Shaving - Things that I have learned

There are alot of people on here who have a vast knowledge of straight razor shaving and all topics related. Something a little different that I want to try is to capture the complete "new guy" perspective. Perhaps my outlook on things will help others.

I am going to simply list the things that I have learned in no specific order... Partly as a record and reminder to myself, but mostly to let others know my experiences so that they can avoid some of my mistakes. I'll just keep editing this post and adding to the list. So lets get on with it!

1. Stretching your face is probably THE most important thing that you can do during your shave to prevent cuts.

2. Razor angle in relation to your face is one of the most important things that you can do during your shave to prevent cuts.

3. Razor angle in relation to your face is one of the most important things that you can do during your shave to produce a closer shave.

4. Optimal razor angle in relation to your face is 30 degrees.

5. Having a shave-ready razor is one of the most important things that you can do during your shave to prevent cuts and produce a closer, more comfortable shave without discomfort associated with pulling the hairs.

6. Do not use a "Mr. Coffee" coffe mug warmer to warm your soap bowl with the expectation that you can then add water and lather your soap for a warm shave. It will melt your soap, and when you pour the melted soap in another dish with water at a lower temperature than the soap... the soap will begin to take it's solid form again... making a total mess of your brush. When the mixture finally gets on your face, it will lack water and dry quickly... sort of caked on. This is not conducive to a lubricated smooth shave. You will cut yourself more than ever before, and vow never to make that mistake again.

7. Non alcoholic after shave balm is very helpful for someone who is learning this art. I personally use Nivea AS balm for sensitive skin, but there are many many threads on this forum with suggestions for other products. Please check them out and make your own decision.

8. Everyone's face is different. The more you shave, the more you will learn the contours of your face, and the angles you should approach them with the razor. This will only come with time and experience.

*Disclamer* I am a "new guy", so if I get ANY of this "advice" wrong, PLEASE step in and correct me!

- Experience: Only cartridge shaved prior to the straight razor
- 4 straight razor shaves down, a lifetime to go

- Cage

P.S. Most of the things that I have learned have come from the gentlemen (and ladies) on this forum. I want to thank the founders of this forum and each and every member of this community for continuing to make my transition to straight razor shaving a wonderful experience.

Wow that was like 4 the most important things.

Thank you for your post. It was a good read.

It goes to show that there are so many "little" things that require attention in order to produce a stellar shave.

Well done you have been doing your homework!

I'm still working on putting some of these into practice. Sham has been a great source of knowledge also. He sort of took me under his wing you could say and gave me alot of advice... much of which he has already posted to other threads in the forum. Thanks again Sham!

Cage, Im in the same boat Im on my 5th shave. And its easier to point out what your doing wrong than to fix it. Its a slow grueling process. But ive been nic free for 2 shaves! Great info!

I'm making some good strides. I think I've got my angle worked out and I've got my technique for the sides of my face and my neck down pat. The mustache area is a bit tricky, but I am consistently shaving that area WTG with no nicks.

However... I am consistently cutting, slicing, and hacking the SH*T out of my chin. My beard is much thicker in this area, and it seems that no matter how much lather I use or what angle I adjust to, the razor keeps getting hung up and jumping in this area. I know it's not the edge... the razor does a supurb job on the rest of my face, and it was professionally honed by Sham. I use conditioner on my beard in the shower before I shave and leave the shaving cream on while I strop to soften the beard. I also re-apply when necessary.

I'm going to give my chin a break for a few days and use a cartrige in that area. Once the cuts heal, I'll try try try again. Is there anyone that can offer some advice on something that I haven't thought of yet?

Thanks

- Cage

@Cage

Brand new here too, and I'm having the same questions about the chin. I haven't hacked mine up, but the beard is much tougher there. I'm doing plenty of preshave prep, but my blade still wants to jump in that area. The WTG pass goes pretty well, but the X and A passes are extremely tricky.

One thing that has seemed to help a little is lowering the blade angle. I find it hard to keep the spine close to my face because of the rounded shape of the chin. If I don't pay close attention I start to get 50–60º blade angles—and that will cause jumping and nicks every time.

Anyone else offer some additional help?

