Thread: Pure Beginner with the Straight

Suggestions:

1. Stretch the skin in front of the razor. Otherwise, the angle of attack _at the edge_ will change, and the razor will be trying to dig into skin, instead of cutting hair. Not good !

2. Use a lower angle (flatter blade) than you think is correct. If razor just glides over beard, make the angle a little steeper.

3. If there's _no_ angle that works, I'd suspect a dull ("not shave-ready") blade.

4. I have had good luck using CrOxide pasted strops to fix slightly-dull edges. But that introduces another possible cause of trouble for a beginner, so I don't recommend it. If your stropping technique is good, 100 - 200 laps on a leather strop might help. If your technique is poor, it will do more harm than good.

That razor may have shaved hundreds of faces in the past. that doesn't mean that it's sharp enough to shave your face, today.

Charles