Thread: 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.

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.

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.

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!!

Originally Posted by pmburk

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

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.