Thread: Questioning some things...

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

At 5 shaves you're a complete rookie and if you had said you were getting good shaves that would be extraordinary. Just keep at it and things will improve. By this time next month you should have substantial improvement. If they don't improve with more practice then you can look at the various parts that make up technique and the razor itself to find what is going on.

I think the real question is how you define good . As a rookie myself I consider my shaves all good so far. That being said, I define good as being on par or better to a normal razor with no nicks. So I have pretty basic requirements. That being said my goal for straight razor shaving at this point isn't to get a closer shave. Actually the main reason I decided to start using straight razors is because I generally only shave on a weekly basis. The problem with this is that my beard grows long enough that shaving with a multi-blade razor becomes quite a hassle and getting the hairs out from between the blades seems to be an impossible task. But with a straight razor it doesn't matter how long my beard is, it still comes right off in a single pass. Right now my goal is to shave with the fewest passes possible (and no nicks). So I don't do the 5 passes that many people seem to do in order to get that extra close shave. Instead I do a single pass which gives me basically the same quality shave as a normal razor, but it seems to be less hassle for me and my skin seems to appreciate it as it is far less irritated.

Tcadien: "I dont know but the shaves seem to be getting better, and with less irritation. Maybe I should just keep on truckin and see if it gets better?"

Your advice to yourself is good. Follow it.

It takes a number of shaves before it all comes together. Just take it slow and it will happen.

Happy Shaving!

thanks guys !!

Hello Charlie thanks for the advice !! I am using castle forbes soap, a cheap wal-mart brush and bowl (that actually builds good lather), a hand made leather strop with the rough side pasted, and my razor is a refurbished Hibbard Spencer Bartlett & Co. "Our Very Best" 5/8 full hollow. Since I posted this I realized it was my angles and forgetting to stretch. just wanted to throw my list of gear out there for approval. The razor was honed properly and after stropping gives a good shave and also passses the hanging hair test on all parts of the edge.

Like so many challenges, this cries out for a haiku.


Minimal pressure
Wipe away lather with blade
Barbs are gone, No burn.

Glad you're getting things figured out. It can be frustrating at first but you have to stick with it, concentrate on the basics and suddenly you'll have that AH-HAH moment and it'll all come together.

Charlie