Glad to know I'm not alone heh. I'll try some more angles. Also, before anyone asks... I am stretching the skin on the chin.

Chins can be a bear. I have had much of the same issue with mine, but have been able to crack its code (as far as my face goes). If i do wtg then xtg then its close enough to go atg with out skippin across my skin and leaving me a mess. Also i stretch the hell out of it in all kinds of angles, but hey its the passion we have all chosen so who cares how goofy you look doing it lol!
keep at it!

I will disagree about the non-alcoholic AS. I think it is a great way to learn and judge your shaves by the amount of burn and the areas of burn you feel with the AS. A lot burn suggest too much pressure in that area, you can keep lightening pressure until you no longer feel such an intense burn with the AS. Just my opinion. YMMV.

One hint I think might help you guys:

Forget the "Degrees" for the distance away from the face, and train yer brain for 2 spine widths, this eliminates the thinking part and it automatically adjusts for different sizes of razors too...

I guess I'll add some humor to this thread... Here is the result of my latest attempt at self-mutilation lol

Attachment 75518

P.S. It's now about 2 minutes after I took the photo, and I guess I touched it... started bleeding again lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cage

I'm making some good strides. I think I've got my angle worked out and I've got my technique for the sides of my face and my neck down pat. The mustache area is a bit tricky, but I am consistently shaving that area WTG with no nicks.

However... I am consistently cutting, slicing, and hacking the SH*T out of my chin. My beard is much thicker in this area, and it seems that no matter how much lather I use or what angle I adjust to, the razor keeps getting hung up and jumping in this area. I know it's not the edge... the razor does a supurb job on the rest of my face, and it was professionally honed by Sham. I use conditioner on my beard in the shower before I shave and leave the shaving cream on while I strop to soften the beard. I also re-apply when necessary.

I'm going to give my chin a break for a few days and use a cartrige in that area. Once the cuts heal, I'll try try try again. Is there anyone that can offer some advice on something that I haven't thought of yet?

Thanks

- Cage

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I had the same problem, Try doing very short light strokes, only use enough pressure to keep the blade in contact with your skin. When in doubt decrease your angle to around 20 degrees so as to not go too aggressive. Be careful, I have scars all along the point of my chin from four years of crappy chinstraps in football (seriously these things were basically old untreated boot leather). Good luck.

P.S. I've been straight shaving around seven months, and managed to cut my eyelid (yes my eyelid) not a month ago. So don't get discouraged.

I am a few weeks in and finally getting the chin thing figured out (kind of lol). Ditto to what Devilpup said with regard to short light strokes. Also, I don't even mess with ATG on the chin...too likely to leave me with a chin that looks like a stoplight. I find that a good WTG pass followed by a modified XTG using those short light strokes and pulling the skin gets it to a definite DFS state... and it gets better and better. Reference the rule about pulling the skin? I was just curling my lip in and jutting my chin for a while thinking that was good enough to stretch the chin. It might be eventually, but I have found pulling the skin with the off hand to be gold on the chin. I would also STRONGLY suggest an alum block. If you don't want to rub it on your face ok (I do and love the results btw), but rubbing the fingers of your off hand on it will provide great traction for skin pulling. (anybody else's fingers ever slip into your eye? Mitchel's Wool Fat does burn in the eyes in case you were wondering.)

Thanks for the advice. In a few days, once I take on the chin again, I'll try a lighter touch and stretch more. I ordered an alum block also. You guys rock!

Actually, I think I am trying to go XTG first on the chin area. Will adjust to WTG with lots of stretching.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cage

Actually, I think I am trying to go XTG first on the chin area.

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Well that would be "less than optimal" :)

I got the alum block and it did help a bit with the stretching. The shave (number 6 now) went better today with only two tiny nicks. I think something else that I need to perfect is the consistency of my lather. I may use the canned gel stuff that I used while cartridge shaving for my next shave to make a comparison.

I just had to come back to this...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Devilpup

P.S. I've been straight shaving around seven months, and managed to cut my eyelid (yes my eyelid) not a month ago. So don't get discouraged.

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There's gotta be a good story in this somewhere. Do tell!!