I've taken to cheating..... I think.... Help please.

OK, I'm on my tenth or twelfth shave.... Whatever, I've lost count. Anyway, my shaves are adequate enough to not stop straight shaving but not nearly as smooth as you guys say you are getting, such as "baby but smooth. " so, I just recently found out the whole letting your razor set for 24 hours thing is complete BS and I can sharpen that bad boy any time I would like, even during shaving, so that's exactly what I did. Stropped.... Shaved untill blade was covered in lather, gave one quick pass, then repeated. Clean blade.... One pass.... Clean blade... One pass... Ect. Now, it goes without saying that, that happened to be the smoothest shave ever lol. But something telling me two things.
1) this shouldn't need to be done, and I'm probably doing something wrong, and number
B) Shooter is now going to yell at me again lol. :p

Hmmmm.....

IME, the keys to a smooth shave include the following....but are not limited to:

a) shave prep
b) sharp razor, properly stropped
c) TAUGHTNESS OF SKIN
d) correct razor angle for __TG pass
e) aftercare/first aid.

Now, if you're stropping continuously through the shave and getting good results, who am I to say stop? The end result is what you're looking for. BUT...I think it took me about 60-80 shaves before I was getting what I would call "really nice shaves"....not bbs all the time, but "really nice shaves".

If I were you, I might take a look at my razor angles and my skin taughtness. Sometimes a degree or two of difference in the blade will produce a remarkable effect for you, and gentle pulling to raise the follicles is a bonus situation.

Hope this helps a bit.

Don't expect too much too quickly. I wasn't getting shaves like I could get with my cartridge razors until about the 150th shave. There is a lot to learn here and you are taking it all on at the same time. Give yourself some time to relax and grow into it.

As for stropping between passes, it shouldn't be necessary. If a blade is properly honed and stropped, it shouldn't need to be stropped again until after the shave. If doing it seems to work better, then I think either the blade needs to be "touched-up" or wasn't properly stropped in the first place.

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Originally Posted by grant9908

OK, I'm on my tenth or twelfth shave.... Whatever, I've lost count. Anyway, my shaves are adequate enough to not stop straight shaving but not nearly as smooth as you guys say you are getting, such as "baby but smooth. " so, I just recently found out the whole letting your razor set for 24 hours thing is complete BS and I can sharpen that bad boy any time I would like, even during shaving, so that's exactly what I did. Stropped.... Shaved untill blade was covered in lather, gave one quick pass, then repeated. Clean blade.... One pass.... Clean blade... One pass... Ect. Now, it goes without saying that, that happened to be the smoothest shave ever lol. But something telling me two things.
1) this shouldn't need to be done, and I'm probably doing something wrong, and number
B) Shooter is now going to yell at me again lol. :p

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In your post, you mentioned, "gave one quick pass," slow down and use short slow strokes. Take your time, this is something to be enjoyed. If your razor is properly honed and you properly stropped your razor, you should be good to go throughout the shave. Getting the BBS shave takes time, I don't always get it but I come away with a great shave nevertheless. When I first started out, I was shaving WTG first and very unhappy later in the day with a 5 O'Clock shadow, but I kept going until I "graduated" to XTG and ATG. I still have a problem under my jaw line but I am still learning and working on it. Nevertheless, I enjoy straight razor shaving. Your BBS will come, give it more time.

Maybe you're wanting too much too soon? For me (a newbie) it's not all about the baby's bottom, it's about the whole experience; doing something everyone I know thinks is ODD, WEIRD, and DANGEROUS. I told my 85 year old father the other day I bought a straight razor and you know what he said? He asked me who I wanted to kill! I thought I remembered him stropping a razor when I was a kid (he's like a 'traditional' German guy, born in a German village in Yugoslavia; it was like the middle ages when he was growing up), but I found out 'all' he had was a razor with a replaceable blade, and he used to strop that. For me, the whole palaver is what I want, the soap, the cream, the stropping, the this the that, not necessarily (yet) the face like a bottom; of a baby, a man, or anything really. I only do one pass. And yes, there's a bit of growth when I 'faceturbate' (what a word!) in parts, but it's different, it gets 'looks' when I sneak the fact in at a BBQ or dinner or whatever, and I'm actually proud, yes, proud to be shaving this way...

Of course I've no idea how tough your beard is, but, really, you should not need to strop THAT much, surely? Then again, if it works, go for it, and keep going!!

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Originally Posted by pmburk

In your post, you mentioned, "gave one quick pass," slow down and use short slow strokes...

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And yeah, agreed, when I started I tried to do my whole side of my face in like three strokes. It wasn't until I saw a post here talking of short, overlapping strokes where a guy said to the OP "You've just learnt how to shave" that I realised that was the right way to shave, not like loooong strokes; short, overlapping strokes... :-)

Indeed you shouldn't have to strop during the shave & expecting BBS after 12 shaves is like expecting to win first prize in lotto with 12 tickets. Give it time.

