honed by one of the honemeisters here, or in the alternative, pick up another razor from Larry Andro at whipped dog or one of the ones from the classifieds. That way you have a comparison.

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I received it from a member on here, that has had great reviews and was shave ready.

i believe it is as i am shaving with it but i still believe it needs to be sharper.

i know it could also be my technique but i feel as if i should be able to shave against the grain without applying pressure and this is not the case.

i was hoping to have have to send it out to be sharpened, reason why i have the stones, i have been watching lots of videos and i think i can do it, i will try it on the 16k so that i dont remove much metal but try to refine the edge a bit and the strop it again and see if it helps at all.

any other input is gladly appreciated

DO NOT HONE!!!

First, get a proper strop, a belt is not a strop. The grain in a belt runs all different directions and the width is a hindrance. It is very likely that you could have rolled the edge in stropping, these edges are very delicate and if there are any creases or imperfections in the stropping surface or if you used too much pressure, flipped the razor edge down, touched the end of the belt with the edge...
You don't know what a sharp razor feels like yet. I know it sounds strange, but a very common post (I've done it myself) is the self sharpening razor post. It really seems like a razor will get sharper with use, that is experience and knowledge of how to interpret feedback kicking in.
The jump from 6k-16k is too large. 6k is a sharpening stone, ~8k is a polishing stone, 16k is a finishing stone. I would even venture to say that the jump from 1k to 6k is too large especially with a king which is known as a slow cutter.
As you can see it is easy to ruin an edge and difficult to get one back. Please send it off to be rehoned. Also if you post your location we may have a member close by who could help you learn at an expedited rate and possibly hone this one for you.
Heck, if you're near me I would.

Same reply as everyone else, Don't hone.
If you feel that it really isn't cutting, then send it out to to get it honed properly, then when you get it back, don't strop, just shave with it, you should be able to get a few shaves without having to strop. At this point, you will know if it is was a problem with your razor or your technique. Obtain a decent strop, then only try and strop after a few shaves, if the quality of the edge deteriorates, this will point to your stropping as being the problem.
There's no shortcut, you just have to work through the variables, one at a time, without adding further complications, you will however eventually be rewarded with good shaves.

Honestly, it sounds to me like it might be your technique...blade angle in particular. For a WTG pass, the blade should be at about a 30 degree angle to your skin. It sounds like you're doing OK with that. But for an ATG pass, the spine should almost be touching your skin.

You should be using as little pressure as possible, using short strokes rather than long.

I would agree, this is likely a technique issue. If the edge was rolled or otherwise blunted the blade would either not cut or would be causing massive irritation. As well, it's probably not shaving optimally because you're using a belt and your stropping skills aren't yet developed.

I would normally suggest doing a few laps on a high grit finisher (like your Shapton 16k), but I have to agree with the others: you may end up doing more harm than good.

Don't worry, this is all very normal. Most newbs post that their razors aren't cutting properly and think they aren't sharp, and then a month later they realize it was their skills and not the razor. Hang in there.

Starting to shave with a straight I found every razor dull. Yes, it was due to bad technique and a beard similar to barb wire. Nowadays shaving ATG requires a real good skin stretch and I need to stretch the skin with my fingers close BEHIND the spine of the razor and using short confident strokes with a slightly steeper angle. Shaving ATG still gives me some nicks from time to time so perhaps you are better of practice to get those XTG better, but who am I to tell, I am still too eager to learn to listen to advice's.

Good luck and still more important have fun while learning and don't get discouraged by a little bit of red color.

Thanks for all the replies, i guess i will hold of honing i dont want to ruin the edge and i have a strop on the way waiting for it to arrive.

I will continue working on my technique i know it will take awhile before i get it down so im doing my best to not expect too much. I have been doing very short strokes, i have preferred shaving that way especially with a straight i feel like i will nick myself less that way too.

tbe reason i wanted to get into this is that i have very sensitive skin on my neck and when i shave with a normal or electric razor it hurts all day and i can't shave for about 3 more days untill the irritation goes away. Ive tried just about everything. The good thing is that so far i have not had any irritation with the straight :) although its not as close of a shave mostly my technique i presume i still prefer being able to shave every day rather than having it hurt for days after shaving.

thanks again guys, i will try stropping on my strop once it arrives and see if it improves at all if not i will send it to get honed unless someone is near me that could help. Im in Bradenton, FL its pretty close to sarasota or tampa.

also regarding the stones, i am looking to get a 3k and 8k just dont have the money right now.

There's too many variables for me to be sure, but in regards to the stropping comments, I slowed right down with stropping the other day and stopped going in an X and started doing an end at a time (i.e. toe in contact, kept parallel to edge, flip, toe in contact, flip, heel in contact, flip, heel in contact, etc, and trying to go REALLY lightly, and the razor actually seemed to end up being as sharp as when I got it four or so weeks ago. I think maybe it had felt less sharp than the first shave (without stropping; I didn't have a strop then). I think maybe I had rolled the edge slightly by not keeping the strop tight. As I say, too many variables, as I had new cream too, but I think, in my newbie opinion, that stropping technique really had a noticable effect.
Also, in regards to the 'don't hone' warnings, I guess there's got to come a day when we DO bight the bullet and hone. Is it possible to learn to do so by just watching videos? I'm under the impression that a razor needs to be honed roughly every three months. I realise this would be very vague, but I understand you DO need to hone SOMETIME, or is it best to send them away? I guess what I'm asking is, is it likely I'll wreck my razor?

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Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Also, in regards to the 'don't hone' warnings, I guess there's got to come a day when we DO bight the bullet and hone. Is it possible to learn to do so by just watching videos? I'm under the impression that a razor needs to be honed roughly every three months. I realise this would be very vague, but I understand you DO need to hone SOMETIME, or is it best to send them away? I guess what I'm asking is, is it likely I'll wreck my razor?

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The main reason, IMO, to wait on honing is to make sure that you have your shaving technique down, so that you can properly evaluate your honing. If you're not able to get a good shave from a well honed razor, how will you know how you're doing at honing?
You can learn to hone from the articles in the wiki, videos, and asking questions here.
You can learn to hone in a shorter period of time by meeting up with someone that knows how to hone. If there are any meets in your area, I strongly encourage you to go. If there are any mentors in your area, I highly encourage you to send them a PM and see if you can meet to learn. It will probably cut your learning curve in half if you can meet with someone.