My advice , is to forget about the BBS BS , until you've mastered the basics of your personal straight razor shaving technique . If your shaves with the straight aren't close enough , finish up with your regular razor . Before you know it , your regular razor might become your former razor .

Stropping between Passes has come up several times on SRP,,

Some people find it helps.
Some find it doesn't.
Some consider it a sign of a sub-par edge.

All of those above cannot be really proved one way or another...
Here are some facts though...

It doesn't hurt the razor assuming you strop correctly.
It does let you slow down and think a bit.
It does let the lather take a few extra seconds to set up and soften the beard.

This is another part of this hobby that falls squarely into the YMMV court..

I'm in agreement with Glen, especially the part about slowing down. I enjoy stropping. I enjoy it so much so that I will strop before an exam to center myself and calm down.

I'm sick...I love my strop.

Where I live, my lather would dry out if I took time to strop during the shave. As others have said, it shouldn't really be necessary. But if you live in, say, Seattle and really like to strop, sure, take the time.

I've been straight-shaving exclusively for a couple of years now, and am still refining the directions in which I stretch my skin and the directions of my shave passes. BBS isn't a concern, especially during the hot hot summertime. Be sure you don't try to achieve it by using more pressure on your blade; that'll just irritate your skin.

If you're really concerned with a close shave, drop back to your cartridge razor for the difficult spots. I did hybrid shaves like that for about 5 months before switching over completely.

Good luck and best wishes.

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Originally Posted by deighaingeal

I'm in agreement with Glen, especially the part about slowing down. I enjoy stropping. I enjoy it so much so that I will strop before an exam to center myself and calm down.

I'm sick...I love my strop.

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It really is a very meditative process isn't it? That and the whole shaving process, i.e. deliberately holding one's attention on a subject, object or process...I find it so, anyway...

OK guys, I'm back.
1) "quick pass" poor choice of words. To illustrate how impossible that would have been all I have to tell you is that I was using a spike point. One that when I used it the first time I did try to rush and I ended up gashing my face three times. I mean will not stop bleeding kinds of gashes. So yes, my strokes were short with no pressure. I'm learning quickly.
2) this shave really was VERY Close to BBS. It was smooth everywhere, in both directions, except for trouble spots where hair grows stupidly. You know....sides of under chin places like that.
3) faceturbated, really??? LOL haven't heard that one.
4) if you are SRS and you don't love your strop and love stropping..... You probably need to be punched in the face. Loving your strop and to strop is pretty paramount.
E) thank you guys for being honest. I see now that perhaps me expecting a piece of archaic device out performing a laser precision, machine made, piece of literally "space age" equipment..... Was simply just silly. But you know what? All you've done is make me love it more. Maybe it's irrational, but we're humans and that's just how we are. Irrational? More like challenge that needs to be met! HAVE AT YOU, BEAST!

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Originally Posted by grant9908

E) thank you guys for being honest. I see now that perhaps me expecting a piece of archaic device out performing a laser precision, machine made, piece of literally "space age" equipment..... Was simply just silly. But you know what? All you've done is make me love it more. Maybe it's irrational, but we're humans and that's just how we are. Irrational? More like challenge that needs to be met! HAVE AT YOU, BEAST!

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Actually there's nothing at all "space age" about modern cartridge razors except the price. It's just subtle variations on thousand year old technology. The only real difference is that adding a couple of gaurds around the blades requires less skill and less involvement from the operator. A properly honed and stropped straight in the right hands can deliver a shave that no cartridge on Earth can match.

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Originally Posted by MickRussell

Actually there's nothing at all "space age" about modern cartridge razors except the price. It's just subtle variations on thousand year old technology.

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Ummm..... No. Any time a mashine uses LASER BEAMS and a computer to precision scult things into an entire product, I'm going to consider it space age. :)

A spinning stone wheel doesn't count as a "laser beam" no matter how insistent the salesman is.

You may also notice that it is an inclined plane that's cutting your hair, THE simplest machine known to man, not a beam of coherent light.

Lasors cut the tiny blades now. It's not 1990 anymore.

and they still can't improve on the edge achived by rubbing a blade on a piece of rock.

Shaving with a straight.....is a journey, your journey. Don't expect to much at first just go with the flow. In the middle of a shave if I will feel that the blade is a little lacking it gets a couple of laps on a felt strop with compound on it. You will find that in the manual dexterity department alone that you are just at the beginning, you have much to learn. If you stick with it you will be rewarded!

Take Care,
Richard

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Originally Posted by riooso

Shaving with a straight.....is a journey, your journey. Don't expect to much at first just go with the flow. In the middle of a shave if I will feel that the blade is a little lacking it gets a couple of laps on a felt strop with compound on it. You will find that in the manual dexterity department alone that you are just at the beginning, you have much to learn. If you stick with it you will be rewarded!

Take Care,
Richard

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That is good, and relevant, advice. Thank you. :)